Government

Ginsburg: Still No Plans to Step Down

Ginsburg: Still No Plans to Step Down

Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 78, said she won't be leaving the nation's highest court "anytime soon." (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats and liberals have a nightmare vision of the Supreme Court’s future: President Barack Obama is defeated for re-election next year and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, at 78 the oldest justice, soon finds her health will not allow her to continue on the bench.

The new Republican president appoints Ginsburg’s successor, cementing conservative domination of the court, and soon the justices roll back decisions in favor of abortion rights and affirmative action.

But Ginsburg could retire now and allow Obama to name a like-minded successor whose confirmation would be in the hands of a Democratic-controlled Senate. “She has in her power the ability to prevent a real shift in the balance of power on the court,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California at Irvine law school. “On the other hand, there’s the personal. How do you decide to leave the United States Supreme Court?”

For now, Ginsburg’s answer is, you don’t.

There are few more indelicate questions to put to a Supreme Court justice, but Ginsburg has said gracefully, and with apparent good humor, that the president should not expect a retirement letter before 2015.

She will turn 82 that year, the same age Justice Louis Brandeis was when he left the court in 1939. Ginsburg, who is Jewish, has said she wants to emulate the court’s first Jewish justice.

While declining an interview on the topic, Ginsburg pointed in a note to The Associated Press to another marker she has laid down, that she is awaiting the end of a traveling art exhibition that includes a painting that usually hangs in her office by the German emigre Josef Albers.

“Couldn’t think of leaving until after it is returned to me, which won’t be anytime soon,” she wrote.

Certainly there is no indication that Ginsburg is slowing down on the job, even after she underwent surgery two years ago for pancreatic cancer that her doctors said was detected at a very early stage.

Appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1993, she served for the first time this term with two other women, Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, and as the senior liberal-leaning justice, a role that gives her the power to assign dissenting opinions when she is on the losing side of ideologically split rulings.

On a personal level, she appeared to take comfort in her work as she adjusted to life without her husband, Martin, who died a year ago.

And she doesn’t have to look very far ahead to imagine having a vote in some of the most important cases of her time on the court, including the challenge to Obama’s health care overhaul and the fight over gay marriage.

Laura Krugman Ray, a Widener University law professor who has written about Ginsburg, said it is easy to believe Ginsburg would want to have a voice in those cases.

“I think the court is enormously important for her,” Ray said. “And especially now after husband’s death, you wonder what she can see herself doing if she were not on the court.”

Ginsburg, the second woman on the bench, has only to look at the first for a cautionary tale about retiring. Sandra Day O’Connor announced her retirement in 2005 in part so she could take care of her ailing husband, John. Two months later, Chief Justice William Rehnquist died in office.

Meanwhile, John O‘Connor’s health declined much faster than his wife anticipated and he soon was living in a nursing home in Arizona. Would she have quit the court had she known what awaited?

In retirement, O’Connor has maintained a busy schedule, hearing cases on federal appeals courts as well as advocating for Alzheimer’s funding, improved civics education and merit selection, rather than partisan election, of state judges.

O’Connor, now 81, also has said she that she regrets that some of her decisions have been “dismantled” by the Supreme Court. Justice Samuel Alito, who took her seat in 2006, has voted differently from O’Connor in key cases involving abortion rights, campaign finance and the use of race in governmental policies.

But some on the left say that the focus on the personal is misplaced. Ginsburg needs to put self-interest aside and act for the good of the issues they believe in, Harvard law professor Randall Kennedy wrote recently. Kennedy said 72-year-old Justice Stephen Breyer should leave, too.

Too much is at stake and both life and politics are too fickle to take the risk that everything will work out as the justices desire, Kennedy said.

David Garrow, a Cambridge University historian who follows the court, said Ginsburg’s situation points to an institutional problem for the court, “the arguably narcissistic attitude that longer is better.”

The longest-serving justice, William Douglas, was on the court for more than 36 1/2 years, reluctant to retire even after a debilitating stroke. “History teaches us that often longer is not better,” Garrow said.

Justices sometimes look at electoral projections when considering retirement, he said, adding that Ginsburg probably still could decide to retire next summer if Obama’s electoral prospects seem shaky.

Chief Justice Earl Warren never envisioned retiring during the presidency of his nemesis, Richard Nixon. Yet that is exactly what came to pass in 1969.

