Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died Friday evening, setting off shockwaves around the country and messages of sadness on Twitter.
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died Friday evening, setting off shockwaves around the country and messages of sadness on Twitter. Ginsburg died at 87, following a battle with pancreatic cancer. The Supreme Court said Ginsburg died at her Washington, D.C. home with her family by her side. Her death leaves a vacancy on the Supreme Court with less than two months before the presidential election.
“Our nation has lost a justice of historic stature,” Chief Justice John Roberts said. “We at the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague. Today we mourn, but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her, a tired and resolute champion of justice.”
Days before her death, Ginsburg told her granddaughter, Clara Spera, she did not want her seat filled until after the presidential election. “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed,” she told Spera, reports NPR. It was a clear sign that Ginsburg knew the impact her death will have on the country. There are now only three liberal justices remaining on the court. If President Donald Trump nominates a conservative justice and they are confirmed, the conservative majority would be 6-3, and Roberts will not be a swing vote in the Court’s upcoming term.
Ginsburg was born in Brooklyn on March 15, 1933, and graduated from Columbia Law School. She spent most of her career advocating for women’s rights and gender equality. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed her as a judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and she served in that role until 1993. That year, President Bill Clinton nominated her to the Supreme Court and was confirmed 93-3. She was just the second woman to join the court, following Sandra Day O’Connor. Two more women followed, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, both nominated by President Barack Obama.
The article is originally published at Pop culture.