In calling Republican Donald Trump a "faker," Ruth Bader Ginsburg thrust herself into presidential politics to an unprecedented degree for a U.S. Supreme Court justice in the modern era.

The remarks to CNN drew criticism from legal-ethics scholars and a rebuke from Trump, who told the New York Times the comments were a "disgrace."

The 83-year-old Ginsburg has become a liberal icon, in part because of her blunt comments on and off the bench. But her comments in three interviews over the last week went well beyond even her usual candor.