[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 171 (Thursday, October 1, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H5438-H5439]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          PAY TRIBUTE TO JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG BY VOTING

  (Ms. JACKSON LEE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I take this time to not only speak to 
the American people about voting, but also just take a brief moment to 
pay a beginning tribute to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She deserves a 
much longer period of acknowledgment, and I am going to do so as we 
return back to Washington in the coming days and weeks. In fact, I 
believe that we should dedicate weeks and days of honoring Justice 
Ginsburg, even in the midst of this potential nomination to replace 
her.
  I want to speak to the American people as we begin our journey toward 
November 3 and let them know of the precious right to vote, that 
citizenship gives them that very precious right to make their own 
decision. I have no right to tell them that, but as a Member of the 
United States Congress, I have an obligation to ensure that their vote 
is protected, however they vote.
  I must ensure that there is a truthful understanding of mail ballots. 
Some States have been voting with mail ballots for decades. I must 
ensure that the mail ballots are protected, the early vote is 
protected, and, as well, it is protected on November 3.
  I just want to indicate, Justice Ginsburg said in the Shelby case 
that the majority's logic was akin to ``throwing away your umbrella in 
a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.''
  Justice Ginsburg believed in voting and voting protection. Let's pay 
tribute to her and vote.
  Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader 
Ginsburg, who died on Friday, September 18, 2020 at the age of 87 years 
old.
  As a direct beneficiary of her advancement of women's rights and a 
long-time admirer of her vigorous defense of the Constitution, I am 
honored but heartbroken to pay tribute to Justice Ginsburg, an American 
hero, feminist icon, and role model to millions.
  Today, tomorrow, and forever, the American people mourn the loss of a 
true titan, an American legend, and an inspiration.
  Our thoughts and prayers are with Ruth's family, friends, and loved 
ones.
  Ruth Bader Ginsburg dedicated her life to defending the Constitution 
and protecting the sanctity of America's democratic ideals, and we will 
forever be indebted to her service to this country.
  Joan Ruth Bader, fondly nicknamed Kiki, was born on March 15, 1933 to 
an immigrant family and grew up in Brooklyn's Flatbush neighborhood.
  Ruth Bader Ginsburg often spoke of her mother's large ambitions for 
her, and how the devastating loss of her mother's death at an early age 
instilled in her the determination to live a life that her mother would 
have been proud of.
  And so, she did.
  Ruth Bader attended Cornell University where she met Martin D. 
Ginsburg, her future husband and love of her life to whom she was 
married for 54 years.
  At the age of 21, Ruth Bader graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Cornell 
with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government on June 23, 1954, and was 
the highest-ranking female student in her graduating class.
  A month after graduating from Cornell, Ruth and Martin were married 
and moved to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where Martin was stationed as a 
Reserve Officers' Training Corps officer in the U.S. Army Reserve after 
his call-up to active duty.
  To help support the family, Ruth Bader Ginsburg worked for the Social 
Security Administration office in Oklahoma, where she was demoted after 
becoming pregnant with her first child, Jane, who was born in 1955.
  In the fall of 1956, Ruth Bader Ginsburg enrolled at Harvard Law 
School, where she was one of only 9 women in a class of about 500 men.
  Harvard Law Dean Erwin Griswold reportedly invited all the female law 
students to dinner at his family home and asked the female law 
students, including Ginsburg, ``Why are you at Harvard Law School, 
taking the place of a man?''
  When her husband took a job in New York City, Ruth Bader Ginsburg 
transferred to Columbia Law School and became the first woman to be on 
two major law reviews: Harvard Law Review and Columbia Law Review.
  In 1959, she earned her law degree at Columbia and tied for first in 
her class but despite these enviable credentials and distinguished 
record of excellence, no law firm in New York City would hire her as a 
lawyer because she was a woman.
  Ruth Bader Ginsburg became a crusader for women's rights and an 
unstoppable force who transformed the law and defied social convention.
  Ruth Bader Ginsburg, later affectionately known as the `Notorious 
RBG,' was as instrumental and historically significant to the cause of 
women's rights as was Thurgood Marshall

