Justice Ginsburg Says She Can’t Imagine a Trump Presidency, Raises Possibility of Leaving the Country
Ginsburg tells The New York Times: "My husband would have said 'it's time for us to move to New Zealand.'"
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says she “can’t imagine” what the United States will be like if Donald Trump is elected president, and even jokes she’ll leave the country if Trump wins.
In a remarkably candid and partisan interview with The New York Times, Ginsburg was aghast at the possibility of a Trump presidency, especially its potential impact on the High Court. “For the country, it could be four years,” Ginsburg said. “For the court, it could be — I don’t even want to contemplate that.” Ginsburg went onto remark that her late husband, Martin Ginsburg, would have said, “Now it’s time for us to move to New Zealand.”
Ginsburg had given a similar answer when asked about a Trump presidency by the Associated Press. “I don’t want to think about that possibility, but if it should be, then everything is up for grabs,” she said. She’s also hinted at who she’ll be voting for. “It’s likely that the next president, whoever she will be, will have a few appointments to make,” the 83-year-old told the Associated Press.
Ginsberg’s NY Times interview caused journalists and analysts to wonder if there was a precedent for such a partisan endorsement from a sitting Supreme Court justice.
Has a SCOTUS justice made an endorsement like this before? https://t.co/ARHBNLBuoP
— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) July 11, 2016
Justice Ginsburg’s creating a HUGE problem for the Court, which may have to hear election cases. Would she recuse? https://t.co/vi7dmzpeGK
— Adam White (@adamjwhitedc) July 11, 2016
Ginsburg “has long been far more outspoken than her colleagues on the Supreme Court,” Time observed.
Though her fellow Supreme Court Justices have not made public statements about the presidential campaign or the nomination of another Justice following the death of Antonin Scalia, Ginsburg was “characteristically forthright” in her support of Judge Merrick B. Garland during her interview. “I think he is about as well qualified as any nominee to this court,” she said. “Super bright and very nice, very easy to deal with. And super prepared. He would be a great colleague.”
The 83-year-old Justice, who’s battled serious health issues in recent years, doesn’t sound like a woman contemplating retirement. She said she wasn’t going to leave the court “as long as I can do it full steam.”
