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Ruth Bader Ginsburg regrets 'ill-advised' remarks about Donald Trump Ruth Bader Ginsburg regrets 'ill-advised' remarks about Donald Trump
(about 1 hour later)
US supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has released a statement saying she regretted remarks she made in the last week impugning Donald Trump and promising to be “more circumspect” in the future. The supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg executed a full U-turn on Thursday morning, over remarks about the presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump that ignited controversy on the eve of the GOP convention.
In three separate interviews in reply to questions about Trump, Ginsburg called the presumptive Republican presidential nominee a “faker” and said: “I can’t imagine what the country would be with Donald Trump as our president.”
On Thursday, Ginsburg sought to retract those remarks.
Related: What going after Donald Trump could mean for Ruth Bader Ginsburg's legacyRelated: What going after Donald Trump could mean for Ruth Bader Ginsburg's legacy
“On reflection, my recent remarks in response to press inquiries were ill-advised and I regret making them,” she said in a statement. “Judges should avoid commenting on a candidate for public office. In the future I will be more circumspect.” Her remarks about Trump were “ill-advised”, she said, adding: “I regret making them.”
Ginsburg’s highly unusual decision, as a top judge, to weigh in on the presidential race drew a sharp rebuke from critics as diverse as congressional leaders, the New York Times editorial board and Trump himself, who called on the justice to resign. In an interview with the New York Times last week, Ginsburg said she could not “imagine what the country would be with Donald Trump as our president” and suggested her late husband would have taken such a scenario as a reason to emigrate – as far away as New Zealand.
“Justice Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court has embarrassed all by making very dumb political statements about me,” Trump tweeted Wednesday. “Her mind is shot - resign!” Ginsburg, 83, was the first supreme court justice in decades to comment publicly on a candidate in the middle of the presidential campaign.
Senator Ted Cruz, a former supreme court clerk with extensive experience before the court, echoed Trump. “Her comments were obviously inappropriate,” Cruz told reporters. “When unelected judges try to impose their own policy views ... it’s wrong and it’s dangerous.” Her comments sparked indignation, dismay and accusations that she had violated judicial ethics. Trump called for her to resign.
Ginsburg, 83, found a high profile defender in White House press secretary Josh Earnest, however, who said on Wednesday that Ginsburg “didn’t earn the nickname notorious RBG for nothing”. Despite this, Ginsburg doubled down, calling Trump a faker and telling CNN in an interview published on Tuesday: “He really has an ego.”
By Thursday, she appeared to have considered her words and their implications more deeply. In a statement, she said: “On reflection, my recent remarks in response to press inquiries were ill-advised and I regret making them.
“Judges should avoid commenting on a candidate for public office. In the future I will be more circumspect.”
Supreme court justices are expected to adhere to a code of conduct issued for US judges, which stipulates that they refrain from publicly endorsing or opposing any candidate for public office. They are not officially bound by the code but generally agree to follow it.
Ginsburg’s comments were not only rare but also particularly colorful for someone in her position. She has however gained something of a celebrity aura in recent years, with liberal supporters using the affectionate moniker “Notorious RBG”, echoing the nickname “Notorious BIG”, which was given to the late rapper Biggie Smalls.
Earlier this week, the White House spokesman, Josh Earnest, commented that Ginsburg, who is currently writing a book called My Own Words, did not become known as the Notorious RBG “for nothing”.
Although she has long been known as a member of the liberal wing of the court, Ginsburg’s frank and blatantly political and personal comments about Trump appeared to come out of the blue.
On Monday, she told CNN that she had first thought Trump’s candidacy was “funny”. As he was about to become the GOP nominee, though, she slammed him in personal terms, saying: “He has no consistency about him. He says whatever comes into his head at the moment.”
Trump told the New York Times her comments were “highly inappropriate” and “beneath the bench” and that she had let her fellow justices down.
The Times and the Washington Post have both published editorials agreeing with Trump.