Asked about a Trump win, she said: “I don’t want to think about that possibility, but if it should be, then everything is up for grabs”.
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The BBC, to my knowledge, the first to report the brewing scandal, call it a “political row”, and reported Donald Trump’s call for her resignation: “Justice Ginsburg…has embarrassed all by making very dumb political statements about me”.
In addition to the reaction from Trump, Ginsburg’s comments have also attracted criticism from others who argue that Supreme Court Justices should stay out of the political arena.
Ginsberg touched off a firestorm of criticism for her comments about the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, including calling him a “faker”.
Ethics and legal experts have varying opinions on whether her comments were better left unsaid.
By the time a new USA president is sworn in on January 20, 2017, three of the remaining eight justices will be 78 or older – Ginsburg, Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer – leading to the possibility that either Clinton or Trump could have several vacancies to fill over the next four years if any of the justices retire or die in office. “I couldn’t believe it when I saw it”.
“I [heart] RBG but I don’t think our Supreme Court justices should be publicly offering their opinions about POTUS candidates”, he tweeted. She should resign now.
When co-host Raven Symone suggested Ginsburg’s comments likely resonated among Americans similarly concerned about the prospect of a Trump presidency, Bure turned the argument around.
Other Republicans have chimed in, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who called Ginsburg’s remarks “totally inappropriate”. And even some of her ideological allies say she goofed. Ginsburg is the oldest of the justices.
“Sorry, Justice Ginsburg, but those comments were waaaay over the line”, added Walter Olson, a blogger fellow at the Cato Institute.
On Wednesday, the New York Times editorial board wrote a column saying it agreed with Trump. No sane person, anywhere, would ever say with a straight face that Ginsburg’s “only guide would be the law”. Hence, why I find this so disturbing, why it is so out of character for Supreme Court justices to do this.
The high court is already short-handed, operating with just eight justices since the conservative firebrand Antonin Scalia died suddenly in February. Supreme Court, but what surprised everyone, Democrat and Republican, is that Mrs. Ginsburg upsets custom to involve herself in a presidential election.
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But in the long history of the precedent-bound Supreme Court, that has never happened, he said. The federal code of judicial conduct has a general rule forbidding political activity by judges, including opposing a political candidate. In fact, she has gone beyond the limits of decency and insulted national pride, when she further stated that she would move to New Zealand if Trump is elected to the White House.
