AP FACT CHECK: Ruth Bader Ginsburg not resigning over Trump

WASHINGTON – A widely shared story that claims Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told The Associated Press that she plans to resign from the Supreme Court in protest of Republican President-elect Donald Trump is false.

The story was posted by several websites in December and versions of it have been in circulation since soon after the AP published its interview with Ginsburg on July 7.

Ginsburg told the AP when asked about a potential Trump presidency: “I don’t want to think about that possibility, but if it should be, then everything is up for grabs.”

The false story cites that factual quote from the AP interview but adds several paragraphs of fabricated quotes attributed to Ginsburg in which she expresses an unwillingness to serve under a Trump presidency. The story falsely quotes Ginsburg as saying, “I can tolerate this charade of a presidential campaign, but I could not live with him as president.”

At 83, Ginsburg is the court’s oldest justice, but she has announced no plans to retire from her lifetime appointment.

The story appeared to have originated in July on therightist.com, which bills itself as a “hybrid site of news and satire.” It says in a disclaimer that “not all of our stories are true.” A slightly modified version of the story was published in December by rumourjournal.com and success-street.com.