Warren planned to step down early in what he hoped would be Lyndon Johnson’s second full term. But then the Vietnam War got in the way of Johnson’s re-election plans and Robert Kennedy fell to an assassin’s bullet.

At that point, Warren thought Nixon had a reasonable chance of winning the presidency “and desperately tried to leave under a lame-duck LBJ presidency on its last legs,” said Artemus Ward, a political science professor at Northern Illinois University who has written about court retirements.

Johnson’s nomination of Abe Fortas as chief justice failed amid election-year politics in the Senate and the first allegations of financial improprieties that eventually would drive Fortas from the bench. Early in 1969, Nixon nominated Warren Burger as chief justice.

Comments (90)

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  • robert
    Posted on July 2, 2011 at 3:28pm

    capecodsully
    Posted on July 2, 2011 at 2:58pm
    “TIREDOFPROGRESSIVES – Although anti Semites like yourself make me sick and I hate to see you on the Blaze, I’ll answer your question. The Jewish people are blessed by the Lord, they are God’s chosen people. They rise to the top in all fields. ”

    Being “blessed by the Lord,” is pure fabrication, and it has absolutely nothing to do with what TIRED OF PROGRESSIVES had to say. Also it’s a meaningless statement to Darwinian theorists, who comprise the vast majority of people the world over.

    Your “explanation” is as nonsensical as your lack of logic.

    And if God’s “chosen people” rise to the top in all fields, then why do we have so many gentiles coming in first place in many areas, more so than Jews?

    And, here’s another strain for you to consider: Askenazi Jews comprise the vasy majority of Jews everywhere. They originated in the Rhine valley and have interbred so much within the European population they’re unidentifiable in their DNA with Caucasians in general.

    Lastly, I have no gripe with “Jewish” people. In fact I like ALL of them on the right. But I detest racist Jews such as yourself who come on a site and expect to fool everybody with childish, teenage logic designed to “psyche” rather than inform. If there is a “white superiority” element here it is you.

    Did you know the average group IQ of Israel is 94, while Italy, Poland, Germany, and Finland is 102?

    Report Post »  
    • TheGreyPiper
      Posted on July 2, 2011 at 3:40pm

      Robert et al:

      I’m sure the reason that the average IQ in Israel is only 94 is because of the Mohammedans bringing it down.
      But I’m glad to see, at least, you have no excuse for Polish jokes.

      Report Post » TheGreyPiper  
  • TomFerrari
    Posted on July 2, 2011 at 3:25pm

    Hang on, Ginsberg!

    We need a CONSTITUTIONALIST !

    If she hangs on til 2015, we’ll get a TRUE, HONEST, JUST, justice! (Unlike her!)
    Coz we ALL know obama has already LOST.
    The great news is, she doesn’t realize it! WOO HOOO!
    Additionally, if he is hinting for her to retire, then he DOES realize he can’t win! YIPPEEEEE!

    Report Post » TomFerrari  
  • lisalake
    Posted on July 2, 2011 at 3:16pm

    how ’bout plans to drop dead…

    Report Post »  
  • Rweb
    Posted on July 2, 2011 at 3:16pm

    This great news. Stay on another 2 years.

    Report Post »  
  • MatthewChapter24
    Posted on July 2, 2011 at 3:15pm

    Unfortunately for Ginsberg, time is not in *her* hands. God will dictate when she will retire.
    Daniel 2:21 reads “And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding.”

    Report Post »  
  • cloudsofwar
    Posted on July 2, 2011 at 3:13pm

    with BO as potus no one is safe.

    Report Post »  
  • robert
    Posted on July 2, 2011 at 3:12pm

    Here’s hoping this unsightly boob will stay until Obama leaves office. She’s bad enough, but the person that evil black America-hater would replace her with is evidenced clearly by two people who are bigger flakes than she is.

    The Supreme Court has taken on the appearance of a carnival side show rather than a respected judicial body. Sotomayer, Ginsburg and Kagen are American-hating, anti-white racists even worse than Byer.

    If this president is able to pick this oddball’s successor, then the entire court should be abolished forever.

    Report Post »  
  • Tankertony
    Posted on July 2, 2011 at 3:07pm

    Excellent. Sarah will be filling in the empty seat once this dear old ‘lady’ retires.

