Ruth Bader Ginsburg made a rare public appearance at a Jewish synagogue in Washington, D.C. on Sunday.
Ginsburg attended a memorial service for the late Israeli writer Amoz Oz at Temple Sinai. The famously tenacious justice, who returned to the bench last month, was out of public view for weeks as she recovered from her December lung cancer surgery. The liberal icon’s health scares have attracted public attention and even encouraged some conspiracy mongering that she had in fact died.
RBG spotted at D.C. Temple
Ginsburg did not make any remarks or talk to the media at the event. She reportedly told Oz’s daughter, Fania Oz-Salzberger, that she went to the memorial because she liked her father’s writing.
Faniza Oz-Salzberger shared a picture of her and Ginsburg on Twitter. Ginsburg reportedly listened to speeches from Oz-Salzberger, New York Times columnist Roger Cohen and Jeremy Ben Ami, founder of progressive lobby J Street, which helped organize the memorial along with the New Israel Fund and Americans for Peace Now.
More pics with Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Courtesy of fine photographer Judy Licht, @JudyLichtPhotos.
Looking on: @NYTimesCohen, @JeremyBenAmi, and the wonderful rabbis, our hosts.#rbg @TempleSinaiDC @jstreetdotorg pic.twitter.com/58Ag80AdEW— Fania Oz-Salzberger ×¤× ×™×” עוז-זלצברגר (@faniaoz) April 1, 2019
Oz died of cancer in December. Ginsburg herself had two cancerous nodules removed from her lungs that same month, and she eventually returned to the Supreme Court in February after several weeks of recovery.
Ginsburg was spotted on camera in February for the first time since her surgery while walking through Reagan National Airport. A reporter for TMZ asked Ginsburg how she was doing.
“I’m dong fine,” she replied simply.
Ginsburg back, but Trump “saving” replacement
The synagogue appearance came not long after Ginsburg returned to the bench after having missed oral arguments for the first time in her career. Her recent health woes have been cause for concern among progressives who fear that president Donald Trump will get a chance to appoint her successor, but the famously tenacious judge returned to work with a vengeance as she issued opinions at an aggressive clip.
Although it looks like RBG isn’t going anywhere, President Trump reportedly already has his mind made up as to her replacement. Axios reported that Trump was “saving” Judge Amy Coney Barrett to fill Ginsburg’s seat back when he was pondering who should succeed retired justice Anthony Kennedy in July. Barrett was a favorite with conservatives at the time, but Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh, who was confirmed to the court in October.
“I’m saving her for Ginsburg,” Trump reportedly said of Barrett at the time.
Progressives have expressed hostility at the prospect of Barrett’s appointment given her pro-life views. It would be quite a jarring event indeed for liberals if RBG, an icon to the abortion movement, was succeeded on the bench by a pro-life Catholic
Justice Ginsburg, endearingly referred to by fans as “the Notorious RBG,” is widely cherished by progressives for her work in advancing leftist causes, so much so that Sam Adams recently honored her with a limited-edition IPA.
No comments: