Ginsburg should recuse herself from Trump cases

The Supreme Court of the United States has the last word in interpreting laws, especially in relation to the U.S. Constitution. Being a lifetime appointment, most legal scholars say that the justiceships, in many ways, are more important than even the presidency.

The justices that do sit on that court, above all else, must demonstrate a high decorum of fairness and impartiality. Regardless of their political leanings, each justice has a duty to judge the merits of the cases before them, putting aside their personal opinion of the author. Even if they did not care for the person in front of them, justices must refrain from public comments that could bring into question their propriety. Anything else would clearly demonstrate their overt bias in exercising their duties.

Rewind back to the week of July 7-11, 2016, with the presidential campaigns in full swing, Justice Ruth “Sleepy” Ginsburg is granting interviews with the likes of CNN, the AP and the New York Times. During these interviews, Justice Ginsburg was highly critical of the then-candidate Donald Trump, calling him, among other things, a “faker” and casting a very negative light on the possibility of him becoming president.

Although she apologized for her remarks, calling them “ill-advised,” Justice Ginsburg has already cast a dark shadow of her impartiality towards our now President Trump. With the president’s travel ban executive order coming up for review before the Supreme Court, one must ask if the justice truly believes she can fairly judge the man’s actions given her history of disdain for him.

The mainstream press seems to have conveniently forgotten and forgiven her remarks as though they never happened. I can’t help but think of the outrage if the shoe was on the other foot, let’s say Justice Thomas criticized then-candidate Obama and later was interpreting his executive orders. The media would be screaming bias and asking him to recuse himself of all cases coming before him that had a hint of President Obama behind them.

I know of the double standard that usually favors the left, but shouldn’t an objective press or even fellow justices be asking Justice Ginsburg, in light of her comments, to sit this one out, to recuse herself and eliminate all question of her ability to judge our president’s executive orders fairly?

This story was originally published June 23, 2017 at 2:45 PM with the headline "Ginsburg should recuse herself from Trump cases."