Liberal Americans mourn passing of Judge Ginsburg
WASHINGTON: Grief-stricken Americans gathered at makeshift memorials around the country on Saturday to mourn the death of US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a liberal, feminist icon, as President Donald Trump signalled his intention to fill the vacancy weeks before a heated election.
Mourners heralded Ginsburg’s groundbreaking legal career and expressed dark worries about the country’s direction. Democratic Party vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her husband, Douglas Emhoff, joined crowds outside the steps of the US Supreme Court in Washington on Saturday morning.
Visitors to the Supreme Court left flowers and signs during the day, many with young children in tow. By Saturday evening the crowd swelled to fill the street in front of the courthouse. Mourners listened to an a capella group sing A Change Is Gonna Come, the civil rights era anthem, and to speakers including Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.
Amanda Dym, an 18-year old college student, she’d known about the “notorious RBG”, was when she was younger, but didn’t realise how much work she’d done for women’s rights until she saw a documentary about the judge’s life. “I don’t know where the country would be without her,” she said, adding that she was “scared for the future of our democracy”.
Ginsburg, 87, died on Friday night from pancreatic cancer. Mr Trump now has a chance to expand the US top court’s conservative majority as a presidential election looms at a time of deep divisions in America.
Candlelight tributes to Ginsburg started on Friday evening and were expected to continue through the weekend. Hundreds also protested outside Republican US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s home in Louisville, Kentucky, on Saturday.
On Friday, Mr McConnell said the Senate would vote on any replacement nominated by Mr Trump. The Republican president now has a chance to appoint his third justice and give the court a 6-3 conservative majority.
Protesters noted that in 2016, Mr McConnell refused to act on Democratic President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, after conservative Justice Antonin Scalia died 10 months before a presidential election, saying it was too close to voting day. “Don’t be a hypocrite,” said protester Steve Tonnemacher.
Republicans narrowly control the Senate with a 53 of 100 members, and Democrats need a simple majority vote to stop any Supreme Court nominee.