No Law Preventing Being “Stupid”

U. S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 30, 2020. (LBJ Foundation Photo/Jay Godwin)

To honor the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the NFL is in the process of conducting a campaign for the football team representing our nation’s capital to be changed to the Washington Bader Ginsburgs. But not so fast, cautions James Freeman in the WSJ. The renaming campaign is hitting road bumps as questions to Ginsburg’s previously concealed nonpolitically correct answers arise.

Revelations are coming forth of comments Ginsburg made to television anchor Katie Couric—and Ms. Couric’s decision to delay publication for years—raising new questions about the renaming campaign and its prospects.

Couric Did Not Include Ginsburg’s Controversial Remarks

After an interview with Ruth G. Ginsburg, Katie Couric decided not to include how far the Supreme Court justice had deviated from the NFL and media’s established narrative.

Among Justice’s Ginsburg “problematic” comments, Daniel Bates in the Daily Mail writes:

Katie Couric has admitted to ‘protecting’ Ruth Bader Ginsburg from public backlash by cutting out negative comments she made about people who kneel during the national anthem… 

The published story, which Couric wrote for Yahoo! News in 2016, did include quotes from Ginsburg saying refusing to stand for the anthem was ‘dumb and disrespectful’, but omitted more problematic remarks. 

A “Dumb” Colin Kaepernick?

When asked by Couric how she feels about San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, and other athletes, refusing to stand for the anthem, Ginsburg replied, “I think it’s really dumb of them.”

“Would I arrest them for doing it? No,” Ginsburg elaborated. “I think it’s dumb and disrespectful. I would have the same answer if you asked me about flag burning. I think it’s a terrible thing to do, but I wouldn’t lock a person up for doing it. I would point out how ridiculous it seems to me to do such an act.”

Couric then asked, “But when it comes to these football players, you may find their actions offensive, but what you’re saying is, it’s within their rights to exercise those actions?”

“Yes,” said Ginsburg. “If they want to be stupid, there’s no law that should be preventive. If they want to be arrogant, there’s no law that prevents them from that. What I would do is strongly take issue with the point of view that they are expressing when they do that.”

This week, continues Mr. Bates:

Ginsburg went on to say that such protests show a ‘contempt for a government that has made it possible for their parents and grandparents to live a decent life.’

Did Mr. Brooks, whom KC called for advice, and Ms. Couric not trust that “Ginsburg was unable to fully navigate a Couric interview yet competent to decide the nation’s most important constitutional cases?

Not Everyone Accepts Group Thinking

As James Freeman notes in the WSJ, “Not everyone is going to embrace the politically incorrect way that Ginsburg extolled the virtues of living in America, just as not everyone endorsed her activist jurisprudence.”

But (Ginsburg) was an independent thinker with guts. In a town of political and media conformists, the Washington Bader Ginsburgs could represent a refreshing change.