Pretty much every single day brings a new news item that leads experts to declare the 2016 election the most unprecedented in U.S. history.
It’s gotten to the point where we’re immune to all that hyperbole. That said, this weekend, something that quite literally never happens went down.
A sitting U.S. Supreme Court justice spoke out against a presidential candidate.
Judges of all levels are supposed to remain independent of the political process and entirely impartial. But Ruth Bader Ginsburg issued several statements over the weekend disparaging the Donald.
At first her words were innocous-ish, saying she didn’t want to “think about a Donald Trump” presidency. Had she stopped there, maybe no one would have cared. But she continued on.
She spoke to The New York Times.
“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.”
Then, she went to CNN:
“He is a faker,” she said of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, going point by point, as if presenting a legal brief. “He has no consistency about him. He says whatever comes into his head at the moment. He really has an ego. … How has he gotten away with not turning over his tax returns? The press seems to be very gentle with him on that.”
Look, I’m no fan of decorum for decorum’s sake, and obviously every single Supreme Court justice has their own political views that shape their decisions, but you can’t do this in an election year.
Trump blasted her, as did many others.
Today, she issued an apology.
“On reflection, my recent remarks in response to press inquiries were ill-advised and I regret making them,” the 83-year-old justice said.
Like I said. Unprecedented.
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