DOCSLIB.ORG

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court's Feminist Icon, Is Dead at 87

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court's Feminist Icon, Is Dead at 87 Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court’s Feminist Icon, Is Dead at 87 By Linda Greenhouse The New York Times Sept. 18, 2020 Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court and a pioneering advocate ​ for women’s rights, who in her ninth decade became a much younger generation’s unlikely cultural icon, died on Friday at her home in Washington. She was 87. The cause was complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer, the Supreme Court said. By the time two small tumors were found in one of her lungs in December 2018, during a follow-up scan for broken ribs suffered in a recent fall, Justice Ginsburg had beaten colon cancer in 1999 and early-stage pancreatic cancer 10 years later. She received a coronary stent to clear a blocked artery in 2014. Barely five feet tall and weighing 100 pounds, Justice Ginsburg drew comments for years on her fragile appearance. But she was tough, working out regularly with a trainer, who published a book about his famous client’s challenging exercise regime. As Justice Ginsburg passed her 80th birthday and 20th anniversary on the Supreme Court bench during President Barack Obama’s second term, she shrugged off a chorus of calls for her to retire in order to give a Democratic president the chance to name her replacement. She planned to stay “as long as I can do the job full steam,” she would say, sometimes adding, “There will be a president after this one, and I’m hopeful that that president will be a fine president.” When Justice Sandra Day O’Connor retired in January 2006, Justice Ginsburg was for a time the only woman on the Supreme Court — hardly a testament to the revolution in the legal status of women that she had helped bring about in her career as a litigator and strategist. Her years as the solitary female justice were “the worst times,” she recalled in a 2014 interview. “The image to the public entering the courtroom was eight men, of a certain size, and then this little woman sitting to the side. That was not a good image for the public to see.” Eventually she was joined by two other women, both named by Mr. Obama: Sonia Sotomayor in 2009 and Elena Kagan in 2010. After the 2010 retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens, whom Justice Kagan succeeded, Justice Ginsburg became the senior member and de facto leader of a four-justice liberal bloc, consisting of the three female justices and Justice Stephen G. Breyer. Unless they could attract a fifth vote, which Justice Anthony M. Kennedy provided on increasingly rare occasions before his retirement in 2018, the four were often in dissent on the ideologically polarized court. Justice Ginsburg’s pointed and powerful dissenting opinions, usually speaking for all four, attracted growing attention as the court turned further to the right. A law student, Shana Knizhnik, anointed her the Notorious R.B.G., a play on the name of the Notorious B.I.G., a famous rapper who was Brooklyn-born, like the justice. Soon the name, and Justice Ginsburg’s image — her expression serene yet severe, a frilly lace collar adorning her black judicial robe, her eyes framed by oversize glasses and a gold crown perched at a rakish angle on her head — became an internet sensation. Young women had the image tattooed on their arms; daughters were dressed in R.B.G. costumes for Halloween. “You Can’t Spell Truth Without Ruth” appeared on bumper stickers and T-shirts. A biography, “Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg,” by Irin Carmon and Ms. Knizhnik, reached the best-seller list the day after its publication in 2015, and the next year Simon & Schuster brought out a Ginsburg biography for children with the title “I Dissent.” A documentary film of her life was a surprise box office hit in the summer of 2018, and a Hollywood biopic centered on her first sex discrimination court case opened on Christmas Day that year. The adulation accelerated after the election of Donald J. Trump, whom Justice Ginsburg had had the indiscretion to call “a faker” in an interview during the 2016 presidential campaign. (She later said her comment had been “ill advised.”) Scholars of the culture searched for an explanation for the phenomenon. Dahlia Lithwick, writing in The Atlantic in early 2019, offered this observation: “Today, more than ever, women starved for models of female influence, authenticity, dignity, and voice hold up an octogenarian justice as the embodiment of hope for an empowered future.” Her late-life rock stardom could not remotely have been predicted in June 1993, when President Bill Clinton nominated the