Progressive Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 87, reported this Friday who has liver cancer again, and is being treated with chemotherapy.
“I can maintain a daily active routine,” he assured days after having been discharged from a hospital, where she was admitted for an infection. “I have often said that I would remain a member of the Court as long as I can get the job done at full speed; I am still fully capable of doing it. ”
Why then is the health of the judge (and her fellow court members) so worrying? This Friday has become a topic of conversation on the social network Twitter (with the tags #RBGForever and #NotoriousRBG). Some legal experts and political commentators lamented that “The entire republic depends on its survival”, while others praised her for “Defend democracy” basically with his own life.
“We are praying for RBG, “he said Lincoln Project, a group of Republicans opposed to President Donald Trump.
Why does it matter so much and so many? The key is in the power of the Supreme Court, in the profound impact it has on American society, and in the way its magistrates are chosen.
Appointed for life
The Supreme Court is made up of nine justices, of whom five are considered conservative and four progressive: John G. Roberts, Jr., who presides over the court; Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, opposite Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ginsburg.
That does not mean that everyone always votes in the same way or that they always vote according to the ideology assigned to them, nor that the decisions of the Court are always divided by political lines. In fact, many decisions are almost unanimous, and all must respond to the legal arguments of the parties involved.
The position of the judges is for life (that is, for life), a system designed precisely to avoid political influences: they are appointed by a president, democrat or republican, but although he cannot exercise more than eight years of mandate, the judge does can exercise for decades.
Some magistrates are relatively young, such as Kavanaugh (55 years old) and Gorsuch (52). Others, not so much: Roberts (65), Sotomayor (66) and Kagan (60). The oldest are Breyer (81), Alito (70), Thomas (72) and Ginsburg (87).
Any change influences the ideological balance of the Supreme Court and, therefore, in all of society, since their decisions determine whether abortion or the death penalty are constitutional; if gay men, lesbian women and other LGBT people can get married, to what extent is it permissible to carry firearms or what are the limits of freedom of expression.
The opinion Brown v. Board of Education (1954) decided that the segregation of black and white students is unconstitutional; Roe v. Wade (1973) established abortion as a right for women; Citizens United v. FEC (2010) granted corporations freedom of expression and established that money equals political discourse, with which the way politics works in the United States changed radically.
What happens when a vacancy is opened
Judges can retire, be disabled due to illness or die.
Conservative Anthony Kennedy retired at age 82 in July 2018, allowing President Trump to choose his substitute. The Senate, which must confirm the election, was then in Republican hands, so that a conservative judge could be replaced by a conservative one (Kavanaugh).
Filling a position on the Supreme Court is one of the powers with the greatest impact that a president has; Trump has been fortunate to name two. The Senate had a lot to do with that, and the fact that it was controlled by the Republicans.
Trump had already had the chance to name Gorsuch earlier, following the death in February 2016 of one of the most conservative judges in recent memory, Antonin Scalia. Back then it was President Barack Obama, who nominated a progressive judge, Merrick Garland, as it corresponded to him.
But the Senate, under Republican control, blocked the appointment, arguing that only nine months remained for the elections. Thus, Trump, after winning the presidency, was able to nominate his candidate, a conservative.
The balance of ideologies in the Court
That maneuver now takes on a special meaning: In the event that Ginsburg died or was disabled before the November elections, would the same happen? Or would Trump and the Senate be quick to replace her with a conservative candidate before November, further reinforcing most of this bloc?
From there progressives’ fear for Ginsburg’s health, and the importance of the fall presidential and legislative elections: If Democrat Joe Biden wins, the magistrate could retire and leave her position to a progressive candidate chosen by him.
And while it’s unthinkable that the Senate, in Republican hands, could block the appointment for four years, it would be easier for Biden to elect if the Democrats managed to regain control of this chamber.
Why Ginsburg is so important in particular
Although judges are supposed to be impartial, it is undeniable that their decisions are influenced by their ideology as well as their legal knowledge.
Kavanaugh, for example, had written opinions and dissertations attacking abortion or highlighting the president’s power over Congress or justice, which could have caught the attention of Trump and his team when it came to electing him for the Supreme Court.
This is what usually happens in the nomination process with each president: when Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina to the Court, she made it clear in her confirmation hearings that her experience as a woman and as a minority would influence her opinions, of the same the way it has done for all white men who have been members of the Court, he said.
Ginsburg successfully argued before the Court in six landmark decisions on sex discrimination before she was elected as a magistrate by Democrat Bill Clinton in 1993.
He has thus become not only a legal reference but also a popular figure, with books on his life (Notorious R.B.G., which equates her with a famous rapper), a viral blog, a documentary (RBG, 2018) and a dramatized film (On the Basis of Sex, The For gender reasons, 2018). His name appears on T-shirts and coffee mugs.
As a judge, she dissented in the decision that gave the presidency to George W. Bush in Bush v. Up (2000). In addition, he has voted against laws limiting abortion. and in favor of restoring the salary unjustly denied to a woman just because she is one. That case, Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire (2007), led to a wage equality legislation approved by Congress, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009.
This is why your health matters so much. And the scares it has given in that regard.
In November 2018, for example, he broke three ribs, and a month later tumors were removed from his lungs. Three days ago, she was admitted to the hospital with an infection and gallstones. In 1999, he was diagnosed with colon cancer. And in 2009, pancreatic cancer. Today, it is liver cancer that has resurfaced, and that keeps the whole country on edge.
See also:
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is hospitalized for a possible infection
Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg returns to the Supreme Court after surgery
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