Ruth Bader Ginsburg — An American Life.
On September 18th, as dusk fell upon our country — Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court Justice, and architect of the legal fight for Women’s rights — died of cancer in her home, surrounded by those she loved.
Her last words, as her life — were forward looking, considerate of the supreme court justice seat she had held for so long. She recognized, alert until her final moment — that an election was already underway, and votes cast. She wished this process of change in government complete before her replacement be made — saying, upon her deathbed — that it was her wish that ‘I will not be replaced until a new president is installed’.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg began her career as a student whose work excelled beyond compare. Weathering the death of her mother, she won a full scholarship to Cornell University at the age of 17. It was there, she met the love of her life — Marty Ginsburg, a man she later said — was ‘so overwhelmingly attractive to her because he cared that she had a brain’. Marty would rise through the echelons of the Tax Attorney world, while Ruth traveled a different course — both of them returning to their home life, Marty often cooking the meals — the two created a warm, happy life together. Graduating with honor, the two were married, and moved to Fort Sill, Oklahoma — where Marty Ginsburg completed his military service.
Ruth, despite scoring high on the Civil Service Exam, was — in this era, afforded the job of typist — but her pregnancy was given as the excuse to withdraw even this job.
Ruth and Marty returned to graduate school, where Ruth began to excel. It was then, as her academic star rose — that her husband, Marty Ginsburg was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Chemo, and aggressive treatment reversed the course of the disease but left Ruth with a 3 year old child, a sick husband, and the Harvard Law Review — and she met the challenge — often waking in the middle of the night, when her husband could eat — taking his dictation for his class work, then, at 2 in the morning — studying for the next day.
Her beloved husband survived, and she transferred to Columbia University, where she completed her law degree, graduating at the top of her class. Her mentor threatened that if she were not taken as a clerk, he would send no other candidates — and she was accepted, and excelled — serving twice the normal time as law clerk. In the sixties, after a stint where she learned swedish and co-authored a book — she began her law and teaching career at Rutgers, taking on a case where a man had attempted to claim a deduction for taking care of his 89 year old mother. The two Ginsburgs worked together, her husband from the tax side — and she from the constitutional side — launching a challege to the IRS tax code. The solution they forged was to ask the court not to invalidate the statute but to apply it equally to both sexes. They won.
But this threatened the legal order. The Federal Government recognized that equality among the sexes would be a problem for them, despite its inherent constitutionality. They argued — that the Ginsburg win — cast a cloud upon all laws — and they fought against her. She fought back.
In 1971, Ruth Bader Ginsburg would write her first Supreme Court Brief — representing Sally Reed, who thought she should be the executor of her son’s estate instead of her ex-husband. The constitutional issue was whether a state could automatically prefer men over women as executors of estates. The answer, handed down from a court of all men was no. The court had struck down a state law because it discriminated based on gender, and her legacy begins.
Her rise to the Supreme Court was marked with a not insignificant contribution to her candidacy by her husband, and a confirmation in which she schooled not only the committee but raised the consciousness of a young Senator from Delaware, named Joe Biden — instilling in him her fire, and her focus. The Senator would later be known for not only promoting, but paying equally — women in his office, and later, the widower attracting a strong, competent and beautiful woman as his wife.
And, as seems to be the case, for those who love long — after the love of her life passed, a decade of work and accomplishment achieved, she follows him into the land from which none of us return. Her life, her legacy, and her abiding love — lives on.
She said, in life — “I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks”.
And as this day that follows dawns gray, we witness the jackboot upon our neck — of an authoritarian president, and his sycophantic, whimpering lapdog, Mitch McConnell — as they press against our necks and attempt to rush in her replacement; an all out attempt to install their uniquely anti-democratic form of government into our country in a lifetime appointment made even as votes have already been cast against their reign of abuse of power.
This does not take away from the legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg — it only strengthens it. We honor her, and remember her, by carrying out her final wish. It is a path that leads to good trouble. It will require acts of bravery and resistance from us all, as we witness the horrific attempt to shove an authoritarian voice into our highest court. The fight now leaves her nerveless grasp, and transfers to you — good trouble, necessary trouble — fighting to help her accomplish her final wish. We cannot say where her spirit is now — but perhaps — to those who take on her fight, and her last wish — perhaps her spirit will become the wind beneath your wings.
Last night, we drank to her name, to her life, and strengthened our bonds of brotherhood and sisterhood. What she has accomplished on this Earth, we pledge to help echo in eternity.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Pax Vobiscum, Requiescat in Pace — September 18, 2020.
