The Legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the Future of the Supreme Court
Conor Wade
On September 18, 2020, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away at the age of 87. She leaves a legacy that has inspired millions, as well as an unprecedented amount of controversy. With the United States already in a state of extreme political polarization, her vacancy of one of the most important and influential legal positions in the country has created a national debate over how to move forward. With a presidential election looming on November 3, each campaign has taken drastically different approaches to this issue. The Democratic party and its candidate, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden, have stated that they don’t want a hearing held on nominating a new justice until after the election, since a similar situation occurred in 2016 with Republicans establishing precedent by holding off on confirming a nomination until after Election Day. However, incumbent Republican President Donald J. Trump has stated that he wants to replace her as soon as possible by arguing that the American people have already elected a Republican President and Senate, thus creating a different scenario than in 2016.[1] Regardless of opinion, the stage has been set for a showdown at the polls in November, with Ginsburg’s death only adding a new layer of importance to the election.
Ruth Bader was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1933 to a Polish mother and a Ukrainian immigrant father, raised in a Jewish household. She married Martin Ginsburg in 1954, and together they decided to pursue a career in law. She earned her bachelor’s degree in government from Cornell University in 1954 and graduated from Columbia Law School in 1959 at the top of her class after transferring from Harvard Law School when her husband took a job in New York City. She initially had great difficulty in finding employment due to her gender but was eventually granted a clerkship position for a U.S. District Court judge, thanks to the insistence of one of her law professors. In the early 1960s she conducted extensive research at Lund University in Sweden, even learning the Swedish language so that she could co-author a book on Swedish civil procedure. Seeing how liberal Swedes were in their education and inclusion of women in law, she was inspired to do the same in the United States. When she became a law professor at Rutgers Law School upon her return, she was one of less than 20 female law professors in the country.[2]
Throughout the 1970s, Ginsburg worked for the Women’s Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union, which she helped found. With this organization she argued six cases of gender discrimination before the U.S. Supreme Court, winning five of them. One such example was in United States v. Virginia, where she wrote the majority opinion stating that qualified women could not be denied admission to the Virginia Military Institute.[3] She later became a fellow at Stanford University, where she worked on a written account of her work in litigation and advocacy for equal rights. At this time her husband, who also worked at Stanford as a professor, was heavily advocating on her behalf for a judgeship offer. Their efforts eventually paid off in 1980 when President Jimmy Carter nominated her for a seat on the District of Columbia Circuit Appeals court, with confirmation from the U.S. Senate following shortly after. She held this position for 13 years, earning a reputation as a moderate, cautious Justice. On June 22, 1993, President Bill Clinton nominated Ginsburg to succeed retiring Justice Byron White’s seat on the U.S. Supreme Court and was officially sworn in on August 10, beginning her illustrious 27-year career on the nation’s highest court.[4]
During her time on the Supreme Court, Ginsburg celebrated many notable successes. Though she spent the entirety of her career in the minority liberal wing of the court, she still championed a number of causes including cases on abortion, affirmative action, gay rights, and the death penalty.[5] One of her proudest achievements was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which was an amendment to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and directly addressed the case Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. This act states that a discriminatory compensation decision, or similar practices that are unlawful under previous employment and civil rights acts, occurs every time compensation is paid following such a decision. In other words, it ensures that any victim of pay discrimination can effectively challenge unequal pay. Since the vast majority of these victims were women, Ginsburg spearheaded judicial support for this act, and upon President Barack Obama’s signing it into law framed a copy of it, which she kept mounted on her office wall for the remainder of her career.[6]
Now Americans face one of the most pressing questions in recent memory- where does the U.S. government, Supreme Court, and the country as a whole, go from here? This will undoubtedly heavily impact the election, but there will be repercussions regardless of its outcome. Should the Republicans manage to push a new nominee through, the court would have a 6-3 conservative majority, an advantage that could last decades due to Justices’ lifelong terms. However, Ginsburg reportedly stated this on her death bed: “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.”[7] Should her wish be granted, and a nomination held off until after the election and Biden wins, a liberal nominee would keep the court at a 5-4 conservative majority, with Chief Justice John Roberts serving as a tie-breaker swing vote. Ruling on a number of issues could be greatly impacted by who will eventually be sworn into the court, including several controversial ones like abortion, Presidential executive orders, climate change, and immigration.[8]
Ruth Bader Ginsburg was undeniably one of America’s greatest legal minds and was a role model for many, especially women in the field of law. She is a hero for many liberal Democrats, and her work, especially with women’s rights, earned her the nickname “The Notorious R.B.G.” There are also many, mostly conservative Republicans, who fundamentally and politically disagree with her work, and there are also those who have spoken out against her hiring of almost exclusively white law clerks, interns, and secretaries. But Ginsburg was never one to back down from a challenge and was always willing to stand up and fight for what she believed in and did so until her dying breath. She will be remembered for giving women a voice in law, fighting for the rights of people who could not themselves, and above all upholding everything that the United States stands for on its highest legal stage.
[1] Baker, Peter, and Maggie Haberman. “McConnell Vows Vote on Ginsburg Replacement as Her Death Upends the 2020 Race.” The New York Times. The New York Times, September 19, 2020.References
[2] Donvito, Tina. “15 Ways Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Has Made History.” Reader’s Digest. Reader’s Digest, September 19, 2020.
[3] “Ruth Bader Ginsburg.” Oyez. Accessed October 14, 2020.
[4] Donvito, “15 Ways.”
[5] Liptak, Adam. “Justice Ginsburg’s Judicial Legacy of Striking Dissents.” The New York Times. The New York Times, September 19, 2020.
[6] Pear, Robert. “Justices’ Ruling in Discrimination Case May Draw Quick Action by Obama.” The New York Times. The New York Times, January 5, 2009.
[7] Totenberg, Nina. “What Does Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Death Mean For The Court?” NPR. NPR, September 19, 2020.
[8] Panetta, Alexander. “5 Ways the Death of One Legendary Judge Will Transform U.S. Politics | CBC News.” CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada, September 20, 2020.