U.S. President Donald Trump pays respects as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg lies in repose under the Portico at the top of the front steps of the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, DC, U.S., September 24, 2020.
Alex Brandaon | Reuters
President Donald Trump was loudly heckled by a crowd chanting “vote him out!” as he and first lady Melania Trump paid their respects on Thursday to the casket of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the steps of the Supreme Court.
The crowd erupted into jeers and boos as Trump, uncharacteristically wearing a mask, stood in back of Ginsburg’s casket, with the first lady nearby.
People then began chanting repeatedly “vote him out!”
Trump glanced off to the side as the chants grew louder. The president and Melania Trump then turned and walked back into the Supreme Court as the heckling continued.
The negative reception Trump received during his visit to the Supreme Court is not surprising.
Before Ginsburg, 87, died last Friday from pancreatic cancer, the Republican president has been contemptuous of the liberal justice, who is a hero to feminists and others for her support of women’s rights.
Trump three years ago had said Ginsburg was “dumb” and a “disgrace.”
“Her mind is shot — resign!,” Trump tweeted at the time.
After Ginsburg died, Trump suggested her granddaughter, Clara Spera, was lying for having said that Ginsburg had dictated a note that, “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.”
Trump, during an interview on “Fox & Friends” on Monday, said, “I don’t know that she said that, or if that was written out by Adam Schiff, and Schumer and Pelosi,” referring to Rep. Adam Schiff of California, and two other top Democrats, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California.
“That came out of the wind. It sounds so beautiful, but that sounds like a Schumer deal, or maybe Pelosi or Shifty Schiff.”
Trump also outraged Democrats for saying he will nominate a replacement to Ginsburg on Saturday, instead of allowing the winner of the Nov. 3 presidential election between him and former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee, to make that pick.
Senate Republicans in 2016 refused to allow confirmation hearings for Judge Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama’s nominee to replace the late conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
Despite claiming at the time that it would be inappropriate for the Senate to confirm a president’s nominee in his last year in office, Republicans this year have said they will vote on Trump’s nominee before the presidential inauguration in January.
If Trump’s nominee is approved, that person will join two Trump’s two other picks on the high court, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
