Death Comes for RBG

by Pa Rock
Grieving American

Moments before the call came I had just finished watching "Easy Rider," a cult classic movie from the sixties which focused on the individual's struggle to achieve personal freedom in a society that promotes conforming to the norms.  I turned off the television and was headed to my computer to check the evening news headlines when the phone began ringing.   The caller was a close and dear friend whom6 I met in college in the 1960's, and she sobbed out the news that Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died.

Justice Ginsburg , who passed away at th age of eighty-seven after suffering several health scares over the past year, was only the second woman ever to serve on our nation's highest court - and was the senior liberal justice on the court.  RBG was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Bill Clinton in 1993.

The effort to replace Justice Ginsburg is expected to be an especially contentious affair.  Senate Majoirty Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, a Republican, refused to hold hearings  on President Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland, to fill the Supreme Court seat of Justice Antonin Scalia during the final ten months of Obama's term.  McConnell said then that he believed there should be no nominations made during the final year of a presidential term in order to give the voting public an opportunity to weigh in on the process and selection.  This year, however, McConnell went on record stating that if a vacancy occurred prior to the election, he would move to fill it.

The next national election is November 3rd - just forty-six days away.   In fact, four states began early in-person voting today - Virginia, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wyoming - so the election has actually started.  But the nomination of a Supreme Court justice, especially one to replace one of the most liberal members of the court, is sure to draw fire from all sides and to become the defining issue of the presidential election.

Anything can happen, and with the country being run by an unstable personality, confusion and bitterness are sure to abound.  The coming weeks will be hard and complicated.

May Justice Ginsburg rest in peace - even though there is unlikely to be much peace for the rest of us.

So it begins.