In an interview with the New York Times, the oft-outspoken Justice Ginsburg made no effort to hide her disdain for the prospect of the business mogul and presumptive Republican nominee being elected to the nation’s highest office. ‘I can’t imagine what this place would be – I can’t imagine what the country would be – with Donald Trump as our president,’ she said. ‘For the country, it could be four years. For the court, it could be – I don’t even want to contemplate that.’ Justice Ginsburg even went so far as to joke that her late husband, tax lawyer Martin Ginsburg, would have suggested fleeing the US in the event of a Trump presidency: ‘Now it’s time for us to move to New Zealand,’ she said, smiling ruefully.

Garland ‘as well qualified as any nominee’

Justice Ginsburg also took the opportunity to call out the Republican-led Senate for failing to address President Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court bench. ‘That’s their job. There’s nothing in the Constitution that says the president stops being president in his last year,’ she said, describing Garland as ‘super bright’ and a great potential colleague.

Sources: Australasian Lawyer; New York Times