If the 2016 presidential election is supposed to be a referendum on the U.S. Supreme Court, Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg just doubled down on that notion.
In a wide-ranging interview with the New York Times, a rare event for a sitting Supreme Court justice, she made it clear that she’s no fan of the Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting, Donald Trump. In fact, if he wins the November election, he might find himself seeking her immediate replacement.
“I can’t imagine what this place would be—I can’t imagine what the country would be—with Donald Trump as our president,” she said. “For the country, it could be four years. For the court, it could be—I don’t even want to contemplate that.”
She said her late husband, Martin, would have had some shocking advice: “Now it’s time for us to move to New Zealand.”
As the oldest member of the Supreme Court, Ginsburg, who is now 83 years old, said she would not leave her job “as long as I can do it full steam.” But, she also acknowledged what is at stake in the upcoming election, noting that Associate Justices Anthony Kennedy, who is about to turn 80, and Stephen Breyer, who is going to turn 78, are no longer spring chickens themselves.
The jurist also discussed the recently concluded Supreme Court term, tackling some of the more contentious cases the high court heard following the death of her close personal friend, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia. She also rebuked the Republican-controlled Senate for not confirming President Obama’s nominee to replace him, Chief Judge Merrick Garland of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
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