In life, Ruth Bader Ginsberg was often at the center of controversy. And apparently now in death, as President Donald Trump moved quickly to appoint a replacement to her seat on the U.S. Supreme Court before the presidential election.
Elizabeth Fleming, a Kodiak attorney, feels strongly that the appointment should wait until after the election — just as Republican senate majority leaders had argued at the end of President Barak Obama’s last term.
“I am very worried about losing her voice on the court,” Fleming said. “I can’t think of anything I’m more worried about right this second.”
Fleming, who specializes in military law, said Ginsberg protected the rights of women — and her most important case came long before she served on the high court.
“Ruth Bader Ginsberg argued one of the most significant women’s rights cases that ever has been before the Supreme Court,” Fleming said.
And that case was Frontiero vs. Richardson.
“All military lawyers are familiar with this case, because as a result of that case, the military was forced to allow women, who were married to civilians, to obtain the same spousal benefits that men who were married to civilians in the military obtained,” Fleming said. “And that was huge.”
Fleming says men who married civilians were given generous housing allowances, because their wives were considered dependents. But male spouses were not, so women received very little, if nothing for their spouses. Fleming says there were also limits on the number of women who could serve in the military – and Ginsberg’s lawsuit changed all that.
And later she would become a role model to young women like Kahryn Buchanan, who is now in college.
“People, like Ruth, I feel serve as an inspiration to people that don’t maybe feel as heard,” said Buchanan, who once served as a judge on Kodiak’s youth court, where she assigned apology letters and volunteer work to students.
She said her work may have been inconsequential compared to Ginsberg’s, but it gave her an inkling of the justice’s inner steel and courage
“Her willingness for standing up for what she believed in, especially in the face of adversity. She was surrounded by people who didn’t share her opinions, and she stayed their because she had to be there,” said Buchanan, who also admired the justice’s ability to conduct herself with dignity in the face of powerful opposition.
Fleming said she too admired Ginsberg’s ability to rise above the fray – and it’s important to note that she also worked well with her more conservative counterparts – that she and Justice Antonin Scalia were good friends and were willing to learn from each other.
But in the end, Fleming says Ginsberg will be remembered as a champion of health care, gender equity and minority rights.
“She cared about the little person,” Fleming said. “And the little person is not getting a good shake these days.”
