Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says Congress is to blame for polarizing confirmation process
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the polarizing process for confirming judicial nominees has been caused by increased partisanship among members of Congress. Without mentioning the newest Justice Brett Kavanaugh, she recalled previous confirmations in which there was a "great rapport" among senators from both parties in confirming nominees.
Speaking at a public appearance in Washington, Ginsburg discussed the current partisanship in Congress, where she says senators refuse to work together. She contrasted that to previous confirmations in which she said the Senate worked to ensure the nation's top court was well-structured and well-balanced. She cited Justice Antonin Scalia's unanimous confirmation vote, and her own 96-3 confirmation vote. After last month's brutal confirmation battle, only one Democratic senator voted for Kavanaugh's confirmation.
Ginsburg's comments came a day after Sandra Day O'Connor announced that she was retreating from public life due to her dementia diagnosis. In her remarks, Ginsburg praised the country's first female Supreme Court justice as a champion of an independent and strong American judiciary. Ginsburg, 85, noted that O'Connor was committed to the principles of placing country over party and self-interest, and of holding other government institutions accountable when she was on the federal bench.
Asked if she was optimistic about the state of progressive politics in the U.S. now that the Trump administration has cemented a conservative majority in the nation's highest court for a generation, Ginsburg referred to former Chief Justice William Rehnquist, known for his conservative jurisprudence.
She said that despite his conservative views on the judiciary, Rehnquist upheld precedents on Miranda rights and family leave that he personally disagreed with. She said he realized that Miranda rights had become part of the culture in American society and that they were working. And she praised him for siding with the issue of family leave despite his belief that discrimination on the basis of pregnancy was not discrimination on the basis of gender — a comment that provoked laughter in the audience.
"I believe that as long as we live, we will learn," she said.
Ginsburg also spoke about her famous workout routine, noting that she completes 20 push-ups, then takes a break so she "can breathe," and then does another set of 20 push-ups. And she can hold a plank for 30 seconds.
She was motivated, she said, to begin exercising when her late husband told her that she looked like a concentration camp survivor.
