Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says if Trump gets into power, it could be time for her to move to New Zealand.

A US Supreme Court judge could become one of New Zealand's newest residents if Trump becomes president.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has strayed from the usual apolitical public stance of Supreme Court Justices to tell people just what she thinks of presidential hopeful Donald Trump.

"I can't imagine what this place would be — I can't imagine what the country would be — with Donald Trump as our president," she told the New York Times.

While masses of liberals look to Canada as a way to escape Trump, Justice Ginsburg has her eye set on Aotearoa.

"For the country, it could be four years. For the court, it could be — I don't even want to contemplate that."

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MARIO ANZUONI/REUTERS Justice Ginsburg says she can't imagine what the country would be with Trump as president.

But she did have a possible escape plan up her sleeve - one she said her late husband, tax lawyer Martin Ginsburg, would have liked.

"Now it's time for us to move to New Zealand," Ginsburg said, smiling ruefully.

So while other US liberals are assessing Canada as a possible new homeland, Ginsburg has ger eye set down-under.

JONATHAN ERNST The 83-year-old is widely considered a liberal and was appointed by former US President Bill Clinton.

In an interview with the New York Times in her chambers, Ginsburg talked about a stormy term and criticised the Senate for refusing to act on President Obama's Supreme Court nominee.

Her colleagues have said nothing in public about the presidential campaign or about Obama's stalled nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. But Ginsburg was characteristically forthright, offering an unequivocal endorsement of Garland, the NY Times reported.

The court has been short since Justice Antonin Scalia died in February, and Ginsburg said it was likely to remain short-staffed through most or all of its next term, which starts in October.

Ginsburg is 83 and was appointed by former US President Bill Clinton. She took her oath of office in 1993 and is the second female Supreme Court Judge.

She is from New York and is widely considered a liberal.

She spent a large portion of her legal career as an advocate for the advancement of women's rights. She also advocated as a volunteer lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union and was a member of its board of directors and one of its general counsel in the 1970s.

Ginsburg told the New York Times she would not leave her job "as long as I can do it full steam".

But she assessed what is at stake in the presidential election, pointing out the ages of her peers Justices Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer.

"Kennedy is about to turn 80," she said. "Breyer is going to turn 78."

For the time being and under the circumstances, the Supreme Court is doing what it can, she said.