On the evening of Sept. 18, Supreme Court associate justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away due to complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer. Her death impacts not only women and other marginalized groups, but the future of the United States and the protection of equal rights for all.
A champion of women’s rights, Ginsburg was the second woman ever appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Ginsburg served 27 years in the Supreme Court and powered through four instances of cancer during her lifetime. She was widely celebrated by liberals since she stood up for the rights of minority groups, even when the court turned majorly conservative.
Before her days in the Supreme Court, Ginsburg was a law professor at both Rutgers University and Columbia University. In the 1970s, Ginsburg advocated for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) which advocated for individual rights for all people in the U.S. She became director of the ACLU Women’s Rights project, which led her to represent over 300 gender-related cases—six of which made it to the Supreme Court. Beginning in 1980, Ginsburg served as a judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Ginsburg even played a role in legalizing same-sex marriage in all 50 states in 2015.
Ginsburg acknowledged the injustices against women in U.S. and believed that such injustices were violations of the Constitution. She worked hard to utilize the Constitution to dissent from conservative views that violated women’s rights. She advocated for women’s reproductive health rights, which are constantly in danger of being violated by our current conservative government.
When speaking about these rights in a Senate confirmation hearing, Ginsburg once said, “it is essential to women’s equality with man that she be the decisionmaker, that her choice be controlling. If you impose restraints you are disadvantaging her because of her sex.... abortion prohibition by the State controls women and denies them full autonomy and full equality with men,” according to The Guardian.
Ginsburg was an accomplished woman and an ally for minority groups in America. Her death leaves the future of America in danger. Our current political climate is hostile, and Ginsburg was one of the few figures protecting basic human rights such as women’s rights and racial equality, as well as policies combating climate change.
Now more than ever, it is important to vote to ensure that we have individuals in office who will fight for human rights. Ruth Bader Ginsburg set an extraordinary example for how all Americans should be, and the world will not be the same without her.
May RBG’s memory be a blessing.