In a speech yesterday, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said she would likely not be confirmed if she were nominated today. Depressingly, there’s no apparent reason to disagree.
Although Ginsburg was confirmed 96-3, she said, “Today, my ACLU connection would probably disqualify me,” At the time she was directing the ACLU Women’s Rights Project, ThinkProgress’s Ian Millhiser says,
Ginsburg was literally the single most important women’s rights attorney in American history. She authored the brief in Reed v. Reed that convinced a unanimous Supreme Court to hold for the very first time that the Constitution’s guarantee of Equal Protection applies to women. And her brief in Craig v. Boren convinced the Court to hand down its very first decision holding that gender discrimination laws are subject to heightened constitutional scrutiny. It is possible that modern doctrines preventing gender discrimination would simply not exist if Ruth Bader Ginsburg hadn’t done the work she did for the ACLU.
Ginsburg was appointed by Bill Clinton in 1993. At 78, she is now the oldest justice on the court.
Justice Ginsburg: If I Were Nominated Today, My Women’s Rights Work For The ACLU Would Probably Disqualify Me [Think Progress]
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Speaks At SMU [Deseret News]
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