RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.nysun.com/editorials/ruth-bader-ginsburg/91263/

The death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, coming at the beginning of what her co-religionists call the Days of Awe, is a moment to lay aside the politics. The time for that will arrive soon enough. President Trump is signaling he’ll make a prompt nomination to replace the Supreme Court’s most liberal justice. Yet tonight we find ourselves thinking of what Ginsburg meant to millions of Americans, particularly young women.

To them, and not only them, she was an enormously inspiring role model — a fighter who, like, say, Justice Thurgood Marshall, pursued a great cause through the practice of law. Her cause was the rights of women themselves. And by sticking to it, she built historic career in the law that was capped with a seat on the highest bench in the land. No wonder America’s daughters, and sons, admire her and thrill to her triumphs.

We began covering her story in 1993, when, in a gathering in the Rose Garden, she was introduced by President Clinton as his nominee to replace Justice “Whizzer” White. He noted that she had argued before the Supreme Court six cases on behalf of women and won five of them. He pointedly likened her to Marshall. He predicted that she would be a unifying figure on the high bench. When she spoke, the President teared up.

At Ginsburg’s confirmation hearing, there was a remarkable moment. It came when Senator Carol Mosley Braun erupted angrily over something said by Senator Orrin Hatch in reference to the Dred Scott case. Ms. Braun demanded to speak on a point of personal privilege in her capacity as “the only descendent of a slave” in the hearing. Judge Ginsburg sat still, declining to correct the senator. We clapped our head in disbelief.

For Senators Metzenbaum, Feinstein, Cohen, and Specter were, among others present, either Jewish or descended from Jews, and the future justice herself was Jewish. So we thought she could have pointed out that every year, for three millennia, Jews have made a point of beginning the Passover Seder by remembering precisely that they were slaves in Egypt. It was not that we wanted to mark that Ms. Braun was wrong.

https://amgreatness.com/2020/09/19/confirm-a-justice-now/

The instant Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing was announced, the battle lines were drawn. Or, more accurately, one side girded for battle, while Republicans clucked with confusion about what to do next.

Which should be no surprise. If Republicans are good at anything, it’s finding “principled” reasons to betray their constituents and contradict their much vaunted philosophy. President Trump, naturally, has sounded strong, as, to his credit, has Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). But the majority leader has to manage a fractious caucus and a thin margin. Many of his members either will be looking for excuses not to vote, or for a reason to vote no, or (worse) will be persuadable by sophistical arguments as to why stabbing their president, their voters, and their country in the back is “the right thing to do.”

Herewith, if any of them are listening, are some reasons not to take those paths.

The Alleged 2016 Precedent

All Democrats and a few Republicans are already saying that McConnell’s refusal to advance the nomination of Merrick Garland in 2016 set an inviolable precedent that the GOP would be hypocrites to overturn. But there are differences between 2016 and 2020.

First, Barack Obama was at the end of his constitutionally limited two terms. The 2016 contest, therefore, was an “open-seat” election. Voters are much more likely to hand the presidency to the other party in an open-seat election; they have done so in the last three straight, whereas no incumbent has lost since 1992. A president at the end of his second term is a lame duck; it makes some sense in that circumstance to give a new president, with a new mandate, the chance to shape the court rather than let the outgoing has-been, who’s already had eight years to do as he will, one last shot at a legacy.

President Trump was almost a shoo-in for reelection before the lockdowns crushed the economy, and he remains a strong bet. He’s still immensely popular with his base and his approval ratings are the highest of his presidency—and higher than many of his predecessors’ at the same point in his term. He is anything but a lame duck. He deserves a chance to exercise his constitutionally enumerated powers and deliver for his voters.