WASHINGTON — Donald Trump called on Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to resign early Wednesday morning, joining an outpouring of criticism that is giving a divided Republican Party a fresh common target.
“Justice Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court has embarrassed all by making very dumb political statements about me. Her mind is shot – resign!” Trump tweeted.
The presumptive GOP nominee also told The New York Times that the comments were “highly inappropriate.”
“I think it’s highly inappropriate that a United States Supreme Court judge gets involved in a political campaign, frankly,” he told The New York Times. “I think it’s a disgrace to the court and I think she should apologize to the court. I couldn’t believe it when I saw it.”
Ginsburg, in an interview Monday evening with CNN legal analyst and Supreme Court biographer Joan Biskupic, called Trump a “faker” and said he had “no consistency about him.”
The liberal justice made similar remarks to The Associated Press and The New York Times in recent days.
House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday also sharply criticized Ginsburg.
“I find it very peculiar, and I think it’s out of place,” Ryan told CNN’s Jake Tapper during a CNN town hall. “For someone on the Supreme Court who is going to be calling balls and strikes in the future based upon whatever the next president and Congress does, that strikes me as inherently biased and out of the realm.”
Ryan said that someone in an appointed branch of government — and especially someone who will have to adjudicate cases in the future where the administration is a party — should not critique presidential candidates.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio suggested Wednesday that the comments were a sign Ginsburg couldn’t be “impartial.”
“How can a #SCOTUS justice involved in partisan attacks during campaign be impartial in any cases involving a Trump administration?” Rubio tweeted.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called her comments “totally inappropriate.”
Ben Carson, a Trump confidant, told CNN’s Erin Burnett on “OutFront” that he agreed.
“It is completely inappropriate for Supreme Court justices to inject themselves into a political campaign, no matter what side they’re on,” Carson said. “Because we’re already suspicious about the way the Supreme Court is going.”
Democrats have largely given her a pass so far. Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid declined to answer directly when asked about Ginsburg on Tuesday. Reid emphasized Senate Republicans’ refusal to consider President Barack Obama’s choice to fill an open seat, Merrick Garland.
“I’m not going to comment on what any of the eight Supreme Court justices say,” he told reporters.
