The most touching live scene I’ve ever witnessed on TV news at the passing of a U.S. Supreme Court Justice was the candlelight vigil on the court steps in Washington, D.C., honoring Ruth Bader Ginsberg. She is someone I will never forget—most likely because she, like I, is a woman. We sisters live the same life, one evidently different from and not near as convenient as our brothers with whom we walk together through our respective and entwined lives. She was inspiring not only because she pursued a law degree when it was very uncommon to do so, when only three percent of the up-and-coming lawyers were women, but at old age she not only continued to do the work of a federal justice, she routinely exercised, specifically strength training. Do you know how uncommon exercising is among Americans as a whole? Probably again in that three percent range.
With a quiet unassuming demeanor and a calm mindfulness, Ruth Bader Ginsberg was known to have NEVER raised her voice. How uncommon is that, especially in these rage-aholic times? She quietly pressed on, as if she had work to do and no time to dilly dally and rage against the machine or what have you. She chuckled at seeing herself portrayed on “Saturday Night Live” with a thick Brooklyn accent popping wisecracks and dancing a gleeful jig or a more sultry glide for a satirical political burn.
She was a lifelong feminist but also a wife, mother and grandmother—as are most feminists in case our brothers are wondering, the ones who are so quick to brand us “feminazis.” Bader Ginsberg?
She knew her passing, at age 87 and having survived several deadly cancers, would unleash the hypocrisy this nation has come to expect from those who claim to be social conservatives. Her last wish is already trounced on seemingly at her last breath. Respectfully she wanted her successor to be appointed after the election, as it should be. And we all know should be. She wanted the American people to speak first (by voting) and then let the search and vetting take place.
Justice is justice and nothing but
One of the highlights of my reporting career was not only sitting in federal court presided by William Wayne Justice but interviewing him in his Tyler office in the 1990s. This took place after a “60 Minutes” report about Justice’s long liberal career and opposing attorneys who believed their cases would not win due to the federal judge’s political leanings, to the left. The quote went something like this about a liberal decision: anyone who ruled that way would have to be “the most stupid person on earth or William Wayne Justice.” So, I drove down to Tyler to talk with him.
None of the rumors about him were true. He didn’t have bodyguards due to numerous death threats. He didn’t carry a gun. He walked from his house to court. His home phone number was listed in the book. Simply, William Wayne Justice walked it like he talked it. He took his oath seriously; the law was what was important, every single letter, every single word and phrase. He did not see himself as a liberal judge. He thought his job was to rule on behalf of the law that protects anyone or group who were obviously if not cruelly disenfranchised. In so thinking, he ruled against public housing discrimination and equal accommodations such as air conditioning and heating, same ruling for the prison system as Texas was known to not provide this modern necessity into the end of the 20th century. His job was not to be political but to be fair, to do right by the people.
When William Wayne Justice died earlier this century, The Dallas Morning News online edition included a blog for the public to submit comments on his legacy. I phrased mine succinctly and pressed submit—only to read the blog had been taken down “due to abuse.” Huh. Here again, there is a price to pay for being liberal socially and politically (he was a major democrat and appointed by LBJ). That was the problem. Half the Eastern District of Texas, if not a larger population, despised that judge, whose name ironically spelled out and was Justice. Why? Because he knew the only way the white establishment would be fair to Blacks and other minorities was by the heavy hand of the law. Whites hated him for it. Still do.
The reason I respect and admire Ruth Bader Ginsberg even more deeply is because she was unafraid, undeterred, on abortion rights. She would openly discuss it, not hide her thoughts, not mince her words or condemn women and girls who undergo the still federally legal medical procedure–above all a private matter to be judged by God and not man. She was first a woman. And women understand men.
I’m gonna miss that about her, maybe her entire generation. IDK