Ruth Bader Ginsburg
(03/15/1933 - 09/18/2020)
For all of my adult life, Ruth Bader Ginsburg has faithfully served the United States as a member of the Supreme Court, swearing to "bear true faith and allegiance to these United States", and to "administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich." It was clear in her words and her voting record that Justice Ginsburg performed her duties with a deep respect for our Constitution and an enduring compassion for the American people.
Throughout her career, the brilliant jurist who became known as the Notorious RBG defended the rights of people to live as they please. From her public opinion shaping work on Obergefell v Hodges that gave all Americans the right to marry as they choose, to protecting the safety and dignity of human life in Sessions v. Dimaya, Justice Ginsburg lived the belief that the rights enshrined in the Constitution ought to be inclusive of all, not limited by tradition. Justice Ginsburg's faith in a living Constitution should be the image of jurisprudence in the United States, treating the work of our founders as a bedrock upon which we build the greatness of a nation that was once described as a shining city on the hill. She was a giant of our time, and we mourn our collective loss tonight.
"Sex, like race, is a visible, immutable characteristic bearing no necessary relationship to ability. Sex, like race, has been made the basis for unjustified or at least unproved assumptions, concerning an individual’s potential to perform or to contribute to society… These distinctions have a common effect: They help keep woman in her place, a place inferior to that occupied by men in our society."
-Ruth Bader Ginsburg, oral arguments, Frontiero v Richardson.
While we honor the life and work of Justice Ginsburg, we also must fight to preserve her legacy. We remember the words of Mitch McConnell and his cohorts only four short years ago. They denied a first-class jurist the basic courtesy of a Senate hearing a full eight months before the election, instead proclaiming that the American people would choose the next Justice of the Supreme Court at the polls. Now, only 45 days from a Presidential election, with a vacancy on the highest court in the land and a third of the Senate on the ballot, there is no excuse for backtracking on that precedent. This was their chosen precedent, and we must remind them of it.
When they refuse to acknowledge their own standards, it is on us to hold our leaders accountable. Call your Senator today. You can reach the Senate switchboard at 202-221-3121, or you can find the direct phone number for your Senator at this website.
Senators of the 116th Congress
Do not allow this lame-duck President, or a lame-duck Senate, to begin hearings to replace Justice Ginsburg without the people’s voice. Her activism must inspire us today in this fight. According to NPR, in a statement dictated to her granddaughter Clara Spera days before she left this life, she said "My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new President is installed." RBG spent her life fighting for us, the American citizen, and now we must give all we have to fight for her legacy.
The Senate should hear no names to fill this vacancy before January 20th, 2021.
