Justice Ginsburg Says She Won’t Retire Before 2012; Hints She May Stay Until 2016

CNSNews ^ | February 4, 2011 | Nicholas Ballasy

[jazusamo]

(CNSNews.com) -- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said on Thursday evening that she will not retire from the court before 2012 and hinted that she might serve until she's at least 83 years old in 2016.

VIDEO 1:57 minutes

Ginsburg was interviewed by NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg at the Lisner Auditorium at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. The topic of the discussion was Ginsburg's life before and after becoming a Supreme Court justice.

“I am constantly asked, ‘Is Justice Ginsburg going to retire soon?’" Totenberg asked. "So, I will ask you that. Do you have any plans for your retirement?”

Ginsburg, who was born on March 15, 1933, will turn 78 next month. “I will give the answer that I just gave to you, Nina, a few moments ago," Ginsburg said. "One of the nice perks about this job is that we get to choose paintings from the storage supply of the National Gallery, the Museum of American Art, the Hirshhorn.

Supreme Court Associate
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

“I had a wonderful painting from the Museum of American Art by Josef Albers,” said Ginsburg. “It was taken away for a traveling exhibition and I’m told that it will come back to me sometime in 2012. So I am certainly not going to retire before I get my Albers back. Another answer I can give you is I was appointed at age 60, the same age that Louis Bidenz Brandeis was when he was appointed the court. He stayed until he was 83. So I do have a way to go.”

Ginsburg will be 83 on March 15, 2016. (Louis Brandeis retired from the Court at the age of 83 in 1939.)

President Barack Obama, who will be standing for reelection in 2012, has so far filled two vacancies on the Supreme Court, appointing Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor.

Last year, during the confirmation process for Justice Kagan, U.S. News and World Report published a piece on "rumors" that Justice Ginsburg might soon retire, and noted the recent death of her husband and her own bout with cancer. "While the court won't comment on the rumors, indications are that she might be looking to leave soon because of the recent death of her husband and also because of her own health issues," said U.S. News and World Report. "She recently underwent chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer."

[jazusamo]

It would be good if Obama isn't there to nominate her successor.

[silverleaf]

She is a sick old woman. The only way she’ll make it to 2016 is if they stuff her .... like Trigger

imho

[circlecity]

If she can stay awake that long......

[Abathar]

I hope she lives long enough to make it past 2012, I would hate to see what Obama would replace her with.

[pabianice]

Isn’t she the one that court artists draw sleeping on the bench?

[Psalm 144]

It would be good if Obama isn’t there to nominate her successor.

************************

I think that is what she thinks too. Liberal though she is, I think she finds the Vladimir Ilyich Obama a bit much to take.

[jazusamo]

Yep, she has a habit of dozing once in a while. :-)

[LeonardFMason]

Ginsburg if honest would say: “I don’t plan on retiring before 2012 unless it looks like Obama will lose. In that case, if a republican wins, I’ll do my best to live until a Democrat is elected again.”

[MissTed]

Power must be one helluva drug.

Perhaps a mandatory retirement age for Justices????

[skeeter]

Thats OK Ginsberg, we'll wait until your gone.

Sooner would be better, but later is OK, too.

[Above My Pay Grade]

I hope she hangs in there long enough for President Palin to choose her replacement.

[sinanju]

A true believer, the ex-ACLU veteran will be taking injections of embalming fluid before she submits to being carted away.

And her taste in art sucks. Josef Albers (1888 - 1976) was an immigrant German artist who was among the vanguard of the the sort of nonsensical, abstract art a chimp could paint. Blech.

[MsLady]

Me too, but, even if she didn’t, she’s liberal, he’d just replace her with another liberal. But, it would be nice if we could get another conservative on the bench.

[skeeter]

One the other hand, it might not be your decision when you leave, your honor.

Whether you acknowledge Him or not.

[JPG]

Long range plans of the elderly and the Grim Reaper’s timetable are not always in sync.

[Emperor Palpatine]

Trigger was far more honorable that Madame Justice Battle-Axe

[Cicero]

Good. If she retires before 2012, then Obama will replace her with someone 40 years younger and 20 times worse. I know that worse than Ginsberg is hard to conceive, but if anyone can do it, Obama can.

[MsLady]

Or President Cain, I’ll take either one of those thank you :)

[smokingfrog]

She will need to stay because Kagan and Sotomayor will have to recuse themselves if a natural born citizen case comes before the supremes?

[Abathar]

He would replace her with a “young” liberal, someone who would be sitting on that bench for 20-30 years.

My kids don’t need that...