Sep

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ~~~ has DIED this evening!

By Dan Leininger, Webmaster

Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died.

She was the first Jewish female, AND only

the second woman, ever to be confirmed onto the

US Supreme Court.

– – – – – – –

One year before her birth,

Hermon Atkins MacNeil

sculpted the East Pediment of the

Supreme Court Building

with Moses, the Jewish Lawgiver as its central figure.

“JUSTICE THE GUARDIAN OF LIBERTY” Hermon A. MacNeil’s sculptures of Moses, Confucius, and Solon on the East Pediment of the Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C.

Ruth Bader was born while MacNeil created his design.

MacNeil started the East Pediment in 1932.

Ginsburg was born on March 15, 1933.

The Pediment with Moses as its center was finished in 1934.

On August 10, 1993, Ruth Bader Ginsburg took

her Oath as a US Supreme Court Justice

NOW, 27 years later, she has died.

She shaped the LAW

for generations of American Citizens.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Justice Ginsburg:

Throughout her lifetime, she was a brilliant servant of gender equality and of minority rights.

She knew what it was to be discriminated against as a woman, as a mother, and as a lawyer.

She fought gender discrimination whether it affected women or men.

All these obstacles only served to make her a fierce advocate, a potent judge, and a voice to be heard.

Though diminutive, she became a giant on the court.

Her opinions were cogent and powerful, whether in the majority or voicing a minority opinion.

She was also the “first Jewish female” to sit on this supreme bench.

Moses, Confucius, Solon East Pediment of Supreme Court Building – Washington D.C.

“JUSTICE THE GUARDIAN OF LIBERTY

is the title under MacNeil’s work on the East Pediment.

MacNeil’s ‘Tortoise’ on the north corner of his east pediment sculpture

MacNeil’s ‘Hare’ on south corner of east Pediment sculpture.

The first and the eleventh figures at either end of MacNeil’s grouping of “Justice the Guardian” are a Hare and a Tortoise that bring to mind Aesop’s Fable that wisely reminds us that:

“Slow and steady wins the Race.”

It is a moral that RBG took as a legal strategy

MAY JUSTICE CONTINUE TO PREVAIL …

… even if slow and steady …

MacNeil didn’t intend his sculptures to have religious connotations. Explaining his work, MacNeil wrote, “Law as an element of civilization was normally and naturally derived or inherited in this country from former civilizations. The ‘Eastern Pediment’ of the Supreme Court Building suggests therefore the treatment of such fundamental laws and precepts as are derived from the East.” ( http://architecture.about.com/od/greatbuildings/ss/SupremeCourt_7.htm )