The Supreme Court justice came under intense scrutiny this week after publicly criticizing presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump not once, not twice, but three times, calling him a faker, inconsistent, and chastising him for his ego, all while reaching for her passport so she could move to another country pending his inauguration.
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In the days since our conversation, the criticism of Ginsburg, 83, the senior liberal on the court, grew into a torrent, from Republican partisans as well as liberals who sympathize with her legal views.
“On reflection, my recent remarks in response to press inquiries were ill-advised and I regret making them”, Ginsburg said in a statement issued on Thursday.
Following federal law, which requires federal judges and justices to “recuse themselves if their impartiality might reasonably be questioned”, Ginsburg said that judges should restrain from providing commentary regarding politics, although she did not apologize at any point in the subsequent statement. “In the future I will be more circumspect”, she added.
Ginsburg is aware of her remarks and probably has not changed her perspective regarding Mr. Trump.
In an editorial on Wednesday, the New York Times said that while there was no legal requirement for her to refrain from commenting on the presidential campaign, Ginsburg should uphold the court’s tradition of silence in political campaigns and drop the “punditry and name-calling”.
She made similar comments to the Associated Press. If Trump wins the presidency, the Supreme Court will hear numerous cases involving his administration. When a member of the court strides into that muck, she may help a candidate, but she hurts the cause of justice.
When the justice realized she had erred, she could have said nothing more.
Ginsburg drew widespread ire from Republicans for breaking with a code of conduct under which United States judges are not supposed to publicly endorse or oppose a candidate for office.
Although the code doesn’t formally apply to the Supreme Court, the justices follow it as a matter of course.
One thing that Ginsburg’s initial comments make clear that I did not mention in my initial comments is what it tells us about her likely plans for the future.
While it’s not surprising that the liberal justice, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1993, would be no fan of Trump, her harsh words were surprising coming from a sitting Supreme Court Justice. She may still believe what she said, but she also knows she blundered in saying it.
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Ginsburg responded, “I stand, Nina, by what I said”.
