In bashing Donald Trump, some say Ruth Bader Ginsburg just crossed a very important line

[mahatmakanejeeves]

I don't think it was a good idea either.

In bashing Donald Trump, some say Ruth Bader Ginsburg just crossed a very important line

By Aaron Blake July 11 at 12:05 PM
@aaronblake

It's a political cliche at this point to joke about moving to another country if a certain presidential candidate doesn't win. Gobs of Americans were headed to Canada if George W. Bush was reelected in 2004. A similar contingent threatened to flood across our northern border when Barack Obama was elected and reelected.

Generally, though, you don't hear a Supreme Court justice talking like this. In fact, you generally don't hear a Supreme Court justice talking at all — much less about the big political issues of the day.

Most justices aren't Ruth Bader Ginsburg, though. And in a new New York Times interview, Ginsburg doesn't hold a thing back when it comes to the 2016 election.
....

Ginsburg is known for pushing the bounds of a justice's public comments and has earned something of a cult following on the left. But some say she just went too far. ... "I find it baffling actually that she says these things," said Arthur Hellman, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh. "She must know that she shouldn’t be. However tempted she might be, she shouldn’t be doing it." ... Similarly, Howard Wolfson, a former top aide to Hillary Clinton and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, said Ginsburg shouldn't have said it.

[Tal Vez]

1. I remember the time that Cheney shot his friend in the face because he

didn't laugh at Cheney's joke.

Or something like that.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

2. What a joke.

But it was ok for Scalia to pal around with Republicans and flap his gums about social issues?

[longship]

6. And Scalia and RBG would attend the opera together!

They were friends, outside SCOTUS.

Figure that one out!

[villager]

3. Glad she's ripping the veil off the discarded fiction that the SC isn't political

That's pretty much all it is, anymore, and we might as well cop to it.

[onecent]

4. I'm glad Ruth stands her ground and says what she thinks!!!!!

She is MY idol!!

[PJMcK]

5. Too bad if they don't like it

If Michael Bloomberg, Howard Wolfson and Arthur Hellman or anyone else for that matter doesn't like it that Justice Ginsburg voiced her views of Donald Trump, they can suck eggs. After all, we've had to listen to other justices who were known for "pushing the bounds of a justice's public comments."

Justice Scalia?
Justice Alito?
Justice Rehnquist?

[procon]

7. Oh, stuff it!

The media paid no attention to Thomas or Scalia's partisan deeds and remarks, and they did and said things that were far more questionable than RBG's comment. Besides, her observation is totally spot on!

[GeorgeGist]

8. But it's OK for Sandra Day O'Connor.

[Igel]

11. Off the bench.

Some distinctions matter.

Upthread, the distinction between partisan politics and social policy vanished.

[yurbud]

9. were the people outraged about this upset by Bush v. Gore?

Nakedly partisan court decisions bother me more than what they say off the bench.

[rurallib]

10. no kidding - essentially a bloodless coup that put their boy in power

which then led to thousands of deaths and an economic disaster. Done by 5 SCOTUS judges.

[Aristus]

12. Are we worried that the Bouffant Tangerine is going to get his fee-fees hurt?...