Some are questioning whether Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was out of line for criticizing Donald Trump in two recent interviews.
Ginsburg, whose liberal views are well known, blasted Trump in interviews with
The New York Times and the
Associated Press in recent days.
But her comments — among them, "Now it's time for us to move to New Zealand [if Trump wins]" — are causing a bit of a stir.
"I find it baffling actually that she says these things," law professor Arthur Hellman told
The Washington Post. "She must know that she shouldn't be. However tempted she might be, she shouldn't be doing it."
The problem with Supreme Court justices taking a public stance against a candidate for office is two-fold: it breaks the tradition of justices mostly not doing so, and it could force her to recuse herself from any future cases involving the candidate because it displays bias.
Journalist and author Jeff Greenfield noted on Twitter that if this election has to be decided by the Supreme Court like it was in 2000, Ginsburg's comments could bring a host of problems.
Hellman told the Post future cases dealing with a President Trump could get murky, given her comments about the real estate mogul.
"It would cast doubt on her impartiality in those decisions," Hellman said. "If she has expressed herself as opposing the election of Donald Trump, her vote to strike down a Trump policy would be under a cloud."
In a New York Times interview, Ginsburg said, "I can't imagine what this place would be — I can't imagine what the country would be — with Donald Trump as our president. For the country, it could be four years. For the court, it could be — I don't even want to contemplate that."
In a separate interview with the
Associated Press, she said of Trump winning the election, "I don't want to think about that possibility, but if it should be, then everything is up for grabs."