San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
THRONGS GATHER OUTSIDE COURT TO HONOR JUSTICE
D.C. public mourns; Ginsburg’s native N.Y. lights up in tribute
The grounds of the Supreme Court bloomed into a memorial to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, drawing thousands who came to honor and remember the trailblazing icon.
Mourners began arriving at the high court soon after news of her death came Friday evening, growing to a crowd of more than 1,000 who cried, sang and occasionally applauded. On Saturday, as the sun rose, dozens of people stood in silence as a flag flew at half-staff.
And they kept coming by the hundreds. Bouquets, signs and chalk messages honoring Ginsburg multiplied by the minute. Joggers stopped mid-run, bikers paused and rested on their handlebars, and mothers from across the District of Columbia region brought their daughters to pay tribute to the pioneering liberal lawyer and advocate for equality. Even as lawmakers began to clash over when she would be replaced, the space outside the court was mostly one of quiet reflection.
“I wanted to be a lawyer but wasn’t sure I could do it,” said Blake Rogers, 13, who let a single tear fall down her face after positioning flowers Saturday morning. “And then I heard Justice Ginsburg speak, and she showed me that I could do it, that women and girls can do anything.”
Beth Feliciano, 39, squatted next to her 2-year-old daughter, Ellie, holding a book titled “I Look Up To . . . Ruth Bader Ginsburg.” She pointed to the court building and told Ellie, whom she had once dressed as Ginsburg for Halloween, that the late justice had worked there.
“We have been talking about Ruth ever since Ellie was born,” the graduate student said. “She’s someone good for Ellie to look up to as a superhero.”
Sen. Kamala Harris of California, the Democratic nominee for vice president, was among the mourners, showing up in a hoodie to offer quiet respects with her husband.
A few conservatives who fervently opposed Ginsburg’s support for reproductive rights, gun restrictions and affirmative action also paid their respects.
“I disagree with everything she stood for, but she was a strong, stable, very professional justice,” said Paul Joseph, a 60-year-old pastor wearing a Trump 2020 mask. “That’s a big loss.”
Ginsburg’s colleagues on the court spoke about her passing Saturday.
Some, like Clarence Thomas, and Stephen Breyer, served with her for nearly all of her 27 years on the high court, and wrote emotional statements following news of her death.
Thomas wrote he was heartbroken to learn of her passing. “Through the many challenges both professionally and personally, she was the essence of grace, civility and dignity. She was a superb judge who gave her best and exacted the best from each of us, whether in agreement or disagreement. And, as outstanding as she was as a judge, she was an even better colleague — unfailingly gracious, thoughtful, and civil.”
Justice Sonia Sotomayor called her a dear friend and colleague, and “an American hero” who spent her life “fighting for the equality of all people, and she was a pathbreaking champion of women’s rights.”
“I will miss Ruth greatly,” Sotomayor wrote. “She welcomed me to the Court with a warmth I could not have expected, and I came to feel a special kinship with her. She was someone whose wisdom, kindness, and unwavering support I could always rely on. I will forever cherish the moments we shared.”
Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote he and his wife had lost a cherished friend and colleague who was a distinguished judge.
“We are blessed by the happy memories that will remain, like traveling with Ruth to London where (to her delight) an uninformed guide kept calling her ‘Ruthie,’ or all the opera she tried so valiantly to teach me, or her sweet tooth at lunch, or the touching stories of her remarkable life with Marty,” Gorsuch wrote. “We will miss
Ruth and our hearts go out to her family. May she rest in peace.”
Breyer wrote that he heard of her death while he was reciting the “Mourner’s Kaddish” at the Rosh Hashanah service.
He wrote:
“I thought: a great Justice; a woman of valour; a rock of righteousness; and my good, good friend.
The world is a better place for her having lived in it.”
In Ginsburg’s native New York, her life was being celebrated with plans for a statue, landmarks lit in blue and impromptu memorials at her childhood home in Brooklyn and the high school she attended.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said a commission will choose an artist and oversee the selection of a location for a statue 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 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.”
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.”