Ruth Bader Gingsburg calls Colin Kaepernick's protest "really dumb"

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick's continuing protest of the national anthem has united many of his colleagues in the sporting world, sent his jersey to the number one NFL sales ranking and earned him praise from Black Lives Matter activists.

But on Monday, it scored him a ding from Supreme Court justice and progressive icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who weighed in on the football player's decision to kneel during the anthem to protest systemic racism in law enforcement during a promotional interview with Yahoo's Katie Couric for her new book In My Own Words.

"I think it's really dumb of them," Ginsburg said of Kaepernick and others engaging in the protest. "Would I arrest them for doing it? No. 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."

"... If they want to be stupid, there's no law that should be preventive," she added. "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."

Ginsburgh isn't the only high-profile Democrat to have criticized Kaepernick: In early September, President Barack Obama said Kaepernick was "exercising his constitutional right" to protest and noted there was a "long history" of other sports stars doing so. By later in the month, the president was urging Kaepernick to "think about the pain" he may be causing military families.