Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg vows to stay on Supreme Court

Monday, August 26, 2013  

Citing the "activist' nature of recent rulings, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told The New York Times that she plans to stay on the U.S. Supreme Court as long as possible.

Ginsburg, who survived two bouts of cancer, has served on the court since 1993. She said a recent decision in Shelby County v. Holder, a voting rights case that impacts Indian Country, was a sign of the court's overreaching agenda.

“If you think it’s going to do real damage, you don’t sign on to it,” Ginsburg told the Times, referring to a 2009 decision that was cited extensively in the Shelby County opinion. “I was mistaken in that case.”

In Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, a controversial Indian Child Welfare Act case, Ginsburg did not sign on to the majority's opinion. She joined a dissent that would have upheld the parental rights of Dusten Brown, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation whose daughter is the subject of a disputed adoption by a non-Indian couple.

Get the Story:
Court Is ‘One of Most Activist,’ Ginsburg Says, Vowing to Stay (The New York Times 8/25)