In a brief statement released by the Supreme Court's press office, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has expressed regrets for her recent statements about GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump.
“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,” Ginsburg said.
In different interviews this week, Justice Ginsburg criticized Trump, raising questions about the ability of Supreme Court Justices to comment on presidential politics during an election season.
Supreme Court Justices indirectly have commented in recent years, in their court opinions, about executive branch policies. But it is rare for a sitting Justice to directly criticize a politician or political figure, especially during an election campaign.
Ginsburg spoke with three media outlets this week, as Justices do on occasion after a Supreme Court term concludes. She told CNN that she considered Trump a “faker” and the New York Times that she couldn’t imagine a country with Trump as President.
In response, Trump demanded that Ginsburg resign from the Court and apologize for her remarks.
Most federal judges are expected to follow a Code of Conduct established by the Judicial Conference of the United States. Canon 5 of that code says that a judge should not “publicly endorse or oppose a candidate for public office.”
However, Supreme Court Justices are not subject to that code.
