Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Says She Regrets Her Criticism of Trump

She called the real estate magnate a “faker.”

Susan Walsh/DPA/ZUMA

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg released a statement on Thursday expressing remorse over her recent criticism of Donald Trump, whom she called a “faker,” and her public expression of dread as she contemplated America under a Trump presidency.

“On reflection, my recent remarks in response to press inquiries were ill-advised and I regret making them,” Ginsburg said. “Judges should avoid commenting on a candidate for public office. In the future I will be more circumspect.”

In dual interviews with the New York Times and the Associated Press over the weekend, the 87-year-old justice said Americans should consider moving to New Zealand if Trump becomes president. Despite taking heat for her candid comments, which were highly unusual for a sitting Supreme Court justice to publicly make and were condemned by both sides of the aisle, Ginsburg didn’t back down. In another interview on Monday with CNN, she called Trump a “faker.”

“He has no consistency about him,” she said. “He says whatever comes into his head at the moment. He really has an ego.”

Trump hit back at her remarks by taking to Twitter to claim Ginsburg’s mind was “shot” and demand she resign from the high court.

The presumptive Republican nominee has yet to respond to Ginsburg’s apology.

Fact:

Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and billionaires wouldn't fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do.

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2022 demands.

payment methods

Fact:

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2022 demands.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate