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Monday, September 21, 2020

Last Friday, associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away at the age of 87, and many memorials appeared outside the Supreme Court over the weekend. Justice Ginsburg had been battling pancreatic cancer since 2009, and in the Supreme Court's announcement of her death, Chief Justice Roberts praised her as a historic jurist and cherished colleague. She had served since 1993 when she was nominated by President Clinton, and she was a strong proponent of women's rights. She was considered a liberal Justice, and her death brings about much political controversy. Justices serve for life, and although there are no requirements for a nominee, presidents have traditionally picked highly qualified, sitting judges. Once a judge is nominated, they are questioned by the Senate Judiciary Committee and voted on by the Senate for confirmation. Because this is an election year, Republicans will probably try to get a nominee confirmed before November when they could lose the Senate and/or White House, and the Democrats will try to delay a vote as long as possible. In Colorado, an extinct type of apple is being brought back. The Colorado Orange apple was a key part of orchards when people originally settled the state during its gold rush. The last tree was found in an orchard in 2017, but there were no DNA samples of the apple to confirm that. However, Colorado State University had some wax models that matched the apples from the tree. It is now being grafted and given to orchard farmers.

Time: Honoring Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Trailblazing Jurist Leaves a Vital Legacy

By Margaret Carlson

    Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on September 18, 2020, at the age of 87 due to cancer complications. Before becoming a Supreme Court Justice, she led a campaign against sexism as a lawyer. She extended the 14th Amendment equal-rights clause so that women could get equal Social Security benefits, military housing allowance, administer estates, and serve on juries. She also implemented new terms, such as gender, "(so as not to distract male jurists with the word sex)".

    Ginsburg grew up in Brooklyn in 1933 and went to Cornell as a top student. There, she met Martin Ginsburg, her future husband, and the first man who "cared that [she] had a brain". After graduating, they both went to Harvard Law school. Unfortunately, Martin was called up to active duty, so she worked for the Social Security Administration in Oklahoma and even got demoted for working while pregnant. When they returned to Harvard, Martin came down with a type of testicular cancer, so Ginsburg had to write both their papers all while raising a child and being scorned by the dean for taking up a man's role. After her husband graduated, he got a prestigious job in New York, so she went with him to finish her degree at Columbia. It was this discrimination that influenced her future life as a lawyer.

    In 1993, President Clinton had a Supreme Court seat to fill, and although she wasn't at the top, Ginsburg made the list. She was not Clinton's first choice because of the fact that many women didn't see her as a feminist anymore - she did not make bold statements, instead slowly wearing down laws, and she was considered the stuff of yesterday. Luckily, Martin was great at publicity - he tirelessly worked to change her image and convinced the women that she was an adamant supporter of overcoming the patriarchy. She was confirmed in a 96 to 3 vote.

    Over time, she gained fame for her dissents - when the court tilted right, she read her dissents out loud in hopes that they would see their errors. Eventually, she gained recognition for everything she had done - memorials and merchandise were made for her, and she was awarded an honorary degree from Harvard Law.

    "Over the decades, Ginsburg quietly persisted—through discrimination, through Marty’s 2010 death, through more illness and debilitating treatments than any one person should have to endure—without complaint, holding on and out, until sheer will was no longer enough."