U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg signaled Thursday she has no intention of retiring from the high court any time soon.
“As long as I can do the job full steam, I will be here,” Ginsburg said during an event at Adas Israel Congregation in Washington, D.C.
Ginsburg turns 85 in March, and there has been speculation for years about how long she will serve on the high court.
President Trump reportedly believes he’ll appoint four justices to the Supreme Court, including Justice Neil Gorsuch, while in office. The president said in October he thinks Ginsburg, Justice Anthony Kennedy and Justice Sonia Sotomayor will retire.
But Ginsburg has said repeatedly she would serve as long as she is able. The 84-year-old justice also joked that having surpassed former justices Louis Brandeis and Felix Frankfurter as the longest-sitting Jewish justice, “I can’t lose that.”
Ginsburg discussed a wide range of topics during her question-and-answer session Thursday, touching on her Jewish faith, her friendship with the late Justice Antonin Scalia, and her work fighting for gender equality.
The justice said she would still like to see an Equal Rights Amendment added to the U.S. Constitution and is “hopeful there’s some movement in Congress to revive the amendment.”
Speaking of her granddaughters, Ginsburg said, “I would like them to see in the Constitution a statement that men and women are persons of equal citizenship stature.”
“I’d like to see that as a basic tenant of our system,” Ginsburg continued. “Our Constitution starts out ‘We the people, in order to form a more perfect union,’ and I think a very large part of becoming a more perfect union is to embrace more and more people.”
Ginsburg also offered high praise for the federal judiciary — saying it is “our nation’s hallmark and pride” — as well as her fellow justices.
“The Supreme Court is the most collegial place I’ve ever worked,” she said. “We all respect, and in most cases, genuinely like each other.”
When asked if she believes if there may come a time when justices should respond to assaults on democratic norms, Ginsburg said she believes the judiciary should be reactive.
“It doesn’t generate the controversy that comes before it,” she said. “It has no agenda. It’s reactive to what’s out there.”
Reflecting on the celebrity she’s achieved in recent years, Ginsburg indicated she is surprised by the fame, which has been boosted by portrayals on “Saturday Night Live” and upcoming movies about her life.
“It’s amazing to me,” she said. “In March I will be 85, and everyone wants to take my picture.”
Ginsburg has begun traveling to events across the Northeast while the Supreme Court is in the midst of its four-week midwinter recess. The justice was one of five who missed President Trump’s State of the Union on Tuesday. Ginsburg was in Rhode Island for previously scheduled events.
