# Ruth Bader Ginsburg has passed away **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 18, 2020, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruth-bader-ginsburg-has-passed-away/920957 "2020-09-18T23:34:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruth-bader-ginsburg-has-passed-away/920957/41 "2020-09-19T00:06:08Z")
Three weeks? Three days, and I’m not sure they will wait for the funeral. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruth-bader-ginsburg-has-passed-away/920957/42 "2020-09-19T00:06:29Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > > [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > > > At the risk of sounding unpopular, fuck her. > > Unkind, considering she just passed away and her vastly accomplished life. She didn’t owe anybody anything. call me unkind all you want. She was given an opportunity to retire when she was healthy and she refused. Now we’re probably going to lose Roe, the ACA, voting rights and who knows what else because RBGs ego was so big she didn’t think anyone would be as good as her. She set back the causes she believed in for decades because of it. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruth-bader-ginsburg-has-passed-away/920957/43 "2020-09-19T00:07:27Z")
Not really. It’s an emotional time when a figure beloved by a group passes after a lifetime of work and I understand that. But in the grand scheme of things many power sources are shifting in a progressive way on a few fronts. As long as elections and transfers of power remain mostly peaceful I think you’ll be if not pleased at least not overly dismayed over the next 20 years. Now packing courts could lead to tit for tat stacking of institutions which would raise the stakes even more for federal elections. What would be nice is for Congress to claw back some of their power from the executive and grow a spine and tackle some of the more difficult issues they punt to the judiciary. Then the court wouldn’t be such a prize. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruth-bader-ginsburg-has-passed-away/920957/44 "2020-09-19T00:08:16Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > > [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > > > Even if the democrats abolish the filibuster and pass meaningful legislation, Trump and McConnell will appoint another hack like Kavanaugh who will just overturn it no matter what it is. > > Excuse me? If the Democrats abolish the filibuster and pass meaningful legislation, it will be because they won, McConnell will be nothing and Trump will be in prison. And then republicans will file a lawsuit, it’ll go to the SCOTUS and the supreme court will probably overturn it. Democrats can pass health reform, green new deal, voting rights, etc. But whoever Trump nominates will be more like Kavanaugh. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruth-bader-ginsburg-has-passed-away/920957/45 "2020-09-19T00:08:20Z")
There is a party at the white house now for sure. I will be surprised if her family does not ban Trump from the funeral like McCain did. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruth-bader-ginsburg-has-passed-away/920957/46 "2020-09-19T00:08:27Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > This. Democrats need to sweep on election day, then expand the SCOTUS to 15 members. Hell, throw in a nomination for one of the Obamas, just to really piss off the right. _One_ of the Obamas? Hell, justo really rile 'em up let’s put all _four_ of them on the bench. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruth-bader-ginsburg-has-passed-away/920957/47 "2020-09-19T00:08:54Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > Not really. It’s an emotional time when a figure beloved by a group passes after a lifetime of work and I understand that. But in the grand scheme of things many power sources are shifting in a progressive way on a few fronts. As long as elections and transfers of power remain mostly peaceful I think you’ll be if not pleased at least not overly dismayed over the next 20 years. > > Now packing courts could lead to tit for tat stacking of institutions which would raise the stakes even more for federal elections. What would be nice is for Congress to claw back some of their power from the executive and grow a spine and tackle some of the more difficult issues they punt to the judiciary. Then the court wouldn’t be such a prize. There’s no chance of any of this. It’s an all out knife fight every election, and every vacancy. McConnell and the Republicans obviously aren’t pulling back on this fight. It would be absolutely nuts for the Democrats to do so. I hope to God they do what they think McConnell would, in their shoes. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruth-bader-ginsburg-has-passed-away/920957/48 "2020-09-19T00:09:39Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > This. Democrats need to sweep on election day, then expand the SCOTUS to 15 members. Hell, throw in a nomination for one of the Obamas, just to really piss off the right. In three or four years of debating this topic, I’ve never heard someone adequately explain how they expect D’s to be able to pull this off without the R’s doing a retaliatory court-packing of their own, on an even bigger scale, years down the road when they get power again. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruth-bader-ginsburg-has-passed-away/920957/49 "2020-09-19T00:10:47Z")
