On the Passing RBG
The passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg on September 18 was a tragedy for our country. This is perhaps a strange thing to say about someone who lived to be 87, but when it comes to Supreme Court justices, timing matters. It’s true that the US lost a powerful voice for equal rights with RBG’s death, but now that Donald Trump has nominated his third Supreme Court justice, the makeup of our highest court will take a huge step to the right. And given that he’s nominated People of Praise member and federal judge Amy Coney Barrett to the bench, things could get strange very quickly. Perhaps most tragically, Coney Barrett’s appointment makes it entirely possible that RBG’s lifetime of work for women’s rights will be undone.
What were RBG’s main accomplishments? Besides graduating at the top of her class at Columbia Law School, she also fought for equal rights as a law professor. While at Rutgers Law School, Ginsburg discovered that male professors at the university all had higher salaries than their female counterparts. She and other women at the University filed a successful Equal Pay Act complaint. At Columbia Law School, she successfully fought so that her female colleagues could earn the same retirement benefits as the men. She also co-founded the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project, winning five cases that she argued before the Supreme Court. Ginsburg also fought hard for the LGBTQ community, undocumented immigrants, and disabled people. She also worked to expand and protect voting rights for all Americans.
Who is Amy Coney Barrett, Trump’s pick to replace RBG on the Supreme Court? She’s a 7th Circuit Federal Appeals Court judge, and a staunch conservative. A devout Catholic, she has already argued against Roe v. Wade, and she is also on record opposing the Affordable Care Act. She even criticized Chief Justice Roberts’s recent decision to uphold the ACA. Since a challenge to the ACA is already on the Supreme Court’s schedule for later this year, it’s likely that it and its protections will diminish or disappear soon. This is especially bad, since the ACA prevents insurance companies from denying claims due to pre-existing conditions, and over seven million Americans now have Covid-19 as a pre-existing condition. RBG was a staunch supporter of maximizing health care access, and she was also a reliable vote for maintaining Roe v. Wade. With Coney Barrett on the Supreme Court, things will likely change dramatically. This is likely a dream for the Republicans, but it is a tragedy for RBG’s legacy.
With a new 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court, much of RBG’s work over the past several decades will likely be erased. Imagine spending your adult life fighting to secure women’s rights and then seeing it all undone only months after your death. To add insult to injury, Trump nominated Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court on September 26, a full three days before RBG’s funeral. Coney Barrett is, like Antonin Scalia before her, the very antithesis of RBG. Why did RBG not retire under Obama? There are two reasons for this. First, there was no guarantee that the Republicans in the Senate would ever even vote on an Obama nominee. Second, she made it clear that she felt sure that Hillary Clinton would be elected, and she was anxious to see her replacement nominated by the country’s first woman president. To say that things worked out differently is an understatement.
In the end, RBG’s success on the Supreme Court will almost certainly be taken away by Coney Barrett in a matter of months. This is much like what Trump did to eight years of Obama’s achievements. RBG was a champion for equal rights, and she cared for the country as if we were all her family. She tried to hold on until the election, but her body prohibited her from doing this. Since RBG’s death, the future of our country has become murky.
