With the confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, we have a first for the Court:
Four women—Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett, and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Two African Americans—Clarence Thomas and Ketanji Brown Jackson
One Hispanic Justice—Sonia Sotomayor
Considering that the Supreme Court has had 108 white males out of a previous 115 appointments, this is a massive change, well needed and timely!
It has finally happened!
Hillary Clinton is the Democratic Presidential nominee, the first woman to gain that opportunity on a major party line!
But remember that it is the Democratic Party which gave us the first Catholic President, John F. Kennedy, and the first African American President, Barack Obama!
Also, it was the Democratic Party that gave us the first woman Vice Presidential nominee, Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro of New York and the first Jewish Vice Presidential nominee, Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, along with the first Catholic Vice President, Joe Biden.
It was a Democratic President, Woodrow Wilson, who gave us the first Jewish Supreme Court Justice, Louis Brandeis.
The Democratic Party is the party of equal opportunity, including three Jews presently on the Court (Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan); three women presently on the Court (Ginsburg, Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor) ; and the first Latina Supreme Court Justice (Sotomayor).
And it was great today to see the first African American President, Barack Obama, wholeheartedly endorsing the first woman Presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton!
Associate Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, appointed by President Bill Clinton 20 years ago, has suffered two serious bouts with cancer, and has lost her husband, but she continues to plug on at age 80, with no plans for retirement.
Since other Supreme Court Justices have stayed on in their 80s, it is not all that surprising that Ginsburg refuses to consider retirement.
Always very friendly and accessible, unusual in the history of the Supreme Court membership, Ginsburg has become more openly outspoken over the years, being the true champion of the progressive side of the Court, and critical in a gentle way of her conservative colleagues, while expressing respect for them as individuals.
And she set new ground by marrying two gay men in the past week, one of them being the President of the Kennedy Center, and the other a well known economist. And she also has spoken out now on the Constitution as the promoter of equal rights for all—race, gender, and sexual orientation—even though it might take a long time, many generations, for the promotion of equality to become the norm, in the story of American history!
Ginsburg is an inspiration to all who believe in equality, justice, decency, and fairness, and a great symbol to women, as to what they can attain, as she is the second woman appointed to the Supreme Court, after Sandra Day O’Connor.
It is certainly clear that Ginsburg, O’Connor, and the only other two women appointed to the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan have all contributed to the humanization of the Court, and advocated an open minded attitude, which will have a long range effect on Constitutional law!
Applause and commending of the role and significance of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is certainly in order!
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!