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[Pages H4889-H4890]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
A MESSAGE ON THE PASSING OF RUTH BADER GINSBURG
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
Michigan (Mr. Levin) for 5 minutes.
Mr. LEVIN of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I rise with a message on the
passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg that I shared with my beloved
synagogue, Congregation T'chiyah, on Zoom during Saturday's Rosh
Hashanah service just before we said the Mourner's Kaddish.
We have to resist what may be our first impulse over the loss of
Justice Ginsburg, the horror of it. When people die, it is hard to step
back from their circumstances, the circumstances of their death, in
order to imbibe the lesson of their life, isn't it? Especially in
circumstances like this.
Instead, let us consider this woman. A tiny person. A modest person.
A young wife who helped her husband with his schoolwork, only turning
to her own in the middle of the night. A woman who, nevertheless,
finished at the top of her law school class. A brilliant lawyer no law
firm would hire because she had ovaries, and heaven forfend, was a
mother.
A person then pushed into teaching and given the space for advocacy.
The system, by discriminating against her, set up a mighty campaign to
fell discrimination.
The very architect of the assault against legal discrimination
against women who, following in the footsteps of Thurgood Marshall, the
lawyer, not the Justice, carefully disassembled the wall excluding
women from all manner of rights, brick by carefully chosen brick.
The appeals court judge who was not President Clinton's first choice
to join the Supreme Court, but who blew him away with her charismatic
anti-charisma, her directness, lack of artifice, and legal brilliance
so plain that it shone Sun-like.
[[Page H4890]]
For nearly three decades, a Supreme Court Justice who hammered out
brave decisions and dissents that shone a light toward the future of
dignity and justice for all, for which we all long, and on these High
Holy Days we reaffirm faithfully is a possible and, indeed, necessary
future.
A teacher-Justice, who crafted these decisions in a manner not only
meant to make law in the moment, but to teach future Justices, lawyers,
and the general public how law and power function in the real world.
In the end, the Justice-turned-icon, Notorious RBG, the most unlikely
rock star, whose seeming diminutive frailty was the falsest thing about
her, hiding a will of steel, that galloping mind, and a glint in her
eye that told every girl: I am with you; and indeed: You are me; we are
one.
Why must we breathe in the full measure of this person before we turn
to the tragedy of her death at this incredible low point in the history
of our Nation? Why can't we just turn with anxiety and determination to
the next fight, the fight over RBG's replacement? Because in pausing to
appreciate Ruth Bader Ginsburg fully, we see the importance of
brilliant strategy and steely determination and good humor.
Reflecting on her astounding accomplishments, we realize that justice
can win in the end. Amidst our tears, we realize we have no choice but
to listen to her, and to John Lewis, and others we have lost in a
moment of turmoil when we need them most, to study their ways, pick up
their tools, and march on towards justice.
You want a Rosh Hashanah that tests your faith? Try losing RBG to
start things off. You want to make 5781 a year of hope and joy? Try
taking immense pride in the outsize accomplishments of this tiny Jew
and vowing to make her proud of us. Only then, after we immerse
ourselves in prayer, reflection, and intention-setting, will we be
fully ready to meet the coming moment.
____________________
