Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died at the age of 87. While understood to be a non-observant Jew, her passing coming during the High Holiday of Rosh Hashanah was not lost on people. How so? According to Jewish tradition, one who dies on the High Holiday is considered a “Tzadik," a title given in Judaism to people considered righteous.
As you likely know, the court's eldest justice had suffered a series of health setbacks in her later years, including multiple bouts with cancer. Most recently, she was troubled by pancreatic cancer, but continued working through treatment. It was reportedly metastatic cancer that took her.
Born in Brooklyn in 1933, she attended Harvard Law School and Columbia Law School. She was instrumental in beginning the Women's Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union in 1971. She served as General Counsel for the organization from 1973 to 1980 and later on its National Board of Directors.
Ginsburg was appointed in 1980 as a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. She was nominated as an Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court by President Bill Clinton and took her seat on the bench August 10th, 1993. Clinton says that he knew she was the right choice after talking to her for ten minutes. She was the second woman to serve on the nation's highest court.
As for reactions to the news:
The "nation has lost a jurist of historic stature." Those words from Supreme Court Justice John G. Roberts of his colleague. Roberts said while it's a day of mourning, he's confident future generations will remember her as a "tireless and resolute champion of justice."
The man who appointed Justice Ginsburg to the Supreme Court is reacting to her death. Clinton says Ginsburg's 27 years on the high court exceeded his "highest expectations." He argued her landmark opinions on advancing gender equality, the rights of people with disabilities and more moved the nation closer to "a more perfect union."
President Trump says America is mourning "the loss of a titan of the law." The chief executive released a statement shortly after first learning of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death after a campaign rally in Minnesota Friday night. Trump argued her opinions inspired Americans and "generations of great legal minds." He called her a "fighter to the end" as Ginsburg battled cancer while still serving the high court.
Source: NPR