Tributes paid as women’s rights icon dies at 87
US Supreme Court justice and veteran women’s rights campaigner Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died aged 87.
A feminist and liberal figurehead, Ms Ginsburg was the oldest justice and only the second woman to sit on the Supreme Court when appointed in 1993.
Former President Bill Clinton, who appointed Ms Ginsburg, said yesterday: “Her 27 years on the court exceeded even my highest expectations when I appointed her.”
Her death raised the possibility of a political battle over whether Donald Trump will seek to nominate her replacement in the country’s highest court with just six weeks to go until the Presidential election.
Commentators believe Mr Trump will try to push Ms Ginsburg’s successor through the Republican-controlled senate, moving the conservative court even further right.
Facing the prospect of losing both the White House and the senate, some Republicans view the
Supreme Court as one of the few avenues remaining for Mr Trump to galvanise support.
Democratic candidate Joe Biden said the winner of the November election should choose Ms Ginsburg’s replacement. He said: “There is no doubt that voters should pick the president and the president should pick the justice for the senate to consider.”
Ms Ginsburg antagonised Mr Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign in a series of media interviews, including calling him a faker. She later apologised. Mr Trump yesterday called Ms Ginsburg an “amazing woman”.
Ms Ginsburg died at her home in Washington as a result of complications from pancreatic cancer.