U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Thursday caved to widespread criticisms and apologized for remarks she made against Donald Trump.
"On reflection," she said, in a widely reported statement, "my recent remarks in response to press inquiries were ill-advised and I regret making them. Judges should avoid commenting on a candidate for public office. In the future, I will be more circumspect."
Her mea culpa comes on the heels of a few interviews Ginsburg gave, during which she unleashed harsh criticisms against Trump.
To the Associated Press, Ginsburg said, as WND previously reported: "I don't want to think about [a Trump presidency] possibility, but if it should be, then everything is up for grabs."
And to the New York Times, she said, while reflecting on a Trump presidency: "For the country, it could be four years. For the court, it could be – I don't even want to contemplate that."
Ginsburg also mentioned a joke she and her now-deceased husband Marty shared, in which they considered Trump in the White House and said: "Now it's time for us to move to New Zealand," various media reported. And, she called him during an interview with CNN a "faker" who "really has an ego" and "has no consistency about him."
Her full remarks on CNN, earlier this week, were: "
"He is a faker. He has no consistency about him. He says whatever comes into his head at the moment. He really has an ego. ... How has he gotten away with not turning over his tax returns? The press seems to be very gentle with him on that."
Justice Stephen Breyer was asked to react to her comments on Wednesday, but declined, saying only: "IF I had an opinion, I wouldn't express it," CNN reported.
But others weren't so hesitant to speak.
Ginsburg's remarks were widely panned as inappropriate public commentary for a sitting judge. And Trump himself weighed in, taking to Twitter to say: "Justice Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court has embarrassed all by making very dumb political statements about me. Her mind is shot – resign!"
Legal minds also pointed to the fact that Ginsburg possibly "violated Canon 5 of the Code of Conduct for United States Judges, which states judges should not 'publicly endorse or oppose a candidate for public office,'" wrote Daniel Drezner, a professor at Tufts University, in a Washington Post piece.
And Stephen Gillers, a legal ethicist at New York University School of Law, warned about the ramifications of Ginsburg's comments if the upcoming presidential election took a turn to the contested, like in 2000, in Bush v. Gore. That's when the Supreme Court was called to emergency weigh in on ballot counts, ultimately clearing the path for George W. Bush's victory over Al Gore.
As Gillers asked: What if that happened this November?
"A federal law requires all federal judges, including the justices, to recuse themselves if their 'impartiality might reasonably be questioned,'" he said, CNN reported. "Under this test, Justice Ginsburg's remarks would prevent her from sitting in the unlikely event of a 'Clinton v. Trump' case that determines the next president."
Ginsburg, 83, was appointed by former president Bill Clinton, whose wife, Hillary, is now seeking the high office.