Washington DC - The family of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg responded after the foundation that runs the RBG Leadership Award shared this year's questionable list of honorees.

Earlier this week, the Dwight D. Opperman Foundation announced this year's recipients, which included financier Michael Milken, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, billionaire Elon Musk, actor Sylvester Stallone, and lifestyle icon Martha Stewart.

The foundation revealed that while the award was previously used to honor "women of distinction," this year, the foundation had expanded it to include "trailblazing" men.

Brendan Sullivan, Jr., chair of the RBG Award, said this year's honorees "reflect the integrity and achievement that defined Justice Ginsburg's career and legend," but in a statement obtained by The Washington Post on Friday, RBG's family vehemently disagreed.

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While the statement didn't take aim at any specific nominee, it described this year's list as "an affront to the memory of our mother and grandmother" and argued that the foundation "has strayed far from the original mission of the award and from what Justice Ginsburg stood for."

"Each of this year's awardees has achieved notable success in their careers, and each may well deserve accolades of one form or another," the statement argued.

"But the decision to bestow upon them the particular honor of the RBG Award is a striking betrayal of the Justice's legacy."

Ginsburg, who died in 2020 at the age of 87, led an influential career in politics, most notably as a liberal member of the US Supreme Court who championed causes like reproductive freedom and same-sex marriage.

Of this year's honorees, Musk and Murdoch stand out, as both are prominent voices in right-wing politics.

Musk, who is the second-richest man in the world, established himself as a free-speech advocate when he bought Twitter last year and has since used the platform to espouse far-right views and conspiracies.

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Murdoch is most known for creating Fox News and other right-wing media outlets.

The Dwight D. Opperman Foundation, which has not publicly responded to the family's statement, is scheduled to present the awards at the Library of Congress on April 13, 2024.