On Thursday, Senator Ted Cruz made an odd prediction when he said that he expects another vacancy on the Supreme Court this summer, in addition to the one currently left open by the late Antonin Scalia, due to a current justice stepping down. Well, if Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has anything to say about it, it won’t be her. During an interview with BBC Newsnight that same day, Ginsburg said she isn’t planning on going anywhere.
Ginsburg is 83, and said that at her age she takes things year by year, but noted, “Justice John Paul Stevens stepped down at age 90. So I have a way to go.”
During an appearance Thursday at George Washington University, the renowned liberal jurist said she will continue to do her job “as long as I can do it full steam,” adding, “When I can’t, that will be the time I will step down.”
Ginsburg’s judgment had been called into question in the past year, after she made negative remarks about Donald Trump, while he was campaigning for President. Traditionally, members of the Supreme Court stay out of the political sphere. Ginsburg later said she regretted those words, and when asked about her past comments on Thursday, she declined to discuss them.
Still, she didn’t shy away from speaking her mind about the current state of the country. “We are not experiencing the best times,” Ginsburg said. Nevertheless, she stated, “I am optimistic in the long run. A great man once said that the true symbol of the United States is not the bald eagle. It is the pendulum. And when the pendulum swings too far in one direction it will go back.”
[Image via BBC screengrab]
