Maybe she can be forgiven for having an extra glass of wine and falling asleep during Obama’s State of the Union speech to Congress. It was a snoozer even without alcohol. But I assume Justice Ginsburg was sober and awake when she attacked a presidential candidate twice this past week. Really? A supposedly nonpartisan body of government should not get involved in a blatantly partisan body of government. These are the guidelines all third graders learn about when they are introduced to our form of government.
The Chicago Tribune said “I Cannot see any possible defense of what Ginsburg did, given that she violated Canon 5 of the Code of Conduct for United States Judges. Supreme Court Justices are not strictly bound by that code, but they nonetheless act as exemplars for the rest of the judiciary, and this canon seems pretty important.” http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-ginsburg-scalia-trump-clinton-judicial-ethics-0712-jm-20160711-story.html.
The many lawsuits winding through the court system might end up in front of the Supreme Court and this candidate is involved in many of them. The Supreme Court must maintain at least the appearance of impartiality. This Justice has publicly tainted herself. Maybe she knows she will leave the bench before any of Trump’s cases could be argued before the Supreme Court. But, we might need the Supreme Court to step into the election process. Hopefully she skips the second glass of wine before she puts on her robe.
Updated. The answer is yes. The world has gone mad. The NY Times agrees with me? It is a mad, mad world.
“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?”
I wonder if the NY Times is reading this blog. Just joking. That would be silly.
Updated again. Ginsburg walks back her comments.
“Judges should avoid commenting on a candidate for public office,” she wrote in a brief statement issued by the court, admitting her remarks were “ill advised” and expressing regret. “In the future I will be more circumspect.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/15/us/politics/ruth-bader-ginsburg-donald-trump.html
Dreams of My Sons' Father 