With the death of United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsburg at the age of 87, the president’s anti-democratic efforts will be encouraged. In her 27-year tenure on the Supreme Court, Justice Ginsburg consistently upheld the principles of democratic, secular and bias-free government, a concept at odds with Trump’s ambitions. Women, especially, will feel the loss of this champion of female emancipation, as will men who support women’s causes.
Her sensitivity to injustice won’t be replaced. She will be succeeded by just one more acolyte of Trump, and the systemic injustices will continue.
Trump will now try to ensure a right-wing candidate like Justice Brett Kavanaugh, whose nomination caused such a spectacle a little over two years ago. He will try to have another ultra-conservative candidate installed on the bench before the November election, which will guarantee a long and vicious battle, exacerbating the already violent left-right antagonism that is tearing U.S. society apart.
Justice Ginsburg had been hoping to survive long enough to see another Democratic president elected, in the full knowledge that adding one more conservative justice would embolden Trump to push his anti-democracy agenda forward. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was well aware that Trump posed a threat to the democratic system of government in the U.S.A., and now that her moderate influence is no longer felt, those democratic restraints will be removed, and the Trumpian trend toward dictatorship will proceed.
Justice Ginsburg’s demise leaves the U.S. vulnerable to more right-wing initiatives, which will impact negatively on women, LGBT citizens, African-Americans, immigrants and on anybody else who had been hoping to have equal status before the law. Her loyalty to her gender did not detract from her concern for all U.S. citizens, of whatever race, gender, or political identity.
Her sensitivity to injustice won’t be replaced. She will be succeeded by just one more acolyte of Trump, and the systemic injustices will continue.
Justice Ruth Ginsburg is mourned by all who value freedom, or democracy, or the rule of law, or plain old-fashioned decency. And her loss will be felt far beyond the borders of the U.S.A.; she was admired by freedom-lovers all over the world, whose own political and legal stability are under threat just as in the U.S.A.
Her passing leaves the U.S. Supreme Court less committed to equal justice for all, which can have no positive outcomes.
Ed Healy
Marystown
