Formidable Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died, aged 87, at her home in Washington DC
Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died last Friday, on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, from complications of pancreatic cancer. She was 87 years old. Throughout her life Ginsburg held great importance, fighting for gender equality and women's rights for much of her career, and in death her significance is greater than ever. She leaves a controversial chasm on the Supreme Court that Donald Trump is almost certain to nominate the conservative and devout Catholic Amy Coney Barrett. This would firmly swing things towards a conservative majority and is likely to have repercussions on issues such as abortion and equality rights. NPR reported that days before her death, Ginsburg was quoted by her granddaughter as saying: "My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed."
While we cannot know what lies in store for the American justice system, we can look back at the groundbreaking work Ginsburg did during her life. Below is an extract from our forthcoming October issue, for which our editor Rebecca Taylor interviewed Julie Cohen, co-director of the documentary RBG, about the judge’s connection to Washington DC.
“She is a symbol for us to hang in there when things are tough”
On the corner of Washington DC’s 15th and U Street, a two-storey-high mural of Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg beams down on the residents of her adopted city. Despite her famously diminutive stature, RBG, as she is known to her fans, has always been a towering presence in the US capital.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1933, to observant Jewish parents, Ginsburg’s career was a succession of groundbreaking moments. At Harvard Law School, she was one of only nine women in a class of about 500; as a professor at Columbia University School of Law she was the first woman to be hired and then given tenure. Working for the American Civil Liberties Union she represented women who broke glass ceilings as well as men who were caregivers, in a series of landmark cases.
RBG mural in Washington DC © @AaronAguinaldo
In 1993 she became the second woman to become a justice on the Supreme Court and has been dubbed ‘The Notorious RBG’ (after the rapper The Notorious BIG) for her fiery dissents on many Court issues. This summer she announced she was battling cancer (the fourth time in 20 years).
RBG, the upbeat 2018 documentary directed by Julie Cohen and Betsy West, celebrates the story of this legal powerhouse in all her glory: from her litigation on behalf of gender equality to punishing gym routines and walk-on parts in productions for Washington National Opera.
How significant was Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s position on the Supreme Court?
She was the most senior member of the court. If there was a majority ruling and she was on the minority side, which happened quite a bit, than she would decide who writes the dissenting argument. The other Jewish justices, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan, are distinguished jurists and their dissent is as important as hers was but she was a symbol to the American left. She had an extraordinary work ethic. She kept up her exercise routines, she kept on going. She is a symbol for those who feel it is important to hang in there when things are tough.
Announcement of RBG as nominee for Associate Supreme Court justice at the White House
Did she enjoy life in the capital?
She had a lot of affection for Washington but always considered herself a Brooklynite. She often went to the city’s Kennedy Centre, which hosts the National Symphony Orchestra and other arts. And she frequently attended opera in the city – and even participated in it as we showed in our film. When we went to screenings of our film in DC’s independent film theatres the staff said she was often there. She was a big movie buff.
Was she involved with Jewish life in the city?
She often spoke at Washington synagogues and in 2015 co-wrote a feminist reading of the Passover story with Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt of the city’s Adas Israel Congregation. Her Jewish background is only briefly mentioned in RBG but she featured in our 2014 film The Sturgeon Queens [Cohen and West’s homage to the New York lox and herring emporium Russ and Daughters]. Like many Jewish Americans she was very connected to her immigrant background [her father was from Odessa]. She often expressed her love for the opportunities America has given immigrants. And she was very proud of the fact that she was the longest serving Jewish justice.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 1977 © Lynn Gilbert; RBG film poster
There’s a lot spoken at the moment about the erosion of American democracy. How fearful are you about that?
Democracy is under threat. Even some conservatives are very vocal about democracy and the rule of law. I have huge respect for them but very few hold political power. We need those [conservatives] in Congress to speak up.
Do you think Ginsburg was depressed by the current political turmoil?
She was the most optimistic person I ever met. Perhaps that stems from how hard she had to work to progress her career after law school when she was treated terribly badly. She often quoted Martin Luther King: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice”. Like a lot of American Jews she was drawn to that line, quotes it frequently and feels it gives us heart not to give up. She even said her cancer gave her a sense of the joy of being alive.
2018 Women's March in Missoula, Montana
Why do you think she has such resonance with the public?
It’s hard to imagine from outside the US how popular she is. She is on socks, dolls, key rings. I went to choose a birthday card recently and there are three different varieties of RBG cards. Even children who don’t have deep political opinions are drawn to her. She was like a softly spoken Jewish grandmother but she showed a different way to be strong. She loved the whole Notorious RBG persona. She used it as an opportunity to educate people about the struggle for equality.
By Rebecca Taylor
RBG, directed by Julie Cohen and Betsy West, is available now on Netflix. Read the full interview with Cohen in our forthcoming October issue of JR, which explores the Jewish side of Washington DC.