A lot of observers are closely following the health of Ruth Bader Ginsberg, the Supreme Court justice who this week missed oral arguments for the first time in her career on the court. The 85-year-old jurist underwent surgery late last year to remove cancerous nodules from her lung after injuring her ribs in a fall.
Not only is Ginsburg a highly respected legal figure who has emerged as an unlikely Millennial icon and was the subject of two different movies in 2018, but her departure from the court during the presidency of a Republican would change the ideological complexion of the court.
So one journalist has proposed a somewhat bizarre thought experiment, asking readers if they would give up time off their own lives to allow their favorite Supreme Court justice to live longer.
“If it were possible, would you subtract one day off your life and add it to Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s life for one extra day of good health?” journalist Roger Simon asked on Twitter. “If just 10,000 people did this, it would add 27 productive years to her life.”
Simon is a respected political journalist who has written several books about politics and campaigns and was Politico’s chief political correspondent before retiring two years ago, per an article posted on Creators.
The reactions to the tweet were somewhat befuddled, with opponents of Ginsburg calling the whole thing creepy, and even some supporters of hers questioning whether it’s right to put public servants on such a pedestal.
If it were possible, would you subtract one day off your life and add it to Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s life for one extra day of good health? If just 10,000 people did this, it would add 27 productive years to her life. pic.twitter.com/RurqFmWZGp
— Roger Simon (@politicoroger) January 8, 2019
“This is a joke, right? She’s had a full life,” wrote A.J. Benza on Twitter, the gossip columnist and sometime friend and enemy of Donald Trump. “And if she wasn’t so selfish, she would’ve stepped down during Obama’s presidency. Now Trump will appoint another Conservative judge.”
“That the legal status of abortion is entirely dependent on the life expectancy of an octogenarian seems, to me, like an extremely good way for the government to work,” journalist Dylan Matthews said.
“I think if I could do that I’d add the day to my child’s life,” columnist Elizabeth Bruenig tweeted.
“Is this what people mean when they say ‘i like the band but their fans are the *worst*,'” said Mike Isaac.
“The reality is that you can’t possibly do this,” wrote Michael Grassini, Jr. “So my best advice to liberals – stop living in an alternate universe where your fairy tales are deemed better than the authentic life you live in. Acceptance just might bring you more happiness.”