Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died of complications from cancer on September 18. She was 87. After a long career serving on the nation’s highest court, she was beloved by many liberals, who transformed her into a cultural icon.
Nina Totenberg, NPR’s Supreme Court reporter and a friend of Ginsburg’s, remembered her this way.
She changed the way the world is for American women. For more than a decade, until her first judicial appointment in 1980, she led the fight in the courts for gender equality. When she began her legal crusade, women were treated, by law, differently from men. Hundreds of state and federal laws restricted what women could do, barring them from jobs, rights and even from jury service. By the time she donned judicial robes, however, Ginsburg had worked a revolution.
Although Ginsburg said her “most fervent wish” was to not be replaced until the new president was inaugurated, President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have vowed to proceed with a nomination hearing and confirmation vote, just weeks before November’s presidential election.
But many recall McConnell’s refusal to hold a vote on former President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, in 2016. At the time, McConnell said it was an election year. Blocking the nomination was in order to “give the people a voice in the filling of this vacancy.”
Does Senator McConnell have the votes to confirm a new justice? Who are the contenders on the list?
We remember the life and legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and look ahead to the fight to fill her seat.
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