US Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a towering women’s rights champion who became the court’s second female justice, has died on Friday at her home in Washington at 87.
The court announced that Ginsburg died of complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer.
Ginsburg announced in July that she was undergoing chemotherapy treatment for lesions on her liver, the latest of her several battles with cancer.
She spent her final years on the bench as the unquestioned leader of the court’s liberal wing and became admired by many.
Young women embrace the court’s Jewish grandmother, affectionately calling her the Notorious RBG, for her defense of the rights of women and minorities, and the strength and resilience she displayed in the face of personal loss and health crises.
Until her passing, Ginsburg was the oldest justice of nine on the US Supreme Court.
She anchored its liberal faction, whittled to four by two appointments since 2017 from President Donald Trump.
Ginsburg, who was Jewish, was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1933.
A legal scholar and law professor, she had a deep history in jurisprudence of standing up for women’s rights.
Ginsburg became the second woman to serve as a Supreme Court Justice when she was appointed to the court in 1993 by president Bill Clinton.
Her colleague, Chief Justice John Roberts said in a statement;
Our Nation has lost a jurist of historic stature. We at the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague. Today we mourn, but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her — a tireless and resolute champion of justice.
Her death just over six weeks before US Presidential Election Day is likely to set off a heated battle over whether President Donald Trump should nominate, and the Republican-led Senate should confirm, her replacement, or if the seat should remain vacant until the outcome of his race against Democrat Joe Biden is known.
Speaking to a rally in Minnesota and apparently still unaware of the news, Trump reminded the crowd of the likelihood that a new term would allow him to appoint new justices.
He said;
The next one will have anywhere from one to four justices. Think of that, that will totally change the landscape on core legal issues, including abortion.
ABC News later reported, citing well-informed sources, that Trump will move quickly to name a replacement.
In a pitch to conservative voters earlier this month, he unveiled a long list of possible replacements for court vacancies, all of them deeply conservative, that he would tap if reelected.
Asked in August by radio host Hugh Hewitt if he would nominate a justice just before the election, Trump replied;
Absolutely, I’d do it. I would move quickly. Why not? I mean they would. The Democrats would if they were in this position.
Democrats are expected to fight hard to prevent a replacement from being named right away.
Ginsburg herself was acutely aware of the stakes of her health on the court balance, and her fans fretted at her increasingly frequent trips to the hospital over the past two years.
According to NPR radio, Ginsburg raised the issue this week with her granddaughter Clara Spera.
She said, according to Spera;
My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.
May her soul rest in peace.