soft-spoken, 60-year-old judge, who prized collegiality and whose friendship with conservative colleagues on the federal appeals court where she had served for 13 years left some feminist leaders fretting privately that the president was making a mistake. Mr. Clinton chose her to succeed Justice Byron R. White, an appointee of President John F. Kennedy, who was retiring after 31 years. Her Senate confirmation seven weeks later, by a vote of 96 to 3, ended a drought in Democratic appointments to the Supreme Court that extended back to President Lyndon B. Johnson’s nomination of Thurgood Marshall 26 years earlier. There was something fitting about that sequence, because Ruth Ginsburg was occasionally described as the Thurgood Marshall of the women’s rights movement by those who remembered her days as a litigator and director of the Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union during the 1970s. The analogy was based on her sense of strategy and careful selection of cases as she persuaded the all-male Supreme Court, one case at a time, to start recognizing the constitutional barrier against discrimination on the basis of sex. The young Thurgood Marshall had done much the same as the civil rights movement’s chief legal strategist in building the case against racial segregation. .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Confronting Supreme Court Fact Finding Allison Orr Larsen William & Mary Law School, [email protected]
    College of William & Mary Law School William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository Faculty Publications Faculty and Deans 2012 Confronting Supreme Court Fact Finding Allison Orr Larsen William & Mary Law School, [email protected] Repository Citation Larsen, Allison Orr, "Confronting Supreme Court Fact Finding" (2012). Faculty Publications. 1284. https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/facpubs/1284 Copyright c 2012 by the authors. This article is brought to you by the William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository. https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/facpubs CONFRONTING SUPREME COURT FACT FINDING Allison Orr Larsen* I. PREVALENCE OF IN-HOUSE FACT FINDING AT THE SUPREME COURT ....................................................................... 1264 A. Defining the Terms and the Quest...................................... 1264 B. How Common Is Modern In-House Fact Finding?......... 1271 II. A TAXONOMY OF IN-HOUSE FACT FINDING........................... 1277 A. What Factual Assertions Are Supported By Authorities Found “In House?”............................................................. 1278 1. Subject Matter of Facts Found In House..................... 1278 2. How Do the Justices Use In-House Factual Research? ....................................................................... 1280 B. Where Do the Sources Come From? ................................. 1286 III. WHY THE CURRENT PROCEDURAL APPROACH IS OUTDATED: RISKS OF MODERN IN-HOUSE FACT FINDING ............................................................................ 1290 A. Systematic
    [Show full text]
  • © 2016 Thomson Reuters. No Claim to Original U.S. Government Works. 1 Sahhar, Dianna 9/16/2016 for Educational Use Only
    Sahhar, Dianna 9/16/2016 For Educational Use Only End of an era for Supreme Court: Erwin Chemerinsky: End..., 2016 WLNR 20406062 7/5/16 Lima News (Ohio) (Pg. Unavail. Online) 2016 WLNR 20406062 Lima News, The (Ohio) Copyright (c) 2016 Newsbank July 5, 2016 Section: opinion opinion_columns End of an era for Supreme Court: Erwin Chemerinsky: End of an era for Supreme Court Erwin Chemerinsky, Los Angeles Times After 45 years with a conservative majority, the Supreme Court appears to be entering a very different era. The major rulings of this just-completed Supreme Court term show there are no longer five votes for a conservative result - a historic shift. From the time President Richard Nixon's fourth court nominee was confirmed in 1971 until Justice Antonin Scalia's death in February, there have always been five ideologically conservative Republican appointees on the bench. No longer. Indeed, if Hillary Clinton is elected president in November, a liberal majority may dominate the court for decades to come. The decisions over this term might have looked like a mixed bag of liberal and conservative outcomes. But a clear pattern was at work. When Justice Anthony M. Kennedy joined with Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, they formed a liberal majority. When Kennedy voted with the conservative bloc - Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. - the court almost always split 4-4. When there is a deadlock, the lower court ruling is affirmed, but without setting any Supreme Court precedent.
