Tag Archives: ginsburg

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Shuts Down Gay Marriage Challengers

by RobinDixon Posted on April 29, 2015

Mother Jones

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As the Supreme Court started to hear oral arguments to Obergefell v. Hodges—the historic case that could determine the legality of gay marriage bans—on Tuesday, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg delivered quite the perfect response to her same-sex marriage opponents.

Back in February, the 82-year-old justice expressed her optimism that the court will eventually rule in favor of gay marriage, citing the evolution in “people’s attitudes” on the issue “has been enormous” in recent years. Although the rest of the court appeared deeply divided on Tuesday, judging by the fact that even anti-gay activists are expecting gay marriage will ultimately win, we’re hoping to see Ginsburg’s prediction become a reality soon.

Below are some of the same-sex marriage arguments and her responses to each.

Argument: The court does not have legal right to change a “millennia” of tradition.

RBG’s Response: “Marriage today is not what it was under the common law tradition, under the civil law tradition. Marriage was a relationship of a dominant male to a subordinate female. That ended as a result of this court’s decision in 1982, when Louisiana’s Head and Master Rule was struck down. Would that be a choice that state should be allowed to have? To cling to marriage the way it once was?”

Argument: The institution of marriage is inherently linked to a couple’s ability to pro-create:

RBG’s Response: “Suppose a couple, 70-year-old couple, comes in and they want to get married? You don’t have to ask them any questions. You know they are not going to have any children.”

Argument: Gay marriage “impinges on the state” and takes benefits away from straight couples.

RBG’s Response: “How could that be, because all of the incentives, all of the benefits of marriage affords would still be available. So you’re not taking away anything form heterosexual couples. They would have the very same incentive to marry, all the benefits that come with marriage that they do now.”

Argument: Legal gay marriage has never been a possibility for most of history. Why now?

RBG’s Response: “Same-sex couples wouldn’t be asking for this relief if the law of marriage was what it was a millennium ago. I mean, it wasn’t possible. Same-sex unions would not have opted into the pattern of marriage, which was a relationship, a dominant and a subordinate relationship. Yes, it was marriage between a man and a woman, but the man decided where the couple would be domiciled; it was her obligation to follow him.

There was a change in the institution of marriage to make it egalitarian when it wasn’t egalitarian. And same-sex unions wouldn’t — wouldn’t fit into what marriage was once.”

Originally posted here – 

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Shuts Down Gay Marriage Challengers

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Why Ruth Bader Ginsburg Thinks Citizens United Is the Supreme Court’s Worst Ruling

by WZYTammyvq Posted on January 21, 2015

Mother Jones

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This story originally appeared at BillMoyers.com.

In an interview with the New Republic, 81-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that the current Court’s worst ruling — and the one she would most like to overrule—was Citizens United.

That decision is the one responsible, in large part, for making this midterm election a record breaker in terms of outside spending. And that’s before the really heavy spending comes into play, in the weeks leading up to Election Day.

The 2010 Citizens United v. FEC decision struck down the limits on how much money corporations and unions can spend in federal elections. Ginsburg, who dissented in the case, explains here why Citizens United is top of her list and tackles the two runners-up.

I think the notion that we have all the democracy that money can buy strays so far from what our democracy is supposed to be. So that’s number one on my list. Number two would be the part of the health care decision that concerns the commerce clause. Since 1937, the Court has allowed Congress a very free hand in enacting social and economic legislation. I thought that the attempt of the Court to intrude on Congress’s domain in that area had stopped by the end of the 1930s. Of course health care involves commerce. Perhaps number three would be Shelby County, involving essentially the destruction of the Voting Rights Act. That act had a voluminous legislative history. The bill extending the Voting Rights Act was passed overwhelmingly by both houses, Republicans and Democrats, everyone was on board. The Court’s interference with that decision of the political branches seemed to me out of order. The Court should have respected the legislative judgment. Legislators know much more about elections than the Court does. And the same was true of Citizens United. I think members of the legislature, people who have to run for office, know the connection between money and influence on what laws get passed.

In her wide-ranging interview, she goes on to discuss her concerns for women’s reproductive rights, why she’s not going to step down, despite some calls from the left for her to do so, her scathing dissent on the Hobby Lobby ruling and life as “Notorious R.B.G.”

Read the full interview at The New Republic.

Credit – 

Why Ruth Bader Ginsburg Thinks Citizens United Is the Supreme Court’s Worst Ruling

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Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Undergoes Heart Surgery

by Rosie53Xgftn Posted on November 26, 2014

Mother Jones

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is “resting comfortably” after undergoing a coronary catheterization procedure, a press release from the nation’s highest court announced Wednesday morning.

Ginsburg, who at 81 is the Supreme Court’s oldest member, is expected to be discharged in the next 48 hours. From the release:

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg underwent a coronary catheterization procedure this morning at MedStar Heart & Vascular Institute at MedStar Washington Hospital Center to place a stent in her right coronary artery. The coronary blockage was discovered after Justice Ginsburg experienced discomfort during routine exercise last night and was taken to the hospital. She is resting comfortably and is expected to be discharged in the next 48 hours.

Ginsburg has pushed back against suggestions she step down while President Barack Obama is still in office. In an interview with Elle last September, she defended her resistance to such calls. “Anybody who thinks that if I step down, Obama could appoint someone like me, they’re misguided. As long as I can do the job full steam…. I think I’ll recognize when the time comes that I can’t any longer. But now I can.”

Link: 

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Undergoes Heart Surgery

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