Ginsburg honored at candlelight ceremony
At a candlelight vigil Saturday night for Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a little girl rompedaroundwearing a crown and sporting a T-shirt that declared, in glitter: “Strong Girl, Bright Future.”
The U.S. Supreme Court justice who died Friday night at age 87would surely agree.
A feminist icon, Ginsburg founded the Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union in the 1970s, where she fought for gender equity. In 1993 she became only the second woman in history to join the nation’s highest court.
About 75 people came Saturday evening to the steps of the federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale to honor and mourn Ginsburg, who succumbed to complications from pancreatic
cancer. She had been hospitalized earlier this summer for an infection and in May, a gallbladder problem. Over the years, she’d also battled lung and colon cancer.
“We were really hoping she would make it. It’s been devastating to everyone,” said Joanne Sterner, 76, president of the Broward National Organization forWomen.
Ginsburg’s death immediately ignited a political battle between liberals and conservatives on the
timing of appointing a new justice to replace her on the court.
From her deathbed, she reportedly had said it was her “fervent wish” that her job not be filled until a new president takes office. As a member of the court’s liberal wing, her seat is critical to determining the political leaning of the court.
Democrats, hoping for Joe Biden to win the presidency this year, say the choice belongs to the
victor in theNov. 3 election.
But President Trump tweeted Saturday he would move to fill her seat “without delay.”
In the hours after Ginsburg’s death Friday, Senate Majority Leader MitchMcConnell, a Republican, issued a statement saying: “President Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate.”
CNN reported Saturday night that Trump thinks he’ll choose a nominee this comingweek.
“If somebodywere to ask me now, I would say that a woman would be in first place” he said. “The choice of awomanwould certainly be appropriate.”
TheFort Lauderdale vigil Saturday was organized by local members of the National Organization for Women, the ProChoice Coalition of Broward County as well as the Broward Women’s Emergency Fund, which raises money to pay for abortion care forwomen who need help paying for it.
Some of the people attending held signs that read: “Keep Abortion Legal.”
When she got a news alert Friday night of Ginsburg’s death, abortion rights supporter Ingrid Ayala, of Deerfield Beach, broke down crying.
“I sort ofwent into a state of a little bit of panic and despair and anger all at once,” she said.
After grieving with likeminded friends, she said she took out her wallet and donated
toall the opponents of Republican senators in 2016 who refused to consider PresidentObama’s nominee to the Supreme Court, insisting that the choice had to go to the winner of that year’s election, which ended up being Trump.
He installed Neil Gorsuch for that opening, and thenwas able toselect a second justice when Anthony Kennedy retired. That seat went to Brett Kavanaugh, who first had to defend himself against allegations of sexual assault while in high school.
One of the names bandied about now is Amy Coney Barrett, a conservative federal appeals court judge. Would ACB replace RBG?
Sterner said she hoped not. “She’s got Trump’s agenda down to whatever he wants. We don’t need puppets on the Supreme Court.”
Others at the vigil Saturday represented the Black Lives Matter movement or were proponents of gay rights, hailing Ginsburg for her championing of equality for all.
The diminutive octogenarian justice became a pop culture phenomenon, nicknamed the “Notorious RBG,” in a nod to the late rapper Biggie Smalls.
The vigil included displays of photos or drawings of Ginsburg, some with a crown, like the rapperwore.
A silhouette of her, surrounded by candles, cited one of her quotes: “Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in away that will lead others to join you.” — RBG