Biden gets to name a justice. But it won’t matter.

Well, yes and no. Wednesday’s news that Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer plans to retire at the end of the current term is as welcome as it is overdue. Senate Democrats are, as one said to me, a heartbeat away from losing the precarious majority they could need to confirm a new justice; Democrats could well cede control of the chamber in the midterms, and it is not hard to imagine Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), as majority leader, blocking the confirmation of a replacement. Been there, done that.