OTTAWA -- Canada’s former Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin says the legacy of her late friend Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will live on despite immediate political efforts to dismantle her judicial efforts.

McLachlin told CTV’s Power Play on Monday that Ginsburg’s impact was so "sterling" it won’t be diminished as U.S. President Donald Trump works to name her replacement on the Supreme Court bench as early as this weekend.

"I don’t think you can tarnish her legacy," she said. "Her ideas, the judgements she wrote, the arguments she made, the speeches she gave are just so true, they ring so true, they are so decent, they are so evidently appealing that whether you agree with her or not, I think her legacy will stand the test of time."

Ginsburg was 87 when she died last Friday and will be the first woman and only second justice to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol. The funeral is planned for Friday morning.

Tributes have poured in to honour the "notorious RBG." McLachlin said she took inspiration from the feminist icon throughout her own prestigious career in Canada.

"I did take inspiration from her example and from some of the conversations we’ve had over the years and more than anything else, perhaps, how she cared about women’s rights," she said.

"One of the first questions she asked me…it was actually at a restaurant up in the Gatineau Hills, we had an exchange and they were visiting and she said, 'Now you have to tell me the history of women’s rights in Canada., She wanted to know all about it from the beginning. That was her passion," said McLachlin.

She warned against the tendency in the U.S. whereby judges or courts become extensions of the sitting government.

"Unfortunately, this has happened increasingly in the United States. I don’t think it has happened in Canada. The important thing is that the judiciary should remain independent under the political theory of both countries, independent of the executive, and independent of the legislative branch so they can bring their impartial wisdom to bear."

Nevertheless, Democrats raised more than $71 million in the hours after Ginsburg’s death, according to a donation ticker on the website of ActBlue, the party's online fundraising platform.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has called Trump’s move to replace Ginsburg an "abuse of power" and has urged Senate Republicans to postpone a confirmation vote.

With a file from The Associated Press.