Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg walked back Friday her criticisms of San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick for refusing to stand during the national anthem.
“Barely aware of the incident or its purpose, my comments were inappropriately dismissive and harsh,” she said in a statement via the Supreme Court public information office. “I should have declined to respond.”
In a Yahoo News interview earlier this week promoting her new book “My Own Words,” Ginsburg said Kaepernick’s protest was “dumb and disrespectful,” “stupid” and “arrogant,” while adding that there is nothing illegal about it.
Her initial comments causes discomfort among the justice’s many progressive fans, who have anointed her the “Notorious RBG,” for her scathing dissents in cases attacking voting rights and contraceptive access.
Kaepernick has said his national anthem demonstration is a protest against “a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” and Ginsburg’s initial dismissal of it put her it odds with the Black Lives Matter movement.
This is not the first time Ginsburg has had to clarify a comment she’s made in an interview with the press. In July, she released a statement expressing “regret” over previous comments calling GOP nominee Donald Trump a “faker,” among other things.