In one sense, I will defend my conservative buddy (I actually like octopus 🙂). He’s not wrong in that if it comes down to this, to packing the courts, it’s a sad fucking commentary on “democracy.” ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruth-bader-ginsburg-has-passed-away/920957/50 "2020-09-19T00:11:05Z")
Of course they will. It’s already a knife fight. The Democrats lose nothing by fighting back. You think McConnell wouldn’t pack the court, if he had the majority and the makeup were 6-3 in favor of the liberals? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruth-bader-ginsburg-has-passed-away/920957/51 "2020-09-19T00:11:37Z")
We’re already there. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruth-bader-ginsburg-has-passed-away/920957/53 "2020-09-19T00:13:04Z")
FUCK. I was really starting to hope she could hang on for another four months. They couldn’t get her on a machine or something? (Please tell me she didn’t have a DNR.) This already dumpster-fire of an election just got a bunch of gasoline thrown on it. The only slight silver lining is that I don’t think this is going to help Trump or Senate Republicans running for reelection, unless they somehow handle it magnanimously…which they almost certainly won’t. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruth-bader-ginsburg-has-passed-away/920957/54 "2020-09-19T00:13:34Z")
Exactly. The institution is pretty much dead already. Ramp up the knife fight until the country has had enough and institutes term limits, or age minimums, or something else that would eliminate SCOTUS as such a partisan political prize. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruth-bader-ginsburg-has-passed-away/920957/55 "2020-09-19T00:14:20Z")
The Obama kids can be on the court. There is no requirement of having a law degree or an age requirement. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruth-bader-ginsburg-has-passed-away/920957/56 "2020-09-19T00:14:29Z")
This thread, and the others like it, makes me wonder if this event will directly cost Biden votes by causing despair in his base and making them decide there’s no point to voting because they’ll never get the laws and country they want anyway? Look at this thread, after all. I don’t see any enthusiastic voters here. Quite the opposite. ---
**Author:** ![DeadTreasSecretaries](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deadtreassecretaries/32/4817_2.png) [@DeadTreasSecretaries](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadTreasSecretaries)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruth-bader-ginsburg-has-passed-away/920957/57 "2020-09-19T00:14:32Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Or if Mitch died Mitch McConnel isn’t actually important. The GOP would use the exact same tactics no matter who was majority leader. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruth-bader-ginsburg-has-passed-away/920957/58 "2020-09-19T00:15:26Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > She just set back leftist causes by 30 years because her ego wanted an extra 6 years on the court and she didn’t think there was anyone in a nation of 300 million people as good as her. This assumes that Obama could have gotten a nominee (replacing Ginsberg) approved by the Senate. By the time of your story, with Ginsberg saying ‘who are you going to get,’ there was no way for an Obama-nominated judge to get the 60 votes needed (recall that use of the ‘nuclear option’ didn’t happen until the Gorsuch confirmation, in 2017). So despite the wish of some to attribute RBG’s failure to resign in 2014 to “ego,” the fact is that Obama wouldn’t have been able to get anyone as progressive to replace her. Not even close. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruth-bader-ginsburg-has-passed-away/920957/59 "2020-09-19T00:15:36Z")
Politics aside, I’m sorry. She was an incredibly distinguished jurist, whose career began at a time when it was difficult for a woman to become a lawyer, never mind a judge, never mind a justice of the Supreme Court. On a personal note, she was a law school classmate of my father (still living at 87). My father was also a federal judge, although a district court judge, and they were in occasional touch over the years and met once in a while at judicial conference events. I suppose I’ll have to tell him about this tomorrow. Although he lives in a “memory care” facility, he’ll understand immediately how bad the timing is. He despises Trump and admired Ginsberg. He’ll be upset. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruth-bader-ginsburg-has-passed-away/920957/60 "2020-09-19T00:15:38Z")
I’m enthusiastic (and desperate) to do anything I can to save the country from corrupt clowns like Trump, and corrupt manipulators like McConnell. This makes me more certain to vote, if anything. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2020, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruth-bader-ginsburg-has-passed-away/920957/61 "2020-09-19T00:16:37Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > There is no requirement of having a law degree or an age requirement. I expect Mitch to keep that in mind when choosing Ginsburg’s replacement. Do you think he will bother finding a nominee who has graduated from high school? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruth-bader-ginsburg-has-passed-away/920957.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruth-bader-ginsburg-has-passed-away/920957.md?page=4)