In the interviews in question, Ginsburg described Trump as a “faker” and said she “can’t imagine what the country would be” if he were elected president.
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Mr Trump jumped into the fray on Wednesday. “In the future I will be more circumspect”, she said in a statement.
Earlier in the week, he used the comments to try to portray her as being unfit to continue serving on the court, saying in a tweet that “her mind is shot”.
Should we consider amending the Constitution to place a limit on age and serious illnesses, considering the inappropriate remarks of Justice Ginsburg, her age and infirmities? He seemed to suggest on Twitter that he would try to force her out, although presidents do not have the power to remove Supreme Court justices.
It all began with an interview last week when the justice was asked for her thoughts on a Trump presidency. Justice Anthony Kennedy will be 80 in July and Justice Stephen Breyer will turn 78 in August.
A half-century ago, even after going on the Supreme Court, Justice Abe Fortas served as a backstage adviser to President Lyndon Johnson.
“They are appointed by a president, confirmed by a senate and they rule on political issues”.
“That’s their job. There’s nothing in the Constitution that says the president stops being president in his previous year”. It is the appearance, by means of the attack, that the justice is pursuing personal political goals rather than the goals expressed in the words of the Constitution and of the statutes and regulations created under color of its authority. Second, the unconstitutional proposition that it is OK for the government to tell individuals or groups, even when they organize into corporations or labor unions, what they may say about a politician and when they may say it.
The Supreme Court commands respect and deference from the citizenry partly because it stands outside of petty politics.
Yet she had contemplated the horror of it all, as she quoted her late husband as saying of such a catastrophe, “It’s time for us to move to New Zealand”. Some songs can’t be unsung, and the comments she made have raised permanent questions about her ability to fairly adjudicate many potential cases. Most scholars agree she would face enormous pressure to recuse herself.
But the torrent of criticism, especially from supporters and allies of Justice Ginsburg, appears to have pierced that protection.
MONTAGNE: Well, remind us of everything she did, in fact, say.
Arthur Hellman, an ethics expert at the University of Pittsburgh, said the apology may not be enough.
TOTENBERG: Well, she said a number of things.
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Ginsburg’s 180 is all the more notable because it wasn’t her first response to the controversy caused by her comments.
