# When was the last time a Supreme Court Justice aired views publicly on a presidential candidate? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 11, 2016, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-a-supreme-court-justice-aired-views-publicly-on-a-presidential-candidate/759658 "2016-07-11T15:17:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Orwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/dfb087/32.png) [@Orwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orwell)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-a-supreme-court-justice-aired-views-publicly-on-a-presidential-candidate/759658/101 "2016-07-13T17:25:54Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Honestly, it troubles me that more people aren’t speaking out about the sheer madness of the Trump campaign and the disgusting obnoxious nature of the man himself. It’s absolutely mind-blowing that anyone with an ounce of sanity or character is publicly (or even privately) supporting this buffoon. And it troubles me that more people aren’t speaking out about the sheer madness of the incorrigible dishonesty and repeated lies of Hillary Clinton, and the complete disregard she shows for accepted practices and behavior. It’s absolutely mind-blowing that anyone with an ounce of character or honesty supports the lying, above-the-law crook. FWIW, I don’t see how I can vote for either of these obnoxious cretins, and I don’t see how anyone else can, either. But calling Trump out while overlooking Clinton’s cargo ship full of baggage is the modern day example of the pot calling the kettle black. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-a-supreme-court-justice-aired-views-publicly-on-a-presidential-candidate/759658/102 "2016-07-13T17:28:48Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > Ah, I see that more such comments appeared from Ms. Ginsburg. Yes, she should knock it off. Never cede the moral high ground to a vapid, unethical scumbag like Trump. > > But I still don’t agree that this is such a big deal. Calls for her to knock it off, sure. Calls for her to resign or be impeached? That’s just a grotesque overreaction. Your objection has been noted. Senile ol’ Ginsburg started, and continues, a political fight and reduced the perception of her impartiality. What a great day for jurisprudence. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-a-supreme-court-justice-aired-views-publicly-on-a-presidential-candidate/759658/103 "2016-07-13T17:33:34Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > I’m going to combine the two threads. Wish me luck, I don’t do it often! Sorry for the mess. I did try to look before creating my dupe thread, but missed this one. Good luck! ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-a-supreme-court-justice-aired-views-publicly-on-a-presidential-candidate/759658/104 "2016-07-13T17:37:49Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > I’m pretty sure it’s been more than one inappropriate comment now, but which one, in particular, are you thinking of (so that I can go find the rest and ask you if you think they were appropriate)? I’m pretty sure Drumpf has made Hundreds, so please list the Hundred that You are aware of & I’ll go fill in the rest that you think are appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-a-supreme-court-justice-aired-views-publicly-on-a-presidential-candidate/759658/105 "2016-07-13T17:42:27Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Hmmm. If a Supreme Court Justice can’t exercise her Constitutional right to free speech, who can? Senile ol’ Ginsburg can continue to exercise her Constitutional right to free speech AFTER she resigns from the Supremes. Until then, it’s expected that she be able to rule in an unbiased manner, based on the laws of the U.S.A… \*Welcome to Ginsburg’s Supreme Court of the United States. All you sons of bitches who voted for Trump know you’re guilty of whatever the other side says you’re guilty of. We’ve only agreed to hear this case because we’re bored. Our opinion has already been written and is only waiting for your summation before we publish it. Thanks for playing. - R.B. Ginsburg\* ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-a-supreme-court-justice-aired-views-publicly-on-a-presidential-candidate/759658/106 "2016-07-13T17:43:02Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Your objection has been noted. Thank you. I guess. > [@](#): > > Senile ol’ Ginsburg started… Excuse me, where is your evidence for her senility? Or is this merely a reflexive, partisan swipe? In those interviews, her faculties appear perfectly sounds as far as I can tell, aside from the questionable judgment of belittling Trump publicly, as much as he deserves it. > [@](#): > > What a great day for jurisprudence. :rolleyes: Out of curiosity, were you similarly critical of publicly partisan comments from Scalia? Are you similarly critical of un-Presidential comments from Trump? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-a-supreme-court-justice-aired-views-publicly-on-a-presidential-candidate/759658/107 "2016-07-13T17:50:00Z")
Would have been better if she had given him a grandmotherly scolding, with a bit of Yiddish tossed in for flavor. Then our tighty-righty contingent would have simply rolled around on the floor tearing their hair and screaming, rather than this somewhat exaggerated display. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-a-supreme-court-justice-aired-views-publicly-on-a-presidential-candidate/759658/108 "2016-07-13T17:53:11Z")
