Tonight marks the Jewish New Year of Rosh Hashanah with salutations of L'Shana Tovah.
With the year that we have had we are surely in need of a good year. But as 5781 began came the news that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away from complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer at the age of 87. Yet perhaps it is fitting that she died tonight because a Jew who dies on Rosh Hashanah is said to be a tzaddik - a person of great righteousness.
Just over two months ago when Justice Ginsburg revealed that her cancer had returned for the fifth time but had no intention of stepping down. I wrote in admiration of her constitution:
Even if one is inclined to disagree with her judicial opinions one cannot dispute that she has one strong constitution. Ginsburg, who was appointed to the Court by President Clinton in 1993, might have a fragile 5,1 frame but her mind and spirit are as strong as ever. As it stands, this country can use every bit of her mind and spirit as we can get.
While the mind and spirit will endure for decades to come, but her mind and spirit will no longer be present on the Supreme Court.
In the coming days, President Trump will select Ginsburg's successor and Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell will seek to confirm said successor - despite the fact he refused to give Merrick Garland a moment's consideration after Justice Antonin Scalia's sudden death in January 2016 because it was an election year. This too is an election year.
The question remains as to whether McConnell will seek to confirm Trump's appointee before the election or during the lame duck session. Some Republican Senators such as Lisa Murkowski have indicated they will not vote on a Supreme Court justice before the election. But Trump and his supporters could bring pressure to bear and they could fold like a house of cards. But if this proves an untenable strategy then Republicans might wait until after the election to confirm Trump's appointee even if Biden wins the election.
It remains to be seen whether a Supreme Court appointee in the final weeks of a presidential election could manage to obscure the COVID-19 disaster and bring wavering Republicans back to the fold and save Trump's presidency. Or will voters view Senate Republicans' efforts to ram through a Trump Supreme Court appointee while refusing to do so with an Obama appointee as yet another assault on institutional norms and a hypocrisy too much to bear?
At this hour, crowds have spontaneously gathered in front of the Supreme Court to pay tribute to Ginsburg (while wearing masks). Should Trump and Senate Republicans get their way on Ginsburg's successor I doubt this new Associate Justice will be a person of great righteousness much less inspire an impromptu public memorial. R.I.P. RBG.
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