A Letter to Ruth Bader Ginsburg

By: Auden Meyer '22

(Image courtesy of washingtonian.com)

Dear Ruth Bader Ginsburg,

I was the first in my house to receive the news of your passing from your fourth bout of cancer at age 87, this time metastatic pancreas cancer. I was in the middle of watching a TV show with my mom, and I froze for a few seconds before the house was filled with a perpetual string of oh my gods. I bounded upstairs, past my mom, who would sit undisturbed on the couch for the last time that night, that week, the next six.

“Dad - oh my god - did you see the news? This is - oh my god - this is bad. Lookatthenews!” I was freaking out in the office as my dad pulled up CNN on the computer.

“Oh no.” Those were his only words, drawn out horribly slowly, before his head fell into his hands and he said, “She just needed to hold on for the next six weeks. I knew this would probably happen, but I didn’t want to jinx it. This is bad.”

Then came the spew of optimism, how six weeks couldn’t be enough time to fill your seat, the Senate might not allow it, either. I knew he was trying to console himself, just like I was.

I ran back downstairs, the impact of your loss shoved to the back of my mind in the area where my most virulent worries lay. I played the episode, and the next, before my mom started crying. That’s when I realized just how catastrophic your death really is.

You must know that my family is a very liberal one with severe contempt for the current president. Already we are frightened by the chaos that will fill the next weeks, leading up to what we cannot even think about - the result of November 3. We are very saddened by your passing, and we will grieve you.

Renowned rather than notorious, you were a pioneer in the fight for equality guaranteed to all Americans under the [14th Amendment] amendments and have changed the way people view the Constitution. Joining the court as the second female justice in 1993, you became most famous for your prudent dissents of the decisions of your conservative colleagues. You fought for women’s rights over cases regarding equal pay, abortion, and more, such as in U.S. vs Virginia in which you argued against discrimination of women in school admissions. You fought for men’s rights in cases such as Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld where you argued a widower should have rights to their deceased wife’s Social Security survivor benefits, which before were only available to widows. You also fought for LGBTQ+ rights and topics of immigration, health care, and more. Further, you co-founded the Women’s Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union in 1972 after which you gloriously won 5 of 6 huge cases for women’s rights before the Supreme Court.

Despite your small stature and soft spoken voice, your remarkable accomplishments have ignited a vast realization of the inequalities and indecencies of our country and a fiery will to fight against them.

But I will not lie, in our grief lies a deeper agony, mourning for the most likely loss of our Supreme Court.

Justice Ginsburg, you have left the Court with a possible 6-3 majority on the side of the Republicans in a country with a divide in political parties greater than the imagination could have ever illustrated. The Republicans only said a few words about you before they indecently pounced on the opportunity of filling your seat. Without you, decisions of how laws regarding abortion, health care, immigration, climate change, etc, should be interpreted and enforced now lie in the hands of intransigent bodies, your seat filled with the disagreeable ideas of those with no regards to women, religion, or people of color, you can count on the president for that, no matter if a woman or man takes the spot.

I worry about how a conservative court will impact my future and that of all Americans. The environment - the very planet that provides for us - and those who are different - the people that provide for us - are likely to suffer due to the decisions this court makes.

The actual fulfillment of your seat will go like this: the president nominates another right-winger (who we now know is Amy Coney Barrett), who is confirmed by the Senate. This in itself is ridiculous, as Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell blocked Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, from being voted in because “only 8 months were left until the election” in 2016. There is only a little over a month left until the election now, so allowing a vote would be explicit hypocrisy. If they had voted in Garland, a moderate Democrat, then the Court would have swayed Democratic with a 5-4 majority. There was no morality in these actions, only a perverse plot to advance the conservative agenda.

What people on my side of the divide hope is that the confirmation will be hindered by at least 4 Republican Senators as currently the Senate is made up of 47 Democrats (2 of which are Independent) and 53 Republicans.

Please, Ms. Ginsburg, watch over us and lend us a vital hand to stop the Senate. I ask you to use your edifying candor to persuade any senators you can to pledge not to vote until we get the result of the presidential election. Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine have already done so.

It is not only for the sake of the decisions they would make and reverse, but it is to prevent religion and closed mindedness from brainwashing the Court and pulling the strings of our nation. Even more, it is to impede the insidious ire that is wreaking havoc on all Americans, from protests to the deaths delivered by the president’s incapabilities regarding COVID-19 to the political divide itself. I cannot imagine the uproar that will result from a 6-3 majority, especially so close to the election.

On the other hand, I hope your passing provides inspiration for people to vote, to create an impact such as that following Anita Hill’s sexual harassment accusations against Justice Clarence Thomas - more women voted into various offices the year after her testimony than ever before. If they can’t vote, I hope they are still roused to get out and spread your legacy and show people that change due to determination is possible if you are willing to fight for it.

As a young Jewish woman, I want to close out by saying thank you. 27 years of fighting for others is a brave accomplishment topped with generosity, something too rare in today’s political inferno. I like to think there is a purpose in your death, whether that has to do with the current election or not, and I hope you are at peace now. I will steal the words of a friend I contacted right after your death, “She made such a difference in the world and inspired me as a strong Jewish woman.” Rest in power, RBG.

Sincerely,

Auden Meyer