Supreme Court
Justice Ruth
Bader Ginsburg has died, the court announced this evening.
Her death is a
shock, and yet not a surprise. Ginsburg has been battling a series of illnesses
for years. She was diagnosed with colon cancer more than 20 years ago, and ten
years later pancreatic cancer, which finally claimed her. She had said that she
planned to remain on the Court until she was 90, but at age 87, her time
just ran out.
Ginsburg has
been repeatedly
hospitalized in recent years, leaving progressives with palpitations that
she could die and President Donald Trump could nominate another extremist
conservative to the nation’s highest court. Now with the election around the
corner, Ginsburg’s death will have huge political ramifications.
Ginsburg was
one of the reliable liberals on the Court and a vocal supporter of LGBTQ
rights. On every major Court ruling in the past 25 years, she has come down on
the side of LGBTQ citizens, from declaring sodomy laws unconstitional to overturning
“special rights” legislation aimed at barring anti-discrimination protections,
to declaring marriage equality a national right.
Ginsburg was
on the side of marriage equality from the beginning, but she did express
concern about the Court getting ahead of public opinion. She cited the turmoil
around abortion rights as the source of her fear, saying that Roe v. Wade came
too soon for the public to accept it. But by the time the second case
was before the Court, the one that ultmately made marriage a national right,
she was clearly ready for the final decision.
“The change in
people’s attitudes on that issue has been enormous,” Ginsburg
said. “In recent years, people have said, ‘This is the way I am.’ And
others looked around, and we discovered it’s our next-door neighbor — we’re
very fond of them. Or it’s our child’s best friend, or even our child. I think
that as more and more people came out and said that ‘this is who I am,’ the
rest of us recognized that they are one of us.”
Her support
went beyond her court opinions. She was the first Supreme Court Justice to
officiate at a same-sex wedding, in 2013, and performed
at least one other same-sex wedding. (Despite their obvious differences in
opinion, Ginsburg was a close friend of the late Justice Antonin Scalia, who
was renowned
for his anti-LGBTQ opinions.)
“Today, we
lost an unqualified, undisputed hero. She wasn’t just an iconic jurist, Justice
Ginsburg was a force for good — a force for bringing this country closer to
delivering on its promise of equality for all,” said Human Rights Campaign
President Alphonso David.
“Her decades
of work helped create many of the foundational arguments for gender equality in
the United States, and her decisions from the bench demonstrated her commitment
to full LGBTQ equality. She was and will remain an inspiration to young people
everywhere, a pop culture icon as the Notorious RBG and a giant in the fight
for a more just nation for all. We extend our deepest condolences to her family
and loved ones. What she represented — fairness, justice and equality for all —
we must all continue to fight for. Those principles are not transactional, they
are fundamental to our democracy.”
“Today we have
lost a giant of justice, a champion for equality and progress. Justice Ginsburg
was an American hero and pioneer, a voice for so many marginalized people,
leaving behind a legacy of courage, tenacity and historic impact in creating a
better country and a better world for all of us,” National LGBTQ Task Force
Executive Director Rea Carey added. “We are all so grateful for all Justice
Ginsburg has done for LGBTQ people, for women, for our ability to control our
own bodies, for all that seek to move freedom forward in this country.”
Ginsburg was a
pioneer throughout her career. When she enrolled in Harvard Law School in 1956,
she was one of only nine women in a class of 500. men. She had first-hand
experience with sexism; despite a strong recommendation from one of her
professors, Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter rejected her application as
a clerk because she was a woman. She worked in academia, building the legal
framework against sex discrimination, which ultimately led to the Supreme Court
agreeing that discrimination on the basis of sex was unconstitutional under the
Fourteenth Amendment.
Ginsburg was
appointed to the federal bench in 1980, and Bill Clinton nominated her for the
Supreme Court in 1993, making her only the second woman justice. By the time
she was on the Court for 20 years, she had attained almost mythical cultural
status. She was the subject of a Hollywood biopic and was dubbed the Notorious
RBG for her stinging dissents and workout
stamina.
Ginsburg’s
death is going to set off a scorched-earth battle in the Senate. Republicans,
who know they are in danger of losing their majority, to say nothing of the
White House, have long wished for Ginsburg’s demise, sometimes
crudely. With just 46 days to the election, the GOP will be rushing to
confirm someone quickly, abandoning any pretext that their excuse for holding
up Merrick Garland’s nomination to replace Scalia was legitimate.
(Garland was nominated nine months before 2016 election, but Republicans
insisted that voters should decide.)
Trump has
already published a list of potential Supreme Court nominees that includes
some of the most anti-LGBTQ names out there, including Senators Ted
Cruz and Josh Hawley. The prospect of turning the Court into a 6-3 conservative
arm of government is too tempting for Republicans to pass up.
Before her
death, Ginsburg dictated a statement to her granddaughter that she would not be
replaced “until
a new president is installed.” How likely her wish is to be granted
remains to be seen. But if anyone needed a reminder what’s a stake in the
election, Ginsburg’s death provides a sorry and frightening reminder.
SOURCE: LGBTQ NATION
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