30/09/2020
Atheist magazine The Freethinker and centre left news outlet Mother Jones have both paid tribute to the life of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who has passed on at the age of eighty seven. The American Supreme Court Justice was an ally to women and gay people and became a target of approbrium for the far right wing for her robust defence of the United States' liberal values and separation of church and state. Born in 1933 in New York City, Ginsburg was the second woman to ever serve on the Supreme Court. President Bill Clinton nominated her for the job in 1993. Even President Donald Trump, whose populism Ginsburg deplored, felt moved to tweet that “our nation mourns at Titan of the law”. Mother Jones listed the number of Supreme Court rulings that had involved Ginsburg and which had helped keep the country a beacon of free world values in spite of governments coming and going on Capitol Hill. Howeer, they also noted that despite writing nearly 200 opinions during her tenure on the court, Ginsburg leaves behind few landmark majority opinions. That’s because she spent virtually all of her career as part of the court’s liberal minority. "The passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a tremendous loss to our country," said Senator. Bernie Sanders "She was an extraordinary champion of justice and equal rights, and will be remembered as one of the great justices in modern American history." Hundreds of people, says the Guardian, gathered on the steps of the Supreme Court on Wednesday to pay their respects to the woman who earned the affectionate nickname “The Notorious RBG”. Among them a gay Jewish couple from New York who had made the four and a half hour journey. “She grew up in my area of Brooklyn”.said Karen Liebowitz. “ I know that Jewish instilling of values and doing right and justice. My wife and I wouldn’t be married if it was not for her,” she said. That's Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who has passed on at the age of eighty seven, a stalwart of liberal values on America's Supreme Court, and ally of minorities across the United States.
