Should Liberal Fears Prompt Ginsburg to Retire?
Liberal hopes that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg—who at 78 is the U.S. Supreme Court’s oldest member— will leave the bench to allow President Barack Obama to appoint a democratic successor in the event he isn’t re-elected next November shouldn’t influence the justice’s future retirement plans.
That is the view of Bloomberg View columnist Stephen L. Carter, a Yale University law professor, who questioned the promulgating view that justices should serve the best interests of the political parties toward which they lean. Carter’s response follows a recent Associated Press article on the issue.
“If liberals calling for Ginsburg to step down believe that she is somehow no longer up to the job, let them say so forthrightly. Based on the best informed reports, such a claim would be nonsense.” Carter wrote. “If, on the other hand, they want Ginsburg to stand aside to better serve the goals of their movement, then she has an even better reason to ignore their plea: She doesn’t work for them.”
