[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 166 (Thursday, September 24, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H4889-H4890]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            A MESSAGE ON THE PASSING OF RUTH BADER GINSBURG

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Levin) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LEVIN of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I rise with a message on the 
passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg that I shared with my beloved 
synagogue, Congregation T'chiyah, on Zoom during Saturday's Rosh 
Hashanah service just before we said the Mourner's Kaddish.
  We have to resist what may be our first impulse over the loss of 
Justice Ginsburg, the horror of it. When people die, it is hard to step 
back from their circumstances, the circumstances of their death, in 
order to imbibe the lesson of their life, isn't it? Especially in 
circumstances like this.
  Instead, let us consider this woman. A tiny person. A modest person. 
A young wife who helped her husband with his schoolwork, only turning 
to her own in the middle of the night. A woman who, nevertheless, 
finished at the top of her law school class. A brilliant lawyer no law 
firm would hire because she had ovaries, and heaven forfend, was a 
mother.
  A person then pushed into teaching and given the space for advocacy. 
The system, by discriminating against her, set up a mighty campaign to 
fell discrimination.
  The very architect of the assault against legal discrimination 
against women who, following in the footsteps of Thurgood Marshall, the 
lawyer, not the Justice, carefully disassembled the wall excluding 
women from all manner of rights, brick by carefully chosen brick.
  The appeals court judge who was not President Clinton's first choice 
to join the Supreme Court, but who blew him away with her charismatic 
anti-charisma, her directness, lack of artifice, and legal brilliance 
so plain that it shone Sun-like.

[[Page H4890]]

  For nearly three decades, a Supreme Court Justice who hammered out 
brave decisions and dissents that shone a light toward the future of 
dignity and justice for all, for which we all long, and on these High 
Holy Days we reaffirm faithfully is a possible and, indeed, necessary 
future.
  A teacher-Justice, who crafted these decisions in a manner not only 
meant to make law in the moment, but to teach future Justices, lawyers, 
and the general public how law and power function in the real world.
  In the end, the Justice-turned-icon, Notorious RBG, the most unlikely 
rock star, whose seeming diminutive frailty was the falsest thing about 
her, hiding a will of steel, that galloping mind, and a glint in her 
eye that told every girl: I am with you; and indeed: You are me; we are 
one.
  Why must we breathe in the full measure of this person before we turn 
to the tragedy of her death at this incredible low point in the history 
of our Nation? Why can't we just turn with anxiety and determination to 
the next fight, the fight over RBG's replacement? Because in pausing to 
appreciate Ruth Bader Ginsburg fully, we see the importance of 
brilliant strategy and steely determination and good humor.
  Reflecting on her astounding accomplishments, we realize that justice 
can win in the end. Amidst our tears, we realize we have no choice but 
to listen to her, and to John Lewis, and others we have lost in a 
moment of turmoil when we need them most, to study their ways, pick up 
their tools, and march on towards justice.
  You want a Rosh Hashanah that tests your faith? Try losing RBG to 
start things off. You want to make 5781 a year of hope and joy? Try 
taking immense pride in the outsize accomplishments of this tiny Jew 
and vowing to make her proud of us. Only then, after we immerse 
ourselves in prayer, reflection, and intention-setting, will we be 
fully ready to meet the coming moment.

                          ____________________