President Obama’s top spokesman on Wednesday declined to criticize Justice Ruth Bader Gingsburg for her derogatory remarks about presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, and indicated the White House wouldn’t be trying to police what she says.
“She didn’t earn the nickname the Notorious R.B.G. for nothing,” Josh Earnest quipped on Wednesday, using the moniker the Supreme Court jurist has earned for her feistiness. The nickname comes from the Notorious B.I.G., a rapper who died in 1997.
“In the past I’ve been asked about controversial comments from other Supreme Court justices,” such as the late-Antonin Scalia, Earnest said. During a Supreme Court hearing he made comments “that many found to be quite controversial, possibly even racist. At that point I declined to weigh into that criticism. I think I’ll pursue a similar approach in this instance,” Earnest said.
On Monday Ginsburg called Trump a “faker.”
“He has no consistency about him,” she reportedly said from her chambers. “How has he gotten away with not turning over his tax returns? The press seems to be very gentle with him on that.”
Earnest did push back against Trump’s assertion that Ginsberg’s “mind is shot.”
“I would not call her competence into question,” Earnest said. “I think anybody who’s observed her, she’s done her work whether you agree with her or not, and whether you agree with every ruling that she has issued.”
“I think over the course of her career she has demonstrated a keen intellect and an understanding of the law and a commitment to ensuring that it’s applied fairly to every American citizen,” he added.
