The Supreme Court’s eight justices on Saturday issued statements recalling the grace, fortitude and wit of their late colleague Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was described as a trailblazer for gender equality and “an American hero.”
The written remembrances, distributed by a Supreme Court spokesperson, were some of the first public comments by the bench since a court spokesperson confirmed Ginsburg’s death Friday night from pancreatic cancer.
Justice Stephen Breyer, who along with Ginsburg comprised half of the court’s erstwhile liberal bloc, said he learned of Ginsburg’s passing while reciting a prayer called the Mourner’s Kaddish during a celebration of the Jewish New Year, and his reflection took the form of a poetic stanza:
“a great Justice;
a woman of valour;
a rock of righteousness;
and my good, good friend.
The world is a better place for her having lived in it.
And so is her family;
her friends;
the legal community;
and the nation.”
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, another of the court’s more liberal justices, called Ginsburg a “pathbreaking champion of women’s rights.”
“My dear friend and colleague Ruth Bader Ginsburg was an American hero,” Sotomayor wrote. “She spent her life fighting for the equality of all people, and she was a pathbreaking champion of women’s rights.
“She served our Court and country with consummate dedication, tirelessness, and passion for Justice,” Sotomayor added. “She has left a legacy few could rival.”
Justice Clarence Thomas, one of the court’s most reliable conservatives and least likely justices to align with Ginsburg on questions of law, reflected on their long friendship.
Since 1990 when the two first met on the bench of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, Ginsburg confronted multiple bouts with cancer and the loss of her husband, attorney Marty Ginsburg, who died from cancer in 2010.
“Through her loss of her wonderful husband, Marty, and her countless health challenges, she was a picture of grace and courage,” Thomas recalled. “Not once did the pace and quality of her work suffer even as she was obviously suffering grievously. Nor did her demeanor toward her colleagues diminish.”
Chief Justice John Roberts said the country had lost a judge of “historic stature.”
“We at the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague,” he wrote. “Today we mourn, but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her — a tireless and resolute champion of justice.”
The court’s other justices — Elena Kagan, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh — also provided statements, as did retired Justices Anthony Kennedy and David Souter.
Read the full remarks below:
Statements of the Supreme Court Regarding the Death of Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Lauren Vella on Scribd