How many people who say that Donalds utterances are “honest and straight from the hip” and willing to vote for him as POTUS, are objecting to RBGs perfectly true and reasonable observations on the situation? How is she senile at all? Supreme Court Justices have run for president before, BTW. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-a-supreme-court-justice-aired-views-publicly-on-a-presidential-candidate/759658/109 "2016-07-13T17:55:44Z")
Menerith wrote: “Standing up to Donald Trump and making him expose himself is a public service.” Thanks for _that_ picture. (I guess it is the next logical step since he’s already _talked_ about it.) ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-a-supreme-court-justice-aired-views-publicly-on-a-presidential-candidate/759658/110 "2016-07-13T17:57:01Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Why? It’s not like there will be a court case answering “who would be a better president?”, it would be a question of what laws and principles apply to allowing some recount or voting method. I assume the Justices all vote, so every one of them has a President preference. Except she went beyond expressing a preference. She basically said that if Trump was elected that this country wouldn’t be worth living in anymore. There’s just no way she can be unbiased if she believes that. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-a-supreme-court-justice-aired-views-publicly-on-a-presidential-candidate/759658/111 "2016-07-13T18:04:29Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Except she went beyond expressing a preference. She basically said that if Trump was elected that this country wouldn’t be worth living in anymore. There’s just no way she can be unbiased if she believes that. Well, Trump doesn’t have a brother who is governor of a swing state. Nor does he have a bunch of Republicans wanting to put him in the White House by hook or by crook. So I think this Justice only gets one vote–like the rest of us. Unlike the slimeballs who put Bush Jr in office. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-a-supreme-court-justice-aired-views-publicly-on-a-presidential-candidate/759658/112 "2016-07-13T18:07:07Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > …Donald Trump is not just any politician. It’s everyone’s responsibility to speak against him and his unAmerican fascism. This. If you were a left-leaning judge in the early 1930s in Weimar Germany observing the rise of Adolf Hitler, you might have felt compelled to speak out against him (and if you had done so, you would likely have been liquidated sometime after 1933). In any event, after the war, many of the German intelligentsia expressed remorse that they had not done more to prevent the rise of Hitler. Without getting into the merits of the comparison, I think that Justice Ginsburg sees the similarities, and that is why she has felt compelled to speak out against Trump. At least, that’s my interpretation of her statements. I feel a similar impetus to speak out against Trump. Before the rise of Trump as a politician, I’d never posted anything political on Facebook. In the last six months, though, I’ve posted numerous anti-Trump links. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-a-supreme-court-justice-aired-views-publicly-on-a-presidential-candidate/759658/113 "2016-07-13T18:08:40Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > Well, Trump doesn’t have a brother who is governor of a swing state. Nor does he have a bunch of Republicans wanting to put him in the White House by hook or by crook. > > So I think this Justice only gets one vote–like the rest of us. Unlike the slimeballs who put Bush Jr in office. I’m sure all the justices are biased, and the Bush v. Gore decision showed that pretty clearly. But when you come out and say what she said there’s just no way you can sit and hear that kind of case should it come up. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-a-supreme-court-justice-aired-views-publicly-on-a-presidential-candidate/759658/114 "2016-07-13T18:13:58Z")
Are the people in this thread who are mocking the ‘tighty-righties’ for objecting to Ginsburg’s comments unaware that the objections are coming from both sides of the political spectrum? Because they certainly seem ignorant of that fact. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-a-supreme-court-justice-aired-views-publicly-on-a-presidential-candidate/759658/115 "2016-07-13T18:14:48Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > I’m sure all the justices are biased, and the Bush v. Gore decision showed that pretty clearly. But when you come out and say what she said there’s just no way you can sit and hear that kind of case should it come up. Well, this would taint their decision perhaps but she would have a moral duty for the good of the country to block Trump, so I’m sure you would agree it would be best if she didn’t recuse herself. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-a-supreme-court-justice-aired-views-publicly-on-a-presidential-candidate/759658/116 "2016-07-13T18:15:26Z")