    Report Post » Tankertony  
  • cgbs6183
    Posted on July 2, 2011 at 3:02pm

    Wow, if this is not trolling I don’t know what is.

    Report Post »  
  • capecodsully
    Posted on July 2, 2011 at 2:58pm

    TIREDOFPROGRESSIVES – Although anti Semites like yourself make me sick and I hate to see you on the Blaze, I’ll answer your question. The Jewish people are blessed by the Lord, they are God’s chosen people. They rise to the top in all fields. Even if Jewish people turn from the Lord and the way they should go, the blessings of the Lord are not taken back. Probably way to much for you to understand but I gave it a shot.

    Report Post »  
  • teddrunk
    Posted on July 2, 2011 at 2:58pm

    Have they found out what species Ginsburg is yet? We know that can’t be human.

    Report Post »  
  • Fly Old Glory 24/7 365
    Posted on July 2, 2011 at 2:49pm

    we need to pray this woman hold on and keeps her word…..

    Report Post »  
  • Mtroom
    Posted on July 2, 2011 at 2:48pm

    “A real shift in the balance of power”……what happened to “Fair and Honest”?

    Report Post » Mtroom  
  • concealled9mms
    Posted on July 2, 2011 at 2:47pm

    You are right and i no longer support the fools who support a president who will throw them under the bus they are on their own i wont support them unless they sink every ship coming their way and until i see jews protesting adolph obamma here in this country

    Report Post »  
  • cosette
    Posted on July 2, 2011 at 2:46pm

    Holy hag factor batman, that’s one ugly chickie! Beauty may be only skin deep, but ugly goes all the way to the bone

    Report Post »  
  • geonj
    Posted on July 2, 2011 at 2:40pm

    separation of powers. it is a lifetime appointment and not subject to political whims. some courts are liberal, like the burger court was. some will be conservative. the best courts are the ones that interpret the constitution and don’t allow personal beliefs interfere with the courts ruling. i for one support an independent court with balanced ideologies and a moderate to break the ties. the president suggests justices, congress does it’s due dilligence (not without a sad amount of vitriol) and then the court needs to be left to it’s own devices to interpret the law as it applies to the constitution. the vitality of the court depends on its independence. politicians who try to use the court as an instrument of social change should be criminally charged.

    Report Post » geonj  
  • capecodsully
    Posted on July 2, 2011 at 2:37pm

    Just one thing Ginsburg, be careful if someone from Chicago moves in next door, just sayin’.

    Report Post »  
  • capecodsully
    Posted on July 2, 2011 at 2:35pm

    Even a lefty like this will wait for an honorable President to find her replacement. America thanks you Ginsburg, some of you lefties aren’t all that bad.

    Report Post »  
  • LastAmerican
    Posted on July 2, 2011 at 2:33pm

    Maybe she is concerned about who he would choose. Maybe she does care about this country. Just maybe she sees him as the Marxist that he is?

    Report Post »  
  • SavingtheRepublic.com
    Posted on July 2, 2011 at 2:33pm

    ^____^____^
    Whether she goes now isnt too much of a concern, if she changed her mind we would get another unqualified inexperienced book worm socialist progressive. Fact that she is holding on a little bit longer may be that light at the end of the tunnel for the country… granted someone can take out BHO election machine.

    Take note of what I sad its not BHO himself that must be beat its those behind him that are the threat: campaign managers, fringe media, special interest who WILL find the votes they need to secure a second term. BHO said he could live being a 1 term potus but then this pesky DREAM act started popping up… just in time for ‘12.

    The SNC will find the voters whether they get them through more empty promises of socail programs there is no funding for, amnesty for illegals or maybe adding a new state like Puerto Rico to the union to get them. Of course they can always get plenty of Mickey Mouses to the voting booth as well!

    All I can say is PRAY for our conservative leaning justices if we lose one of them the USA as you know WILL be over! http://tinyurl.com/3tg4s98

    Report Post » SavingtheRepublic.com  
  • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
    Posted on July 2, 2011 at 2:32pm

    @Catb:

    I wish Mr Obama would either just resign or be impeached soon for all he is doing to the nation. The real fear is of one conservative justice being removed from the bench and Obama getting one more chance to upsurge the judicial authority process of the land.

    Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
  • Micmac
    Posted on July 2, 2011 at 2:29pm

    Fair and Just? No political agenda? The SC is obsolete only because it CANNOT look at decisions based upon the Constitution, but only on the personal political agenda. It’s a stacked deck of cards…period.

    Report Post »  
    • concealled9mms
      Posted on July 2, 2011 at 2:51pm

      It shows how worthless the court is it should be disbanded as all they do is slap down laws passed by the masses of this failing country . They are the biggest threat to the us. They dont give a crap about the laws of this country they just make them up as they go along.We must win back the senate next election just for confirmation reasons

      Report Post »  
    • Professional Infidel
      Posted on July 2, 2011 at 7:41pm

      Ditto from me on that

      Report Post »  
  • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
    Posted on July 2, 2011 at 2:29pm

    @CatB:

    Mr Obama definitly has more problems even with Libya now…read the front articles of the Drudge Report and see where he is still having US Air Forces involved in air strikes while denying it is happening…

    This is directly from the Air Force Times:
    http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2011/06/defense-africom-air-force-navy-flying-libya-missions-063011/

    And Mr Obama declares still, according to some reports the “Fuss is only a matter of Politics…”
    http://cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-says-he-doesn-t-have-answer-whethe

    Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
  • CatB
    Posted on July 2, 2011 at 2:25pm

    Poor Obama — looks like he has more problems than just this …

    http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/breaking-49-house-members-call-investiga

    LOL … TEA!

    Report Post »  
    • Dale
      Posted on July 2, 2011 at 4:50pm

      Let’s hope that Congress can accomplish something besides warming their seats, by restricting kagan’s odumbocare [BIG EARS!] vote. I have it on good authority that RINO orrin hatch suggested ginsburg to teddy kennedy – any corroboration would be appreciated. It is very interesting to note that of three female justices three lean left and two can’t spell right.

      Report Post » Dale  
    • Dale
      Posted on July 2, 2011 at 4:53pm

      Previous comment was in response to CATB‘s link regarding kagan’s odumbocare [BIG EARS!] work while solicitor general.

      Report Post » Dale  
  • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
    Posted on July 2, 2011 at 2:17pm

    Keep rolling on Ginsburg, hold on till there is a conservative POTUS and then retire if you so choose.

    Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
    • Untameable-kate
      Posted on July 2, 2011 at 2:33pm

      I was just thinking the same thing. After the Obamanation White House we will surely not have to deal with any more liberal kooks in office for a while. Praying.

      Report Post » Untameable-kate  
    • Gonzo
      Posted on July 2, 2011 at 2:38pm

      Amen Snowleopard

      Report Post » Gonzo  
    • Whitey4West
      Posted on July 2, 2011 at 2:39pm

      Chances are she’ll die from “natural” causes or an “accidental” death before the 2012 elections.

      Report Post »  
    • pavepaws
      Posted on July 2, 2011 at 3:21pm

      Also, no walks in public parks in Washington.

      Report Post »  
    • JRook
      Posted on July 2, 2011 at 3:10pm

      Wouldn’t it be refreshing if we actually talked about a neutral or independent court. One not made up of appointees who were selected based on a biased interpretation of the Constitution. One made up of appointees who, similar to what the President should do, represent the interest of all citizens. If she really cared about the Court and the country she would take whatever action necessary to block the court from getting any more conservative than it is already.

      Report Post »  
    • banjarmon
      Posted on July 2, 2011 at 3:13pm

      Hang in there Ginsburg…When BO nominates people like Kagan…You know he is TOO far left.

      Report Post » banjarmon  
    • Ari Ben TZion
      Posted on July 2, 2011 at 3:46pm

      Jew-Bader Ginsburg will step down? Aw, shame.

      Report Post » Ari Ben TZion  
    • red_white_blue2
      Posted on July 2, 2011 at 4:29pm

      Keep Rollin…We’ll Gettcha Eventually!

      Report Post » red_white_blue2  
    • PunditPawn
      Posted on July 2, 2011 at 10:35pm

      At her age nature will have its way with her whether she’s ready or not. Clock is ticking…

      Report Post »  
    • TheCenturion
      Posted on July 2, 2011 at 10:50pm

      Yeah, go ahead Ruthie, you hang in there til 2015, the conservative prez will happily accept your resignation.

      Report Post »  
    • momdisconnected
      Posted on July 3, 2011 at 1:59am

      Amen….

      Report Post »  
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