    [Show full text]
  • Celebrity Justice Supreme Court Edition
    CELEBRITY JUSTICE SUPREME COURT EDITION Richard L. Hasen† T IS NOT YOUR IMAGINATION. Supreme Court Justices are in the news more than ever, whether they are selling books, testifying before Congress, addressing a Federalist Society or American Constitution Society event, or just talking to a Muppet on Sesame Street.1 The Inumber of books about the Court and particular Justices continues to grow. A website (www.scotusmap.com) is now devoted to tracking the Justices’ movements as they crisscross the country (and the world) speaking to various audiences. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is even promoted on T- shirts as the “Notorious R.B.G.,”2 a riff on the name of famous rap artist Notorious B.I.G. She will soon be the topic of a biopic starring Natalie Portman.3 † Richard L. Hasen is Chancellor’s Professor of Law and Political Science at the UC Irvine School of Law. Copyright 2016 Richard L. Hasen. 1 Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor Visits ‘Sesame Street’ to Talk About Careers, HUFFINGTON POST, Nov. 11, 2012, www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/11/supreme-court-justice- sonia-sotomayor-sesame-street_n_2113625.html. 2 Dahlia Lithwick, Justice LOLZ Grumpycat Notorious R.B.G., SLATE, Mar. 26, 2015, www. slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2015/03/notorious_r_b_g_history_the_origins _and_meaning_of_ruth_bader_ginsburg_s.html; see also notoriousrbg.tumblr.com. 3 Lanie Goodman, Natalie Portman on Directing Her First Film and Playing Ruth Bader Ginsburg, WALL ST. J., Speakeasy Blog, May 19, 2015, blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2015/05/19/ natalie-portman-on-directing-her-first-film-and-playing-ruth-bader-ginsburg/. 19 GREEN BAG 2D 157 Richard L.
    [Show full text]
  • The Roles of Sonia Sotomayor in Criminal Justice Cases * Christopher E
    THE ROLES OF SONIA SOTOMAYOR IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE CASES * CHRISTOPHER E. SMITH AND KSENIA PETLAKH I. INTRODUCTION The unexpected death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February 20161 reminded Americans about the uncertain consequences of changes in the composition of the Supreme Court of the United States.2 It also serves as a reminder that this is an appropriate moment to assess aspects of the last major period of change for the Supreme Court when President Obama appointed, in quick succession, Justices Sonia Sotomayor in 20093 and Elena Kagan in 2010.4 Although it can be difficult to assess new justices’ decision-making trends soon after their arrival at the high court,5 they may begin to define themselves and their impact after only a few years.6 Copyright © 2017, Christopher Smith and Ksenia Petlakh. * Christopher E. Smith is a Professor of Criminal Justice, Michigan State University. A.B., Harvard University, 1980; M.Sc., University of Bristol (U.K.); J.D., University of Tennessee, 1984; Ph.D., University of Connecticut, 1988. Ksenia Petlakh is a Doctoral student in Criminal Justice, Michigan State University. B.A., University of Michigan- Dearborn, 2012. 1 Adam Liptak, Antonin Scalia, Justice on the Supreme Court, Dies at 79, N.Y. TIMES (Feb. 13, 2016), http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/14/us/antonin-scalia-death.html [https:// perma.cc/77BQ-TFEQ]. 2 Adam Liptak, Supreme Court Appointment Could Reshape American Life, N.Y. TIMES (Feb. 18, 2016), http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/19/us/politics/scalias-death-offers-best- chance-in-a-generation-to-reshape-supreme-court.html [http://perma.cc/F9QB-4UC5]; see also Edward Felsenthal, How the Court Can Reset After Scalia, TIME (Feb.
