George Leef is no fan of U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Still, Leef’s latest Forbes column features some kind remarks about the openly partisan left-of-center jurist.
Many years ago, journalist Michael Kinsley secured a place in our history when he observed that “a faux pas is when you blurt out the truth in Washington.”
Last Friday, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg committed a faux pas in a New York Times interview, blurting out the truth that she is intensely partisan and decides major cases on ideological grounds.
Federal judges are supposed to keep out of the political mud, but Justice Ginsburg opined that Donald Trump would be a national disaster. “I can’t imagine what the country would be with Donald Trump as our president,” she said, adding that the prospect of a Trump presidency made her think about moving to New Zealand.
Furthermore, she also revealed that her mind is made up on possible future cases that could come before the Court. She wants a chance to overrule the big Second Amendment decision District of Columbia v. Heller, for one. Ginsburg, like nearly all progressives, is hostile to the idea, clearly articulated in that decision by the late Justice Scalia, that the Constitution protects the right of individuals to keep and bear arms.
For another, Justice Ginsburg says she wants to overturn Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. That is the decision, denounced by Barack Obama in his 2010 State of the Union address with the members of the Court seated in front of him, that keeps the government from clamping down on free speech for parties Ginsburg, Obama, and many others would like to silence on political matters, especially corporations.
So, we now understand that facts and arguments in cases raising First and Second Amendment issues would not matter to Justice Ginsburg. She has her agenda and her mind is made up.
Fine – it’s better that we know the truth.
