Progressives are anxiously calling for her retirement, but Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg isn’t fazed. The leader of the Supreme Court’s liberal wing made clear in a recent interview she has no intention of stepping down before the November elections, when Republicans have a chance at taking over the Senate.
“It’s expectable. I’m now the oldest judge on the court. I can’t say that I ignore it, but I have to do what seems to me to be right,” Ginsburg, 81, told the Wall Street Journal’s Jess Bravin in an interview.
She maintained that she won’t step down as long as she remains in good health. “I do know that once I feel I am slipping, I will not stay here, because this is a very hard job,” she said. “But that time, thank goodness, has not yet come.”
The issue has been on her mind, though. John Paul Stevens, the most senior liberal-leaning justice before he stepped down in 2010, said two weeks ago that Ginsburg had approached him for advice on when to retire, and he told her she didn’t need his advice.
“I think [it’s] certainly natural and appropriate to think about your successor,” Stevens said April 20 on ABC’s “This Week.” “You’re interested in the job and the kind of work is done you have to have an interest in who is going to fill your shoes.”