    [Show full text]
  • A PDF of the Entire Essay
    THE WAY PAVERS: ELEVEN SUPREME COURT-WORTHY WOMEN * MEG PENROSE Introduction Four women have served as associate justices on the United States Supreme Court. Since the Court’s inception in 1789, more than 160 individuals have been nominated to serve as Supreme Court justices.1 Five nominees, or roughly 3 percent, have been women.2 To help put this gender dearth in perspective, more men named “Samuel” have served as Supreme Court justices than women.3 Thirteen U.S. presidents have each nominated more people to the Supreme Court than the total number of women that have served on the Court.4 Finally, there are currently as many Catholics serving on the Supreme Court as the number of women confirmed in the Court’s entire history.5 Women, once thought of as “one-at-a-time-curiosities” on the bench, now constitute nearly one-third of all state and federal judges.6 They occupy the highest posts on state supreme courts and can be found, in similar numbers, at the trial and appellate * Meg Penrose is a full Professor at Texas A&M University School of Law. Her teaching focuses on constitutional law, federal criminal procedure and the judiciary. She is a member of the American Law Institute and a Life Fellow with the American Bar Foundation. She is grateful to two way-paving judges that helped shaped her own career, the Honorable Sarah T. Hughes (the first judge Meg ever met) and the Honorable Jane J. Boyle, U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Texas. In addition, Meg would like to thank her judicial co-clerk from many years ago, the extraordinary Wendy Davis.
    [Show full text]
  • U.S. Supreme Court Justices and Press Access
    BYU Law Review Volume 2012 Issue 6 Article 4 12-18-2012 U.S. Supreme Court Justices and Press Access RonNell Andersen Jones Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.byu.edu/lawreview Part of the Courts Commons, Journalism Studies Commons, and the Mass Communication Commons Recommended Citation RonNell Andersen Jones, ��.��. �������������� ���������� ���������������� ������ ���������� ������������, 2012 BYU L. Rᴇᴠ. 1791. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Brigham Young University Law Review at BYU Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in BYU Law Review by an authorized editor of BYU Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. U.S. Supreme Court Justices and Press Access RonNell Andersen Jones * I. INTRODUCTION Scholars and commentators have long noted the strained relationship between the United States Supreme Court and the media that wishes to report upon its work. 1 The press corps complains that the Court is cloistered, elitist, and unbending in its traditions of isolation from the public.2 Critics regularly assert that, especially when cases of major significance to many Americans are being argued, 3 the Court * Associate Professor of Law, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University. The author thanks student researchers Brooke Nelson Edwards, Joe Orien, and Brody Wight for their assistance. I. Linda Greenhouse, Thinking About the Supreme Court After Bush v. Gore, 35 IND. L. REV. 435, 440 (2002) (calling the relationship "problematic at best"); Linda Greenhouse, Telling the Court's Story: Justice and Journalism at the Supreme Court, 105 YALE L.J. 1537, 1559 (1996) (describing the Court as "quite blithely oblivious to the needs of those who convey its work to the outside world"); Paul W.
    [Show full text]
  • Clerk and Justice: the Ties That Bind John Paul Stevens and Wiley B
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by OpenCommons at University of Connecticut University of Connecticut OpenCommons@UConn Connecticut Law Review School of Law 2008 Clerk and Justice: The Ties That Bind John Paul Stevens and Wiley B. Rutledge Laura Krugman Ray Follow this and additional works at: https://opencommons.uconn.edu/law_review Recommended Citation Ray, Laura Krugman, "Clerk and Justice: The Ties That Bind John Paul Stevens and Wiley B. Rutledge" (2008). Connecticut Law Review. 5. https://opencommons.uconn.edu/law_review/5 CONNECTICUT LAW REVIEW VOLUME 41 NOVEMBER 2008 NUMBER 1 Article Clerk and Justice: The Ties That Bind John Paul Stevens and Wiley B. Rutledge LAURA KRUGMAN RAY Justice John Paul Stevens, now starting his thirty-third full term on the Supreme Court, served as law clerk to Justice Wiley B. Rutledge during the Court’s 1947 Term. That experience has informed both elements of Stevens’s jurisprudence and aspects of his approach to his institutional role. Like Rutledge, Stevens has written powerful opinions on issues of individual rights, the Establishment Clause, and the reach of executive power in wartime. Stevens has also, like Rutledge, been a frequent author of dissents and concurrences, choosing to express his divergences from the majority rather than to vote in silence. Within his chambers, Stevens has in many ways adopted his own clerkship experience in preference to current models. Unlike the practices of most of his colleagues, Stevens hires fewer clerks, writes his own first drafts, and shares certiorari decisionmaking with his clerks.
