Barack Obama Says 'Ruth Bader Ginsburg Fought to the End' in His Touching Tribute

Photo credit: Getty Images
Photo credit: Getty Images

From Oprah Magazine

On Friday night, news broke that Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the trailblazing Supreme Court Justice and feminist, had died. Soon after, the tributes to the woman now known widely as RBG began pouring in from politicians, celebrities, and concerned voters; Barack Obama was among them. In a Medium post, Obama honored Ginsburg for her service on the "highest court in the land," her work as a "warrior for gender equality," and "as a relentless litigator and an incisive jurist."

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg fought to the end, through her cancer, with unwavering faith in our democracy and its ideals," he wrote. "That's how we remember her. But she also left instructions for how she wanted her legacy to be honored." He shared his Medium tribute on Instagram:

In his Medium post, Obama also mentioned what happened in early 2016, when Justice Antonin Scalia died and "Republicans refused to hold a hearing" to confirm Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland. In doing so, he said, "they invented the principle that the Senate shouldn't fill an open seat on the Supreme Court before a new president was sworn in."

He concluded: "The rule of law, the legitimacy of our courts, the fundamental workings of our democracy all depend on that basic principle. As votes are already being cast in this election, Republican Senators are now called to apply that standard. The questions before the Court now and in the coming years—with decisions that will determine whether or not our economy is fair, our society is just, women are treated equally, our planet survives, and our democracy endures—are too consequential to future generations for courts to be filled through anything less than an unimpeachable process."

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