NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.—Justice Stephen Breyer doesn’t often speak publicly of his religious values, but on Sunday he reflected on Jewish precepts he learned as a boy and pondered how they might influence his work on the Supreme Court.

“Words come into my mind, probably from Temple Emanu-El in San Francisco, probably when I was 12 years old or 14,” he said, during a program with Justice Elena Kagan at the Jewish Federations of North America convention here.

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