2020 -- H 8175

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2020

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H O U S E   R E S O L U T I O N

EXPRESSING DEEPEST CONDOLENCES ON THE PASSING OF UNITED STATES

SUPREME COURT JUSTICE, RUTH BADER GINSBURG

     Introduced By: Representatives Fogarty, Shekarchi, Casimiro, Kennedy, and Lima

     Date Introduced: December 14, 2020

     Referred To: Placed on the House Consent Calendar

     WHEREAS, It is with deep sadness and regret that this nation has learned of the passing

of the Honorable Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, an iconic and beloved figure, and the second

woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court. She was the wife of the late Martin

Ginsburg and the mother of Jane Ginsburg and James Ginsburg; and

     WHEREAS, Justice Ginsburg was born Joan Ruth Bader on March 15, 1933, in

Brooklyn, New York. She was the second daughter of Nathan Bader, an emigrant from Odessa,

Russian Empire, and Celia Bader, the daughter of immigrants from Krakow, Poland. As a baby,

she had lost her older sister Marilyn to meningitis; and

     WHEREAS, As a young girl, Justice Ginsburg was an excellent student and a voracious

reader. She attended James Madison High School where she excelled in her studies. Her mother

was very involved in her education, frequently taking her to the library, and always encouraging

her to pursue knowledge. Tragically, she lost her mother to cancer shortly before graduating from

High School; and

     WHEREAS, Justice Ginsburg attended Cornell University, graduating in 1954 with the

highest ranking of any female student in her class. While attending Cornell, she met her future

husband and life partner, and upon graduation, married Martin Ginsburg. Together they moved

to Fort Still Oklahoma, where he was serving on active duty with the United States Army. She

took a position with the Social Security Administration, but was later demoted after becoming

pregnant with her daughter, Jane; and

     WHEREAS, In 1956, Justice Ginsburg enrolled at Harvard Law School, one of only nine

women in a class of 500. While at Harvard, the Dean of Students invited the female law students

to dinner and asked them why they were “taking the place of a man?” Justice Ginsburg later

transferred to Columbia Law School, where she tied for first in her class upon graduation; and

     WHEREAS, Despite her superlative credentials, Justice Ginsburg had a very difficult

time securing a position after graduation due to continuing gender discrimination. Eventually, she

began a clerkship with Judge Edmund Palmieri, a Justice of the United States District Court for

the Southern District of New York. After finishing the two-year clerkship, she served as a

Research Associate and later as Associate Director of the Columbia Law School Project on

International Procedure, where her studies on gender equality in Sweden, a nation far more

advanced than the United States on those issues, greatly influenced her thoughts on how to

accomplish gender equality in the United States; and

     WHEREAS, In 1963, Justice Ginsburg accepted a law position at Rutgers University,

where she was paid less than her male colleagues and was one of less than twenty female law

professors in the United States. In 1970, she co-founded the Women’s Rights Law Reporter, the

first law journal in the United States to focus exclusively on women’s rights. In 1972, she co-

founded the Women’s Rights Project at the ACLU and in 1973, became the General Counsel.

Under her direction and leadership, the Women’s Rights Project participated in more than 300

gender discrimination cases between 1973 and 1976, during which time she argued six cases

before the United States Supreme Court, winning five; and

     WHEREAS, Justice Ginsburg was subsequently appointed by President Carter to serve

on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, a position she held

until 1993 when she was appointed by President Clinton to the United States Supreme Court. She

was approved by the United States Senate with an overwhelmingly majority vote of 96 to 3.

While serving on the Supreme Court, she continued her fight for gender equality, and notably

wrote the 1996 majority opinion striking down the Virginia Military Institute’s male-only

admissions policy; and

     WHEREAS, While Justice Ginsburg was seen as the leader of the so-called “liberal bloc”

on the United States Supreme Court, her collegial and friendly persona proved to be a vital

component that allowed an ideologically divided Supreme Court to continue to function in a

responsible manner. Many observers were often bemused to discover her close and congenial

friendship with Justice Scalia, a member of the conservative wing of the Supreme Court; and

     WHEREAS, In her later years on the Supreme Court, Justice Ginsberg became a national

and international icon, as the very embodiment of progress and equality for women and

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minorities across the globe. The nation was enthralled with her enormous intellect and her

humble and charming demeanor. She was also deeply respected for her courageous and tenacious

battles with both colon and pancreatic cancer. Mournfully, on September 18, 2020, Justice Ruth

Bader Ginsburg passed away due to complications from cancer and America lost one of its

greatest citizens and sagacious Justices; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island hereby

expresses its deepest condolences to the Ginsburg Family on the passing of the Honorable

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg; and be it further

     RESOLVED That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to Jane Ginsburg and James Ginsburg.

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