Imagining Justice Ginsburg’s last act: Telling citizens to vote

The untimely death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg provides a timely reminder of something many of us seem to forget: Elections have consequences.

Since Ginsburg’s passing from pancreatic cancer Sept. 18, a stream of muchdeserved tributes has poured in. She is remembered primarily for her work as a fair-minded jurist and a relentless champion of women’s rights.

Her “radical project” was to defy and dismantle the institutionalized prejudices that put men and women on different paths — a project that Ginsburg always viewed as incomplete, even as timeworn barriers have continued to fall.

Ginsburg is also remembered for her personal qualities, among them a huge heart, a formidable intellect and a keen sense of humor. She was known as a consensus builder. When asked what he thought of

Ginsburg, his liberal colleague, the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, a staunch conservative, famously said, “What’s not to like?” (He added, with a laugh, “except her views of the law, of course.”) The two jurists were unlikely friends who knew how to welcome debate and embrace differences.

In 2013, the Supreme Court struck down a central provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, requiring certain municipalities to clear, in advance, any changes to election practices and procedures because of their histories of discriminating against Black voters.

It was a 5-4 vote, and Ginsburg penned a blistering dissent. She issued a call to arms: that our country must be steadfast in its protection of voting rights for all. A law student so admired Ginsburg’s writing that she dubbed her “Notorious RBG.” The name stuck, propelling Ginsburg to icon status. Her judicial robe and signature collars became a favorite Halloween costume.

I imagine Ginsburg giving our country a swift kick in the pants on her way out — all 5 feet, 1 inch and 100 pounds of her.

In her quiet but powerful voice, she is telling all of us to get out and vote. Because our record as a country is lamentable, with just over half of our citizens voting in presidential elections since the 1960s. With a 55 percent turnout in 2016, the U.S. ranked 26th among the 32 most highly developed, democratic countries in the world. Turnout in Belgium, Sweden and Denmark exceeds 80 percent.

People have many excuses for not voting. Often, it’s because they believe that their vote doesn’t matter, or that the system is rigged, or that decisions by politicians don’t impact their lives. Or all of the above. Some nonvoters are unimpressed by the candidates and resist voting for the “lesser of two evils.”

Another excuse — “I didn’t have time to vote” — is losing its truth as more states permit mail-in ballots and forward-thinking companies declare Nov. 3, Election Day, a work holiday.

I blame some of the inertia on our educational system, which in the 1960s began dropping civics from high school curricula.

Today, only nine states and the District of Columbia require one year of U.S. government or civics at the high school level. These courses teach important lessons, from the mechanics of government to the fragility of democracy to the need for civic engagement.

In his book about education in America, “Someone Has to Fail,” Stanford University’s David F. Labaree says schools abandoned their civic mission in favor of preparing a new generation of skilled workers.

Funding for civics and social studies classes disappeared as math and English were prioritized, in a belief that test scores in these subjects would predict college and workplace performance. That belief was erroneous.

In civics we learn that the American experiment succeeds, in part, because of our three co-equal branches of government, as set out in the Constitution: the judicial branch, the executive branch and the legislative branch. Justice Ginsburg was nominated to the Supreme Court in 1993 by President Bill Clinton. Her nomination was approved by the Senate in a 96-3 vote, with one abstention. It was a perfect demonstration of the mechanics of government at work.

During Ginsburg’s tenure, the Supreme Court ruled on a broad range of matters that indeed affect the lives of everyday Americans:

from reproductive rights to marriage equality to environmental protections to “kitchen table” issues like health care affordability and workplace discrimination.

Pardon the civics lesson. But we the people determine the composition of the court making these decisions. It all starts with the person we elect as president.

As a champion of equality, Ruth Bader Ginsburg fought hard for our civil liberties — including the right of every person in this country to participate in the electoral process. So, no matter our views, we should all do the most American thing we can do this fall, in her honor: Get out and vote.