Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died. The Notorious RBG was a light for women lawyers, for women in general, for men, for workers, for all of us. She showed us what determination, excellent skills, a supportive husband, and intelligence could do. She was wonderful, and now she’s gone.
This creates a major problem for those of us who were concerned at the last election about the future direction of the US Supreme Court. I know that history is cyclical, and it goes from one philosophy to another. I know. I know, but it doesn’t feel good to be living in it right now.
I have always thought that if you don’t like laws that allow people to have the rights that you have, you should just shut up and MYOB. Someone else’s ability to exercise their rights has nothing to do with you. If you don’t want to have an abortion, don’t. If you don’t want to marry a same-gender partner, don’t. If you don’t think women should have equal rights with men, shut up and accept your lesser status. Just let the rest of us get on with our lives.
Now we have a two-faced person in charge of the Senate who will certainly do all that he can to push an extremely conservative replacement for RBG to be confirmed quickly – in spite of his comments in 2016 about not allowing a sitting president to appoint someone in an election year.
To all of those people who thought that the Supreme Court didn’t matter, and who voted for our current president, think again. It matters not only for us and also for future generations. Supreme Court justices are appointed for life. Our most recent appointees are Kavanaugh and Gorsuch, who could be on the court easily another 30 years.
Justice Age
Ruth Bader Ginsburg 87
Stephen Breyer 82
Clarence Thomas 72
Samuel Alito 70
Sonia Sotomayer 66
John Roberts 65
Elena Kagan 60
Brett Kavanaugh 55
Neil Gorsuch 53