RESTON, Va. — Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says Supreme Court justices should work as long as they can and shouldn’t manipulate their retirement so a like-minded president can appoint their successor.
Some liberals have recently called on the 80-year-old Ginsburg to retire so that President Barack Obama can choose her replacement. If she stays beyond his term, it would leave open the possibility that a Republican would name the liberal justice’s successor.
But Ginsburg, the oldest justice on the court, cited Justices William Brennan and Thurgood Marshall on Tuesday as two liberals who left their replacement to Republican successor presidents.
Ginsburg was appointed by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, in 1993. Brennan, who was nominated by President Dwight Eisenhower, a Republican, was replaced by David Souter in 1990, nominated by President George H.W. Bush, a Republican. Marshall was appointed by President Lyndon Johnson, a Democrat, in 1967 and succeeded by Clarence Thomas in 1991, appointed by Bush.
