Ruth Bader Ginsburg Calls Kaepernick's National Anthem Protest 'Dumb And Disrespectful'

WASHINGTON (CBS) - - Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg called Colin Kaepernick's national anthem protest "dumb and disrespectful" in a new interview published Monday.

A growing number of athletes following the San Francisco 49ers quarterback's example have knelt or made other demonstrations during the Star-Spangled Banner to protest police shootings of African-Americans.

The liberal Supreme Court justice told Yahoo's Katie Couric that such expressions are "really dumb."

"Would I arrest them for doing it? No," Ginsburg said. "I think it's dumb and disrespectful. I would have the same answer if you asked me about flag burning. I think it's a terrible thing to do, but I wouldn't lock a person up for doing it. I would point out how ridiculous it seems to me to do such an act."

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Ginsburg elaborated that even though she finds the protests offensive, the players have the right to do it.

"If they want to be stupid, there's no law that should be preventive," she said. "If they want to be arrogant, there's no law that prevents them from that."

The 83-year-old justice, referred to as "The Notorious RBG" by her admirers, appears to have lost some fans on social media because of her remarks.

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• Colin Kaepernick
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