U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said she regrets criticizing Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, calling her remarks over the past week “ill-advised” and vowing to be more careful in the future. I disagree. Unlike her feisty rulings and dissents, where she has forcefully defended her values, this kind of political statement is unlikely to do more than feed into Trump’s well-honed air of grievance and allow Republicans in Congress to stomp and complain and ignore their own intransigence in refusing to consider President Obama’s nomination to fill the empty seat. I did something I should not have done. “It’s over and done with and I don’t want to discuss it anymore”.
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On Thursday, Ginsburg walked-back her comments on Trump.
“Judges should avoid commenting on a candidate for public office”, she wrote in a brief statement issued by the court, admitting her remarks were “ill-advised” and expressing regret.
“I think it’s highly inappropriate that a United States Supreme Court judge gets involved in a political campaign, frankly”, Trump said Tuesday, after Ginsburg’s third verbal stab at his candidacy. Last year, she was named to Time’s list of the 100 Most Influential People in the world. He says whatever comes into his head at the moment.
In an interview with CNN Legal Analyst and Supreme Court Biographer Joan Biskupic on Monday, Ginsburg blasted Trump as a “faker”.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Ginsburg’s statement. “He really has an ego”, she told CNN.
Whether the court of public opinion would agree with allowing Ginsburg to cast a deciding vote on who becomes the next president is another question.
She also wondered: “How has he gotten away with not turning over his tax returns?” It doesn’t technically apply to the Supreme Court because, after all, who would enforce it?
Trump, as is his habit, went overboard in his second reaction, saying Wednesday on Twitter that Ginsburg should step down from the court.
He and other Republicans called on her to resign. There’s no indication that Ginsburg, 83, has lost her mind, but she might have to recuse herself in future cases involving the famously litigious Trump.
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The controversy erupted as Trump prepared for the opening of the July 18-21 Republican convention, which will formally make him the party’s presidential nominee for the November 8 election. While the court can not be completely above politics, its justices should do their best.
