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[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E931-E932]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
IN HONOR OF RUTH BADER GINSBURG
______
HON. JACKIE SPEIER
of california
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, October 6, 2020
Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, the loss of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is
a loss for our country, but the grief is particularly acute for women
and girls. We've lost the greatest feminist icon of our time who used
her legal talents to lift us up and fought for a world that recognized
our equal stature and dignity.
Her fame sort of crept up on her. Her tiny frame belied her judicial
might. She had a soft
[[Page E932]]
voice but was a megaphone in her words. She was a rock of righteousness
and boasted rock solid abs from her planks and exercise regimen. She
also became a fashionista icon as she donned collar necklaces and black
lace gloves.
As women members of Congress, our paths would have been even tougher
had it not been for Justice Ginsburg's brilliant legal strategy that
built a foundation for our equality in the law. She turned the personal
sex discrimination she endured into a life's mission to overcome.
Imagine being told by the dean of the law school at Harvard that she
was taking a man's seat! After serving on both Harvard and Columbia's
law reviews and graduating first in her class, she couldn't get a
clerkship or an associate job at a New York law firm. She went on to
teach as a professor of law at Rutgers and discrimination struck
again--she found out she was making less than a male colleague of equal
standing. When she complained, she was told that he had a wife and two
kids and she had a husband in a big law firm in New York City.
She was going to file an EEOC complaint until the law school
relented. She argued 300 gender discrimination cases in her career
later practicing law. She challenged bogus laws that claimed to protect
women but in fact discriminated against them, stating, ``The pedestal
upon which women have been placed has all too often, upon closer
inspection, been revealed as a cage.'' In her work on the bench she
declared women should not be discriminated against, denied control of
our bodies, and deserved equal pay for equal work.
The fact that we cannot honor this titan properly because Republicans
refuse to honor her dying wish adds further insult to our collective
injury. Their desire to destroy the ACA and rip away health care from
135 million Americans with preexisting conditions is greater than their
sense of decency. Their thirst to pack the court with four Justices
selected by Presidents who lost the popular vote is anything but just.
Her fervent wish, our fervent wish may be denied but no one can deny
the notorious RBG her due, her greatness, her iconic presence in the
Supreme Court hall of fame. Someday, her fervent wish of nine women
Justices will be a reality.
And so, we rise up. We fight for RBG's legacy and the just world she
envisioned. It's time for us all to be notorious.
____________________
