Better days will come, Ginsburg says in interview
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. ABA Journal file photo by Sam Kittner.
A free press is important for the United States, U.S.Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg recently told the BBC, amidst various charges from President Donald Trump’s administration that the mainstream media delivers “fake news.”
“I read the Washington Post and the New York Times every day, and I think that the reporters are trying to tell the public the way things are,” Ginsburg told BBC Newsnight. The interview was connected to a dress rehearsal she attended of Dead Man Walking at the Kennedy Center.
When asked about the United States’ current political climate, Ginsburg told the the British news agency that she’s most concerned with congressional gridlock. In terms of the country’s future, she’s optimistic.
“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,” Ginsburg said. She mentioned U.S. internment camps of Japanese Americans during World War II.
“That was a dreadful mistake. It took a long time for the United States to realize how dreadful it was. But ultimately the president acknowledged that there was no reason to intern people of Japanese ancestry, and Congress passed a bill providing compensation for the people who were interned or their survivors.”
Ginsburg, 83, also mentioned the January women’s marches.
“I’ve never seen such a demonstration—both the numbers and the rapport of the people in that crowd. There was no violence, it was orderly,” she said. “So yes, we are not experiencing the best times, but there is there is reason to hope that that we will see a better day.”
