Ruth Bader Ginsburg has just publicly praised her new Supreme Court colleague Brett Kavanaugh for hiring an all-female staff.
The liberal icon sat down for a panel Tuesday at Georgetown Law School’s Supreme Court Institute, where she discussed her life and career as a trailblazing progressive jurist. Ginsburg noted that there are now more women than men clerking on the Supreme Court because of Kavanaugh.
“There is a very important first on the Supreme Court this term,” Ginsburg said. “It’s thanks to our new justice, Justice Kavanaugh, whose entire staff are all women and all of his law clerks are women.”
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Ginsburg was joined by two of her former clerks. One of them, professor Dori Bernstein, asked the liberal icon about the women’s movement, noting that “only a quarter” of legislators in the House and “only a third” of Supreme Court justices are women, and there have been no female presidents.
“Over the last 50 years, the federal courts have been instrumental in accelerating our progress, thanks in no small part to your efforts. But looking ahead the next 50 years, what do you see is the work to be done?”
Ginsburg, who is 86, pointed out that great strides toward equality have been made at the Supreme Court, but added that more work is necessary.
“It’s the first time in the history of the United States that there have been more women clerking than men,” the progressive stalwart said.
Ginsburg became the second woman in history to become a Supreme Court Justice when she was nominated in 1993 by President Bill Clinton.
Unexpected praise
Kavanaugh rose to the Supreme Court in the fall after a brutal confirmation fight that almost tore the country apart amid allegations that the nominee sexually assaulted a woman when they were both in high school. While Kavanaugh is reviled on the left, Ginsburg is something of a secular saint to many progressives and an icon to the feminist movement for her role in advancing women’s rights, which makes her praise a little unexpected.
Ginsburg, whose fans endearingly refer to her as “the Notorious RBG,” is not shy about her feelings on gender equality. When asked when there would be a sufficient number of women justices on the court, she famously answered, “when there are nine.”
Among Supreme Court justices Ginsburg is notable for her frequently partisan pronouncements. In an unusual move for a high court judge, Ginsburg called Donald Trump a “faker” during his campaign for president. She later apologized.
Questions about Ginsburg’s health and age have taken on more weight in a time of heightened partisanship. The octogenarian justice, who is the oldest on the bench, gave many liberals a fright when she missed oral arguments earlier this year for the first time in her career to recover from a surgery.
The same partisanship that has made nominations to the court so brutal and court-watching a political sport, is playing out in her realm as well, according to Ginsburg. The judge warned last month of “sharp divisions” among the court’s nine justices in the future, calling the retirement of Anthony Kennedy, whose seat Kavanaugh filled, the event of “greatest consequence for the current term, and perhaps many terms ahead.” In one example of such a split, Ginsburg, the arch-liberal, clashed with the court’s chief conservative Clarence Thomas in a recent abortion case, arguing that a pregnant woman is “not a mother.”
Of course, collegiality rules on the Supreme Court despite partisan differences, but given the current political climate, Ginsburg’s complimentary comments about Kavanaugh are a welcome surprise.
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