The Supreme Court of the United States is a very “forbidding” institution, with its marble building, opened in 1935, its arches, its tightly controlled public access, and even the robes worn by the nine Supreme Court Justices as they listen to case arguments in the Supreme Court chamber.
The Court has always been seen as an intimidating place, and historically, the Court Justices have made themselves seem distant and aloof from the general public.
But now we are fortunate to have two women on the Court who are particularly open and accessible, and even Associate Justice Elena Kagan has already become much more of a public face, joining Associate Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor in that endeavor.
Ginsburg has, for years, spoken to public school students, given interviews, and made herself the public face of the Court, and now Sotomayor, in particular, and Kagan, somewhat as well, have opened up to the public, with Sotomayor now on a book tour for her revealing autobiography, which makes it easy for average citizens to relate to her and the insecurities she felt as she went from a poor childhood in the Bronx, New York, all the way up the ladder to the Supreme Court.
So two women in particular, and even Kagan moving in that direction, opens up the Court, and it is time for the men on the Court to stop their aloofness and reserve, and show the American people that, while they make judgments on cases as they relate to the Constitution, they are still human beings with real lives and concerns that should not be withheld from public scrutiny.
It would be easier for Americans to respect our system of law and courts if there was more open access to these people, and the women on the Court have done a great service in that regard!
“Eliminate the phrase “carnal knowledge of any female, not his wife, who has not attained the age of 16 years†and substitute a federal, sex-neutral definition of the offense. … A person is guilty of an offense if he engages in a sexual act with another person. … [and] the other person is, in fact, less than 12 years old.†– Ruth Bader Ginsberg, 1977 in “Sex Bias in the U.S. Code†for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Advocating lowering the age of consent from 16 to 12 is very humanizing…
This is the first I have heard of this, and if it is accurate, I am totally in disagreement with Ginsberg on this! But there is no question that she has made the Court less distant and more accessible to the average American!
Here is the 1977 report. Check page 110. If I’m not mistaken or reading this out of context, then were many in the late 1970s feminist movement really in favor of lowering the age of consent to 12? Did Justice Ginsburg hold this view? Or was this something that was added and not caught by her (of course she had the responsibility of checking everything produced by the people she was supervising or even by her coauthor, but mistakes happen). Not sure what this says about Justice Ginsburg’s past views, or for that matter her present view. See: http://www.law.umaryland.edu/marshall/usccr/documents/cr12se9.pdf
I am surprised that this did not come up in the hearings for Ginsberg to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in 1993. Had it been known, it would have been a major controversy for certain.