Supreme Court honors legacy of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

(AP) — Justice Washington Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whose death ahead of the 2020 election led to a conservative shift on the Supreme Court, was remembered Friday during ceremonies at the high court as a legendary champion for women’s rights.

Speaking just two days after what would have been the justice’s 90th birthday, Chief Justice John Roberts called her a “woman of conviction, courage and quiet compassion.”

“Small in stature, she stands as a giant in the history of this court,” Roberts said during a ceremonial session of the court attended by its nine current members as well as former justices Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer.

Ginsburg’s death just over six weeks before the 2020 election was immensely consequential. It allowed then-President Donald Trump to fill the liberal justice’s seat on the court with a conservative, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and gave conservatives a 6-3 majority on the bench.

Barrett was among the justices who voted last year to overturn Roe v. Wade and do away with constitutional protections for abortion, protections Ginsburg had backed as a justice.

Ginsburg served as a justice for 27 years and was the Supreme Court’s second female member, but as an advocate for women’s rights she had “already used the law to change our country profoundly for the better as an advocate prior to becoming a member of this court,” the chief justice said.

Speaking during ceremonies in the courtroom, Attorney General Merrick Garland called Ginsburg the “chief tactician in the campaign for equal rights for women.” He noted that beginning in 1971 she filed more than 20 Supreme Court briefs related to women’s rights. She argued six cases before the court, winning five. It was a time when there were few women lawyers, and even fewer women arguing before the highest court.