Sunday, September 20th, 2020
My Dear America:
The News Friday Night was shocking. I was playing Music in my basement with two of my closest Democratic Musician Friends on the Jamkazam Internet Music Website when My wife blinked the lights to get my attention. "Ruth Bader Ginsberg died" my wife told me and I, in turn, told my friends. We were all devastated and talked for a long time about the Notorious RBG before we finally went back to playing music. We tried to play some songs in her honor.
It wasn't that the prospect of her death was unexpected. RBG had endured some serious bouts with cancer and she was, after all, 87 years old. I simply think that we had all gotten used to hearing that she was having health concerns at points and then hearing that she was back to work at the Supreme Court almost immediately. I think we all thought that after working on the Supreme Court for 27 years that she would certainly be around to vote for Joe Biden, see him elected and see him inaugurated.
RBG clearly had no use for Donald Trump. She had made it clear at one time that she recognized what a dangerous fool he was. Of course, Donald Trump, who never seemed to have any problems saying inappropriate things about others, called her comments about him inappropriate. She apologized for what she had said about Trump.
One of my daughters is a successful lawyer who graduated from Rutgers Law School after RBG had left her position there as a Rutgers Law Professor. My daughter was certainly the beneficiary of some of the prestige that Professor Ginsberg brought to Rutgers, though and although RBG could not find a job in her day after graduating at the top of her class in Law School, in today's Justice system Women and Men are rather evenly divided throughout the legal profession.
Women have come a long way in many professions but they have certainly made tremendous strides in the Legal profession. While RBG was a Law Professor at Rutgers Law School I found out in the Hollywood movie about Ruth Bader Ginsberg and her husband, Marty Ginsberg, She proudly shepherded several groundbreaking cases under the auspices of the American Civil Liberties Union in which she ended up as Legal Counsel in the Supreme Court making great strides with regard to gender equality for both Women and Men. In some ways RBG's gender equality cases before the Supreme Court were just as important overall as the cases she dealt with while she was an Associate Justice on The Supreme Court.
One thing that did not change with her over the course of her Long Legal Career was the fact that in all of her jobs she was a very hard and a very serious worker who held the law in high esteem and had high (almost impossible) standards that she had for herself as a Lawyer.
She was not only well liked by those who worked with her. She was loved by most people who interacted with her. Certainly she was loved by her husband and children and grandchildren. Her students loved her as well, as did judges and lawyers she worked with and her clients, of course. She was also highly respected by those who knew her. It was well known that RBG was a very Progressive (Left Leaning) Supreme Court Justice. It was also well known that Justice Antonin Scalia was a very Conservative (Right Leaning) Supreme Court Justice. It would seem as though these two people whose Legal views couldn't have been farther apart from one another would never have gotten along. They were, however, the best of friends. They had both worked together on the DC Circuit Court and had gotten along well there, as well. When RBG was appointed to the Supreme Court they continued to be good friends, sharing an interest in opera, as well as the law.
It was interesting to learn from the CNN Documentary Film about Ruth Bader Ginsberg that in the later years of her life she seemed to get a kick out of the fact that she was known as the Notorious RBG. She, indeed, had a notorious style to her. Although she apparently had not seen the brilliant portrayal of herself by Kate McKinnon on Saturday Night Live, the movie producers sat her down in front of a television and had her watch Mckinnon's Notorious RBG Skits. Like the outstanding person she was, she laughed loudly and gave Kate McKinnon an enthusiastic thumbs up for her brilliant performances
Ruth Bader Ginsberg's last words according to her Granddaughter were that she hoped that efforts to replace her would wait until after November's election and the Inauguration of a new President.
Clearly Donald Trump and Senator Mitch McConnell do not seem willing to accede to RBG's wishes. Although Ruth Bader Ginsberg's life was beautiful and uplifting what Trump and McConnell are planning to do in order to steal RBG's Supreme Court seat before the November election is going to be an ugly and disgusting exercise in Brute Power, something RBG had little use for.
I only hope that their revolting plan backfires on them and puts Joe Biden in the White House as his New Permanent Residence. I am sure that RBG would get a kick out of that.
Rest in Peace RBG. We will always love you, respect you and admire you.
And We will never ever Forget You.
Sincerely Yours
Jerry Gallagher
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