[[Page H5439]]

to the cause of civil rights for African Americans.
  As a young lawyer and Director of the Women's Rights Project of the 
American Civil Liberties Union, Ruth Bader Ginsburg litigated six 
landmark cases before the Supreme Court, winning five out of the six 
cases.
  Like Justice Marshall, Ruth Bader Ginsburg's uncanny strategic 
instincts and careful selection of cases were vital in her persuasion 
of the all-male Supreme Court to start dismantling the legal 
institution of sex discrimination one case at a time.
  In 1975, Ruth Bader Ginsburg litigated and won Weinberger v. 
Wiesenfeld, which would become a landmark case in antidiscrimination 
jurisprudence.
  In this case, the widower had been denied survivor benefits, which 
would allow him to stay at home and raise his son, based on a Social 
Security provision that assumed only women were secondary providers 
with unimportant incomes.
  While some questioned Ginsburg's choice to challenge instances of sex 
discrimination by representing a male plaintiff, Ruth Bader Ginsburg 
saw it as an opportunity to show the court that childcare was not a 
sex-determined role to be performed only by women.
  As with many of her cases, her goal was to free both sexes, men as 
well as women, from the roles that society had assigned them and to 
harness the Constitution to break down the structures by which the 
state maintained and enforced those separate spheres.
  As Ruth Bader Ginsburg continued to challenge the stereotypical 
assumptions of what was considered to be women's work and men's work, 
she was able to persuade the Court and the nation that discriminating 
on the basis of sex was not only wrong but also a violation of the 14th 
Amendment of the Constitution, which guarantees equal protection to all 
citizens under the law.
  As the courts began to recognize the changing roles of men and women, 
Ruth Bader Ginsburg was able to advance gender equality with the 
understanding that women are capable of being heads of households or 
sole providers for their family.

  In 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the 
Supreme Court, making her the second woman to fill this position.
  This historic appointment further symbolized the principle that women 
were equal to men in every respect, that they could have successful 
careers and also could, if they chose, be devoted wives or mothers, 
thereby breaking barriers for generations of women to follow in her 
footsteps.
  In fact, many of Ginsburg's opinions helped solidify the 
constitutional protections she had fought so hard to establish decades 
earlier.
  While we commemorate Justice Ginsburg's work for advancing the 
women's movement both as a Justice and as a lawyer, all are in her debt 
who cherish the progress made in the areas of LGBTQ+ equality, 
immigration reform, environmental justice, voting rights, protections 
for people with disabilities, and so much more.
  Throughout her life, Ruth Bader Ginsburg worked to make the law work 
so that America would be more just, equitable, fairer, and better for 
all.
  Whether it be in her legendary dissenting opinions or as leader when 
in the majority, Justice Ginsburg continued to advocate for the 
marginalized and most vulnerable.
  In recent years, she may not have been able to control the outcome of 
the rulings, but she grew bolder in her dissents, often stating what 
should have been the outcome.
  Throughout her tenure on the bench, Ruth Bader Ginsburg displayed her 
rigorous and incisive legal mind and employed her formidable skills as 
a consensus builder, but she could be tough and forceful when the 
moment demanded.
  Nothing illustrates this better than her famous dissent in Shelby 
County v. Holder, in which the 5-to-4 majority negated the Voting 
Rights Act of 1965 by invalidating section 4 of the law, which 
neutralized section 5, the provision of the act that required 
jurisdictions with a history of racial and ethnic discrimination in 
voting to obtain preclearance from the federal government before any 
changes in voting procedures, from polling stations to voter photo IDs 
could go into effect.
  It was in her scathing dissent Justice Ginsburg stated, ``Hubris is a 
fit word for today's demolition of the VRA'' and that the majority's 
logic was akin to ``throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because 
you are not getting wet.''
  Unlike the others, Justice Ginsburg was able to see the ramifications 
of the ruling and its allowances for reinvigorated efforts of voter 
suppression.
  Today, I join millions of individuals who are mourning the loss of 
this legal giant, feminist, and trailblazer.
  Justice Ginsburg loved this country, so much so that she served the 
nation while enduring illnesses and undergoing treatments that would 
have incapacitated lesser mortals.
  She inspired generations of women then and now to shatter glass 
ceilings, and her legacy will inspire new generations of women in the 
years to come.
  As the news of her passing continues to reverberate across the 
country and around the world, it is important that we remember and 
honor what she stood for and continue fighting to realize the goal of 
equal justice under law.
  I am honored to be able to pay tribute to the memory of Supreme Court 
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the `Notorious RBG,' one of the greatest 
jurists in our nation's history, a tireless and unyielding champion for 
equal justice, and a fierce defender of the Constitution.

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