To: The Wellesley College Community
From: President Paula A. Johnson
Re: Honoring the Legacy of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Date: September 21, 2020
When I learned of the death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday, I felt a profound sense of loss, the loss of a person whose life of teaching and service had propelled women’s rights forward, helping secure many of the rights we hold dear today and laying the foundation for those we have yet to achieve. It brought to mind how I felt in 1993, on the death of civil rights legend Thurgood Marshall, another trailblazing U.S. supreme court justice—and for good reason. As historian Jill Lepore writes in the New Yorker, “Aside from Thurgood Marshall, no single American has so wholly advanced the cause of equality under the law.”
Justice Ginsburg shaped the law in enduring ways that have brought us closer to full protection of our human rights. In so doing, she exemplified why diversity in all of our institutions is critical. It was Justice Ginsburg’s lived experience that seeded her life’s work—the fact that she was a woman who had herself faced the injustice of discrimination. Unable to find a job after law school despite stellar credentials, she moved on to law teaching and what would become history-making work for the ACLU. In the 1971 case Reed v. Reed, it was her reasoning that the U.S. Supreme Court adopted in ruling that discrimination on the basis of sex was unconstitutional.
Justice Ginsburg had many identities, and she carried them all with her. Along with being a brilliant lawyer and judge, she was a Jew, the daughter of an immigrant, a wife and mother, a woman who had faced enormous professional obstacles. This perspective, along with her willingness to listen and learn from others’ experiences, infused her legal opinions throughout her Supreme Court tenure. She championed women, the LGBTQ community, racial and ethnic minorities, and those with disabilities. As I reflect on Justice Ginsburg’s life, I feel even more profoundly committed to fostering inclusive excellence throughout Wellesley and the world.
On Justice Ginsburg’s death, Gloria Steinem suggested we honor her by asking ourselves “What would Ruth do?” Happily, we don’t have to guess. Five years ago, Justice Ginsburg was asked what advice she’d offer women today. She gave this response: “Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.”
In this time of heightened anxiety, fear, and polarization, this strikes me as excellent guidance. We are at a critical moment in our world. While we simultaneously face a pandemic and the injustices it has amplified, and the devastating impact of racial injustice and climate change, there is tremendous opportunity for change. We must not squander it. Now as never before, we need to be strategic. We need to come together.
When asked how she hoped to be remembered, Justice Ginsburg responded: As “someone who used whatever talent she had to do her work to the very best of her ability. And to help repair tears in her society, to make things a little better through the use of whatever ability she has.”
There could be no more beautiful wish. May we all honor her memory by aspiring to the same.