> [@](#): > > …there’s just no way you can sit and hear that kind of case should it come up. So, you just want her to recuse herself from any case that might have political impact? Leaving what, exactly? Judging the Westminster Dog Show? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-a-supreme-court-justice-aired-views-publicly-on-a-presidential-candidate/759658/117 "2016-07-13T18:19:59Z")
> [@robby](#): > > This. > > If you were a left-leaning judge in the early 1930s in Weimar Germany observing the rise of Adolf Hitler, you might have felt compelled to speak out against him (and if you had done so, you would likely have been liquidated sometime after 1933). In any event, after the war, many of the German intelligentsia expressed remorse that they had not done more to prevent the rise of Hitler. > > Without getting into the merits of the comparison, I think that Justice Ginsburg sees the similarities, and that is why she has felt compelled to speak out against Trump. > > At least, that’s my interpretation of her statements. I feel a similar impetus to speak out against Trump. What’s interesting is, if you grant – for the sake of argument – that publicly making such statements _would_ oblige her to recuse herself in a Bush-V-Trump-esque case, then it’s a calculated risk: stay silent, ready to judge if such a case comes before her; or speak out now, to lower the chances of there ever _being_ such a case. Which do you figure has a better chance of stopping Trump? Has she made that decision? ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-a-supreme-court-justice-aired-views-publicly-on-a-presidential-candidate/759658/118 "2016-07-13T18:25:44Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > What’s interesting is, if you grant – for the sake of argument – that publicly making such statements _would_ oblige her to recuse herself in a Bush-V-Trump-esque case, then it’s a calculated risk: stay silent, ready to judge if such a case comes before her; or speak out now, to lower the chances of there ever _being_ such a case. Which do you figure has a better chance of stopping Trump? Has she made that decision? Good point. I wonder if she actually weighed the pros and cons here. That said, how likely is it that another presidential election will be decided by the Supreme Court? ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-a-supreme-court-justice-aired-views-publicly-on-a-presidential-candidate/759658/119 "2016-07-13T18:27:51Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > What’s interesting is, if you grant – for the sake of argument – that publicly making such statements _would_ oblige her to recuse herself in a Bush-V-Trump-esque case, then it’s a calculated risk: stay silent, ready to judge if such a case comes before her; or speak out now, to lower the chances of there ever _being_ such a case. Which do you figure has a better chance of stopping Trump? Has she made that decision? Fighting your hypothetical, here but - as a Supreme, she’s not _legally_ obligated to recuse herself, if it comes down to the wirem regardless of the public’s opinion. I think she’s decided that she needs to speak up now, about how the Emperor is unfit and unclothed, but she’d still be able to drop the hammer on him as a last resort. And let’s face it - the odds of this becoming another Bush v Gore scenario is pretty slim. That was an extraordinary circumstance all by itself. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-a-supreme-court-justice-aired-views-publicly-on-a-presidential-candidate/759658/120 "2016-07-13T18:27:53Z")
> [@Orwell](#): > > And it troubles me that more people aren’t speaking out about the sheer madness of the incorrigible dishonesty and repeated lies of Hillary Clinton, and the complete disregard she shows for accepted practices and behavior. It’s absolutely mind-blowing that anyone with an ounce of character or honesty supports the lying, above-the-law crook. > > FWIW, I don’t see how I can vote for either of these obnoxious cretins, and I don’t see how anyone else can, either. But calling Trump out while overlooking Clinton’s cargo ship full of baggage is the modern day example of the pot calling the kettle black. Interesting post/handle combination. I’m gonna go out on a limb here and guess you’re a Bernie supporter. Manufactured baggage that for by far the vastest part isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. But go ahead and judge us all from your ivory tower, you clearly know better than anyone else. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-a-supreme-court-justice-aired-views-publicly-on-a-presidential-candidate/759658.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-a-supreme-court-justice-aired-views-publicly-on-a-presidential-candidate/759658.md?page=7)