Critics from both parties were swift to condemn the 70-year-old O’Neill, including Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, a Republican, after Friday’s post. Some called for his immediate ouster from the court.
“No words can convey my shock,” O’Connor said in a statement on Friday. “This gross disrespect for women shakes the public’s confidence in the integrity of the judiciary.”
In an interview Saturday with The Associated Press, O’Neill said he doesn’t regret what he wrote and that he edited the original post and then deleted it after an online commenter called him insensitive for including information that could identify some of the women.
“I agreed with them and took it down,” O’Neill said. “I’m a gentleman after all.”
