Ruth Bader Ginsburg ‘regrets’ remarks against Donald Trump
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Thursday she regrets remarks she made earlier this week to CNN and the New York Times criticizing the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, calling him a “faker.”
“On reflection, my recent remarks in response to press inquiries were ill-advised and I regret making them,” Ginsburg said in a statement. “Judges should avoid commenting on a candidate for public office. In the future I will be more circumspect.”
Ginsburg talked exclusively to NPR’s Nina Totenberg, and expanded upon her statement. She called her comments “incautious.”
“I did something I should not have done,” she added. “It’s over and done with and I don’t want to discuss it anymore.”
Ruth Bader Ginsburg donkeyhotey photo
“He is a faker,” the Justice told CNN, taking a strong political stance. “He has no consistency about him. He says whatever comes into his head at the moment. He really has an ego. … How has he gotten away with not turning over his tax returns? The press seems to be very gentle with him on that.”
Justice Stephen Breyer was asked about her comments Wednesday at the Sun Valley Writer’s Conference, but he declined to comment saying, “If I had an opinion, I wouldn’t express it.”
Trump called on Ginsburg to resign Wednesday, joining the criticism from others in the Republican Party.
“Justice Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court has embarrassed all by making very dumb political statements about me. Her mind is shot – resign!” Trump tweeted.
Ginsburg’s criticism had caused controversy among legal ethicists who suggested Wednesday that if the current election were ever to come down to a Bush v. Gore-like challenge, Ginsburg would have to recuse herself.
“A federal law requires all federal judges, including the justices, to recuse themselves if their ‘impartiality might reasonably be questioned’,” said Stephen Gillers, a legal ethicist at New York University School of Law. “Under this test, Justice Ginsburg’s remarks would prevent her from sitting in the unlikely event of a ‘Clinton v. Trump’ case that determines the next president.”
CNN’s Joan Biskupic said she believes the statement was a response to the criticism from across the ideological spectrum.
“[S]he couldn’t help but be surprised by what’s happened in the last 72 hours with so much second-guessing from even folks who are her fans on the left.”
Biskupic said on CNN’s “At This Hour” on Thursday morning. “I think she felt like it was important for her to clear the air. I think she felt like she wanted to acknowledge that she made a mistake instead of just waiting to hope that the issue would die down.”
“Justice Ginsburg did the right thing by returning to a position of electoral neutrality,” said Steven Lubet of Northewestern Pritzker School of Law. ” That was good for both the Court and the political system,” he said.
photo/ donkeyhotey
