N.Y. hastens to highlight Ginsburg

Brooklyn native rose to pinnacle of judiciary

NEW YORK — Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s life is being celebrated in her native New York City with plans for a statue, landmarks lit in blue and impromptu memorials at her childhood home in Brooklyn and the high school she attended.

Ginsburg died Friday of complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer at age 87. A legal trailblazer and champion of women’s rights, she became the high court’s second female justice in 1993.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said a commission will choose an artist and oversee the selection of a location for a statue in Brooklyn that will serve as a physical reminder of Ginsburg’s “many contributions to the America we know today and as an inspiration for those who will continue to build on her immense body of work.”

Cuomo, a Democrat, also ordered state landmarks such as One World Trade Center, Kosciuszko Bridge and the New York State Fairgrounds lit in blue, the color of justice and reportedly Ginsburg’s favorite color, for Saturday night.

Cuomo said that Ginsburg “selflessly pursued truth and justice in a world of division, giving voice to the voiceless and uplifting those who were pushed aside by forces of hate and indifference.”

Ginsburg was born in Brooklyn in 1933. Outside her childhood home in the Flatbush neighborhood, Leroy McCarthy added “RBG” to a street sign honoring slain rapper Christopher “Notorious BIG” Wallace, whose stage name inspired the justice’s pop culture moniker, “Notorious RBG.”

Outside James Madison High School, a pillar was adorned with colorful tributes to the 1950 graduate, including a sign that said: “We (Heart) You RBG.”

At the U.S. Open golf tournament in Mamaroneck, New York, north of New York City, flags were flown at half-staff in Ginsburg’s honor.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams said a public remembrance will be held Sunday at the Brooklyn

Municipal Building. The New York Historical Society announced that it will present an exhibit on Ginsburg’s life and legacy next year.

Ginsburg first gained fame as a litigator for the Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union before her appointment to the high court.

Ginsburg’s former law clerk Gillian Metzger said working for the justice “was really a dream come true.”

“She was already an idol of mine from her work as a women’s rights advocate and she left a lasting impression,” said Metzger, a Columbia University law professor.

Metzger said she’ll often hear Ginsburg’s voice in her head as she’s writing, prompting her to reread her work to make sure it would’ve passed muster with her old boss, who “took so much care and chose each word and thought about what it would mean to say it that way.”

Ginsburg was “was very demanding, but she demanded even more from herself,” Metzger said, recounting going to the office around 7:30 a.m. only to find that the justice had been up all night working.