    [Show full text]
  • Lessons Learned from Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
    LESSONS LEARNED FROM JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG Amanda L. Tyler* INTRODUCTION Serving as a law clerk for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the Supreme Court’s October Term 1999 was one of the single greatest privileges and honors of my life. As a trailblazer who opened up opportunities for women, she was a personal hero. How many people get to say that they worked for their hero? Justice Ginsburg was defined by her brilliance, her dedication to public service, her resilience, and her unwavering devotion to taking up the Founders’ calling, set out in the Preamble to our Constitution, to make ours a “more perfect Union.”1 She was a profoundly dedicated public servant in no small measure because she appreciated just how important her role was in ensuring that our Constitution belongs to everyone. Whether as an advocate or a Justice, she tirelessly fought to dismantle discrimination and more generally to open opportunities for every person to live up to their full human potential. Without question, she left this world a better place than she found it, and we are all the beneficiaries. As an advocate, Ruth Bader Ginsburg challenged our society to liber- ate all persons from the gender-based stereotypes that held them back. As a federal judge for forty years—twenty-seven of them on the Supreme Court—she continued and expanded upon that work, even when it meant in dissent calling out her colleagues for improperly walking back earlier gains or halting future progress.2 In total, she wrote over 700 opinions on the D.C.
    [Show full text]
  • Televising Supreme Court and Other Federal Court Proceedings: Legislation and Issues
    Order Code RL33706 CRS Report for Congress Received through the CRS Web Televising Supreme Court and Other Federal Court Proceedings: Legislation and Issues Updated November 8, 2006 Lorraine H. Tong Analyst in American National Government Government and Finance Division Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress Televising Supreme Court and Other Federal Court Proceedings: Legislation and Issues Summary Over the years, some in Congress, the public, and the media have expressed interest in television or other electronic media coverage of Supreme Court and other federal court proceedings. The Supreme Court has never allowed live electronic media coverage of its proceedings, but the Court posts opinions and transcripts of oral arguments on its website. The public has access to audiotapes of the oral arguments and opinions that the Court gives to the National Archives and Records Administration. Currently, Rule 53 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure prohibits the photographing or broadcasting of judicial proceedings in criminal cases in federal courts. The Judicial Conference of the United States prohibits the televising, recording, and broadcasting of district trial (civil and criminal) court proceedings. Under conference policy, each court of appeals may permit television and other electronic media coverage of its proceedings. Only two of the 13 courts of appeals, the Second and Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeals, have chosen to do so. Although legislation to allow camera coverage of the Supreme Court and other federal court proceedings has been introduced in the current and previous Congresses, none has been enacted. In the 109th Congress, four bills have been introduced — H.R. 2422, H.R.
    [Show full text]
  • Educator's Guide | Ages: 6 & Up
    LIT TLE, BROWN AND COMPANY BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS Educator’s Guide | Ages: 6 & Up Martin’s Big Words The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. LittleBrownLibrary.com LBSchool LittleBrownSchool Martin’s Big Words Pre-Reading With a small group, discuss questions about leaders. What is a leader? What does a person do to become a leader? What makes a good leader? Genre We study biographies to learn from the lives of others. Why is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., an important person to read about? What can we learn from the way he lived his life? The author inserted many of Dr. King’s own words throughout the text. Why do you think this was an important thing to do? Pick one quote and explain the significance. Theme: Equality The civil rights movement worked to create equal opportunities for African American people. What are some specific examples in education, employment, and public settings that needed to change for equality? Use the book to provide specific examples that support001-040_MBW_C75362.indd your 11 JOB NO:06-97121 TITLE:MARTIN’S BIG WORDS 1/5/16 10:50 AM 12-AC75362 #150 (JBRD) DTP:44 PAGE:11 answer. Are there still things that need to be changed? Setting What are the major settings in the biography of Dr. King? Which illustrations give you a clue that it is in a time different from today? What part of the country did most of Dr. King’s work focus on? Why? Show where you found your answer in the text. Across the Curriculum Language Arts Use technology to research another hero or major figure of the civil rights movement and write a biography.
