The late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2016 said “nothing in the Constitution” prevents a president from nominating to fill a seat on the Supreme Court. She was very supportive of Judge Merrick Garland’s candidacy at the time. She also made it clear she detested President Trump.
“I think he is about as well qualified as any nominee to this court,” Ginsburg said of Garland, according to a July 2016 report from The New York Times. “Super bright and very nice, very easy to deal with. And super prepared. He would be a great colleague.”
“That’s their job,” Ginsburg told the New York Times. “There’s nothing in the Constitution that says the president stops being president in his last year.”
Justice Ginsburg, 83, said she would not leave her job “as long as I can do it full steam.” But she assessed what is at stake in the presidential election with the precision of an actuary, saying that Justices Anthony M. Kennedy and Stephen G. Breyer are no longer young.
“Kennedy is about to turn 80,” she said. “Breyer is going to turn 78.”
She chose to not retire and not let Barack Obama fill her seat. It’s on her. Whether she was wishing for something else on her deathbed is sad but irrelevant.
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