RBG: Her Fight Continues
Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away on Friday, Sep. 18, 2020 at the age of 87.Over the past two decades, Ginsburg battled cancer nearly five times. During her lifetime of accomplishments, she continued to fight for women’s rights up until the very end.
Ginsburg made her mark with women’s rights in multiple areas. She believed that women shouldn’t be as dependent on men as they have been in the past. Her goal was to break boundaries between men and women that shouldn’t be there in the first place.
Roughly 20 years before Ginsburg was appointed to the Supreme Court, she argued six cases on gender discrimination. During this time, she also directed the Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). When appointed to the Supreme Court in 1993 by president Bill Clinton, she was only the second woman ever to receive this position. At Ginsburg’s confirmation hearings, she stated that access to abortions and ability to deny abortions, is a constitutionl right. Three years later, Ginsburg wrote the Supreme Court’s majority opinion, which ruled that all state-funded schools must admit women. This policy gave many women easier access to education.
Additionally, Ginsburg fought for equal pay between women and men. In 2007, she argued in a ruling dealing with unequal pay. Lilly Ledbetter was a factory employee who earned roughly $3,727 per month, though her male counterparts in the exact same supervisory role were making between $4,286-$5,236 per month. While the case was lost because of a technicality in the Civil Rights Act, Ginsburg used this case to advocate for gender inequality.
Only a few days before her passing, Ginsburg said that her “most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed,” (National Public Radio). However, within ten days of her death, President Trump quickly nominated Judge Amy Coney Barret.
According to the New York Times, Barret “has compiled an almost uniformly conservative voting record in cases touching on abortion, gun rights, discrimination, and immigration” If Barret does happen to be confirmed, this would move the Supreme Court further to the right, putting women’s right to choose at risk. Barret was endorsed by Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-abortion advocacy group, and she does not condone Roe v. Wade, which was the decision that turned abortion into a constitutional right (New York Post). Much of Ginsburg’s hard work would be erased if Barret were to fulfill Ginsburg’s former seat.
Overall, Ginsburg’s seat should not be filled until after the presidential election. She served on the Supreme Court for 27 years, and the least she deserved for her service is the President to honor her dying wish. While it is a step in the right direction that another woman is being nominated to fill the void, it is outweighed by her policies moving society backward.