    [Show full text]
  • To View This Issue of Political Report As An
    Volume 5, Issue 6 • June 2009 Obama in Motion Views about how President Barack Obama is handling his responsibilities as president are generally positive, although negative impressions about his handling of the economy have risen. Favorable impressions of Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have dropped, but Michelle Obama is more popular than four months ago and more popular than her husband. Nearly six in ten view the Democratic Party favorably; four in ten give that response about the GOP. Q: Do you approve or disapprove of the way Barack Obama is handling . ? ——His job as president—— ———Foreign affairs——— ———The economy——— Approve Disapprove Approve Disapprove Approve Disapprove February 2009 63% 26% 54% 22% 59% 30% May 2009 61 34 59 32 55 42 Note: In the late May poll, 55 percent approved of the job the president was doing handling terrorism, while 37 percent disapproved. Forty- six percent approved of his handling the budget deficit (48 percent disapproved). Forty-five percent approved of his efforts to control federal spending, while 51 percent disapproved. Source: Gallup/USA Today. Q: As I read some names, please tell me if you have a . ? ———Barack Obama——— ————Joe Biden———— ———Michelle Obama——— Favorable Unfavorable Favorable Unfavorable Favorable Unfavorable January 2009 78% 18% 63% 20% 68% 18% May 2009 67 32 April 51 28 76 13 Source: Gallup/USA Today. Source: PSRA/Pew Research Center. Q: I’d like to get your opinion of some groups and organizations. Is your overall opinion of . ? Favorable Unfavorable Favorable Unfavorable The Democratic Party The Republican Party January 2009 62% 32% January 2009 40% 55% April 2009 59 34 April 2009 40 51 Source: PSRA/Pew Research Center.
    [Show full text]
  • Volume 10 2004
    Legal Writing The Journal of the Legal Writing Institute Volume 10 2004 The Golden Pen Award Third Golden Pen Award ......................................... Joseph Kimble ix Presentation of the Golden Pen Award Lessons Learned from Linda Greenhouse .... Steven J. Johansen xi Remarks – On Receiving the Golden Pen Award ......................................... Linda Greenhouse xv 2003 AALS Annual Meeting Discussion: Better Writing, Better Thinking: Introduction ...... Jo Anne Durako 3 Better Writing, Better Thinking: Thinking Like a Lawyer ....................................... Judith Wegner 9 Better Writing, Better Thinking: Using Legal Writing Pedagogy in the “Casebook” Classroom (without Grading Papers) ............................................. Mary Beth Beazley 23 Better Writing, Better Thinking: Concluding Thoughts ................................................................. Kent Syverud 83 Articles Composition, Law, and ADR .......................... Anne Ruggles Gere Lindsay Ellis 91 The Use and Effects of Student Ratings in Legal Writing Courses: A Plea for Holistic Evaluation of Teaching ................................... Judith D. Fischer 111 iii 200 4] Volume 10 Table of Contents [10 Integrating Technology: Teaching Students to Communicate in Another Medium ............ Pamela Lysaght Danielle Istl 163 Linking Technology to Pedagogy in an Online Writing Center .................................... Susan R. Dailey 181 2003 AALS Annual Meeting Panel Discussion: “The Law Professor as Legal Commentator” ........................
    [Show full text]