#87: Justice on the Brink by Linda Greenhouse
Rest in Power, RBG
Happy Sunday, readers. Today is the 2nd anniversary of the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I wanted to use this post to remember her impressive life.
I also wanted to discuss Linda Greenhouse’s 2021 book Justice on the Brink: The Death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Rise of Amy Coney Barrett, and Twelve Months that Transformed the Supreme Court, which I recently finished listening to. Let’s dive in!
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
1933 - 2020
Much has been said about “RBG” and I’ve enjoyed learning more about her life. A year ago I read/listened to the 2015 book Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and just last night I watched the 2018 documentary RBG. On both occasions I was struck by the love, respect, and downright beauty of the relationship between Ruth and her husband Martin.
She was 21 when she married Martin in 1954. She had their first child, Jane, in 1955 and then started at Harvard Law School in 1956.1 When Martin got a job in New York City, she transferred to Columbia Law School and graduated in 1959, tied for first in her class.
Shortly after the birth of Jane, Martin was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Ruth went to school, cared for her daughter and sick husband, and helped him get through law school when he was too weak to attend class. As she advanced in her career, first as a judge on the DC circuit, then on the Supreme Court, she always had Martin’s love and support even as his health deteriorated.
One way Martin cared for his wife and family was through cooking. My favorite quote from Notorious RBG comes from their daughter Jane:
If my first memories are of Daddy cooking, so are my last. Cooking for Mother even when he could not himself eat, nor stand in the kitchen without pain, because for him it was ever a joy to discuss the law over dinner with Mother while ensuring that she ate well and with pleasure.
Martin passed away in 2010 of complications from metastatic cancer, just days after their 56th wedding anniversary. Ruth died on September 18th, 2020 from complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer. They are buried next to each other in Arlington National Cemetery.
Their story is beautiful, right? Strange to think how someone who followed the conservative script (marriage, family, fidelity) so closely in her personal life could be vilified by the right-wing media.2
To understand why, let’s turn to Greenhouse.
Published: 2021 | Audiobook length: 10 hours
How did RBG, who in 1993 was confirmed by the senate 96 to 3 and was seen as a moderate consensus-builder, become a liberal justice?
Greenhouse does a great job explaining the mechanics of the court and how the nine justices leverage those mechanics:
As in any multimember organization, many calculations go into deciding how to behave as a Supreme Court justice. A new justice quickly realizes that little can be accomplished directly without the agreement of others - three others for granting a case, four others for prevailing in one. But there are other ways aside from those strict metrics to exert influence, and other audiences to cultivate outside the court’s marble walls.
Those “other ways” and “other audiences” were utilized by RBG in the final years of her tenure out of necessity.
Greenhouse writes:
It wasn’t so much that Ginsburg had changed as that the court and the culture had changed around her. Despite having preached the virtues of collegiality for her entire judicial career, Ginsburg now grasped the dissenting opinion as a platform from which to speak over the court’s head to engage the public directly.
Her position that abortion was “something central to a woman’s life, to her dignity” hadn’t changed. Her position that men and women deserved equal rights under the law hadn’t changed. Ginsburg felt she had to hold the line against a changing court.
And now, 2 years after her death, the line has moved significantly and I expect it will continue to do so.
This book covers a lot of ground and I’ve only touched on one small piece. I recommend you check it out.
Thanks for reading,
Kyle
Other articles, books and movies about RBG
America Magazine Article: “RBG” elevates a justice, celebrates a marriage
752 page biography: Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Life by Jane Sherron De Hart | Goodreads
A collection of writings and speeches: My Own Words by Ruth Bader Ginsburg | Goodreads
Documentary: RUTH - Justice Ginsburg in her own Words (2019)
Hollywood treatment: On the Basis of Sex (2018)
Going to law school with a child may not be rare, but being a woman with a child at Harvard in 1956 definitely is.
“This witch! This evil-doer! This monster!”– Michael Savage.
“An absolute disgrace” -Donald Trump.
“She’s a zombie. The woman’s a zombie.” – Bill O’Reilly.