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Oh Give Me A Break That Ruth Bader Ginsburg Should Resign From The Supreme Court After Criticizing Donald Trump [VIDEO]

By Quiana Fulton
Published on: 05:37 PST, Jul 17, 2016

In an interview with the New York Times, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg echoed the sentiments many Americans feel about presumptive Republican candidate Donald Trump.

“I can’t imagine what this place would be — I can’t imagine what the country would be — with Donald Trump as our president… For the country, it could be four years. For the court, it could be — I don’t even want to contemplate that.”

Ginsburg jokingly added, “Now it’s time for us to move to New Zealand.”

Liberals, of course, celebrated Ginsburg for her blunt honesty and analysis about the divisive and often provocative candidate, Donald Trump, while conservatives lambasted her. USA Today reports Ginsburg refused to back down from her criticism of Donald Trump. To wit: Ginsburg reiterated her disgust about the prospect of Donald Trump becoming the next USA President to CNN Legal Analyst and Supreme Court biographer Joan Biskupic.

“He is a faker.

“He has no consistency about him. He says whatever comes into his head at the moment. He really has an ego… How has he gotten away with not turning over his tax returns? The press seems to be very gentle with him on that.”

Needless to say, Donald Trump was outraged and expressed his disappointment about Justice Ginsburg’s political assassination regarding his character and his right to run for president of the United States of America. Trump tweeted in response.

USA Today also reports that Trump told the New York Times that Ginsburg criticism of his candidacy was unprofessional and beneath the dignity of the Supreme Court.

“It’s so beneath the court for her to be making statements like that. It only energizes my base even more. And I would hope that she would get off the court as soon as possible… I think it’s a disgrace to the court, and I think she should apologize to the court. I couldn’t believe it when I saw it.”

Florida senator Marco Rubio echoed Trump’s disappointment.

In response to Ginsburg’s deemed liberal bias regarding Donald Trump, the Washington Post issued a scathing criticism of Justice Ginsburg.

“However valid her comments may have been, though, and however in keeping with her known political bent, they were still much, much better left unsaid by a member of the Supreme Court.”

The New York Times too slapped Ginsburg hand for making a politically charged statement about the presumptive Republican candidate, noting her comment put into question her “rulings.”

“In this election cycle in particular, the potential of a new president to affect the balance of the court has taken on great importance, with the vacancy left by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. As Justice Ginsburg pointed out, other justices are nearing an age when retirement would not be surprising. That makes it vital that the court remain outside the presidential process. And just imagine if this were 2000 and the resolution of the election depended on a Supreme Court decision. Could anyone now argue with a straight face that Justice Ginsburg’s only guide would be the law?”

Even though I nodded in agreement with Justice Ginsburg, to whom I dearly admire, I also agree with the dissenters that Ginsburg shouldn’t have criticized the presumptive Republican candidate, Donald Trump, in public, considering the enormous power she has to shape legislation and our country’s future.

That said, I think conservatives should check their ego at the door and take a look in the mirror. First and foremost, the Supreme Court has always served the public in a politically biased way. For instance, six years ago, liberal Sonia Sotomayor was nominated by President Obama, who is a member of the Democratic party.

A conservative president elected late Justice Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas too was nominated by a conservative president. Both of these conservative Justices have a reputation of ruling with political bias. Also, both have a reputation for making controversial statements regarding presiding cases in the public square.

For instance, Scalia, on the topic of Guantanamo Bay, said “prisoners had no legal right to the U.S. Constitution,” as Aaron Blake of the New York Times reported. Scalia further stressed his opinion on the subject.

“War is war, and it has never been the case that when you captured a combatant you have to give them a jury trial in your civil courts… Give me a break.”

Scalia opposition to prisoners in Guantanamo Bay came at a time when the court was weeks away from “hearing an appeal from Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Osama bin Laden’s former driver.” There weren’t calls from the right for Scalia to dismiss himself from the court and resign — as there were calls for Justice Ginsburg to resign by scholars, conservatives, and members of the “liberal media.”

One cannot forget that Scalia took a hunting trip with then-Vice President Dick Cheney. Talk about a conflict of interest. Where was the conservative outrage then?

As scholars of Measuring Policy Content on the U.S. Supreme Court noted, “In other words, the ideological tenor of the underlying rule (difficult to measure) has traditionally been approximated by the ideological direction of the judgment in the case (easier to measure).”

According to CNN, Justice Ginsburg since has retracted her statement on Donald Trump and issued an apology.

“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.”

Until all Supreme Court Justices are equally and at the same time held accountable for being politically biased — let’s all get off our high horse pretending the liberal-affiliated Justice Ginsburg committed an unprecedented act — unlike any other conservative Justice has done before.

FYI: The Supreme Court general rule is to recuse from criticizing presumptive candidates, but it’s not an actual rule mandated by the Constitution.

[Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images]

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