Ruth Bader Ginsburg, z”l, U.S. Associate Supreme Court Justice

 

 

By Ken Stone
Times of San Diego

SAN DIEGO –Calling a brief truce, San Diegans of all political stripes joined to mourn the death Friday of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who made a memorable visit to a local law school in 2013.

The stalwart liberal on the U.S. Supreme Court since 1993 died at age 87, the court said, giving President Trump a chance to expand its conservative majority with a third appointment at a time of deep divisions in America with a presidential election looming.

Ginsburg died at her home in Washington of complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer, surrounded by her family, the court said.

In February 2013, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg met with Thomas Jefferson School of Law students.
In February 2013, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg met with Thomas Jefferson School of Law students. Photo by Chris Stone
Rep. Susan Davis tweeted a photo of herself with Ginsburg.

“Like so many — it feels personal and not real,” said the retiring congresswoman. “Absence her championing the rights of women for liberty and justice for all, we would not be where we are.”

Rep. Scott Peters, calling Ginsburg a trailblazer and an American hero, said she dedicated herself and her work to the pursuit of justice well before her Supreme Court appointment.

Rep. Juan Vargas, another Democrat, said: “Tonight, we mourn an incredible force and pray for our country. Her endless contributions to our nation should inspire us to be better. Her fight for justice for ALL continues.”

Congressional candidate Ammar Campa-Najjar said of the Jewish justice: “It’s with a heavy heart we say goodbye to her tonight, on the eve of Rosh Hashanah. May her memory be a blessing.”

Darrell Issa, the GOP entry in that 50th District race, said: “Ginsburg made a mark on American Jurisprudence that will last generations.”

San Diego City Council President Georgette Gomez, another Democrat running for Congress, called Ginsburg a trailblazing advocate for women and a voice of integrity, justice, and equality on the Supreme Court.

“Her life has inspired generations to always pursue justice for all,” Gomez tweeted. “In her memory, we must keep fighting to make equality a reality in America.”

Her rival in the 53rd District, Sara Jacobs said she was devastated.

“Justice Ginsburg was one of our nation’s greatest legal minds, a champion for choice, and a moral compass whose steadfastness kept us hopeful even in the darkest of days,” Jacobs said.

In February 2013, Ginsburg visited with several hundred students and professors at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in downtown San Diego — part of a question and answer session at the 13th annual Women and the Law conference titled “Her Honor: Women in the Judiciary.”

She questioned whether she could then be picked for the U.S. Supreme Court, given the polarization in Congress.
“Frankly, I wonder if a president would even nominate me today, considering my long affiliation with the American Civil Liberties Union. I hope one day we will get back to the system when I was nominated and Justice Stephen Breyer was nominated.”

She added: “I hope people see that the way we are heading now is wrong. We should reverse it and go back to the way it was when there was bipartisan support of the president’s nominee.”

She noted that Southern conservative Strom Thurmond voted for her nomination even though he had opposed her two years earlier when she was named to the U.S. Court of Appeals.

Earlier that day, Ginsburg was at the U.S. Grant Hotel, speaking to the San Diego Association of Business Trial Lawyers. She called being a justice the “best and hardest job I ever had.”

“It’s not as easy as it once was,” she said, but added she would remain a justice “as long as I am able to do it.”

Her departure could dramatically alter the ideological balance of the court, which currently has a 5-4 conservative majority, by moving it further to the right.

“Our Nation has lost a jurist of historic stature,” Chief Justice John Roberts said in a statement. “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.”

Trump, seeking re-election on Nov. 3, already has appointed two conservatives to lifetime posts on the court, Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and Brett Kavanaugh in 2018. Supreme Court appointments require Senate confirmation, and Trump’s fellow Republicans control the chamber.

A private interment service will be held at Arlington National Cemetery, the court said, but did not specify a date.

— Reuters contributed to this report initially published by Times of San Diego and republished here under auspices of the San Diego Online News Association.