Thursday, May 21, 2015

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Isn’t Even Pretending to Be Impartial

Since there was no bride to be the “belle” at the ritzy D.C. wedding of Shakespeare Theater Company artistic director Michael Kahn and Manhattan architect Charles Mitchem this weekend, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who officiated, was happy to play the part. And she did so with panache, says Maureen Dowd: 

The most glittering moment for the crowd came during the ceremony. With a sly look and special emphasis on the word “Constitution,” Justice Ginsburg said that she was pronouncing the two men married by the powers vested in her by the Constitution of the United States. . . . The guests began applauding loudly.

 For a sitting Supreme Court justice facing a case on precisely this divisive issue, her remark seems — let’s put it mildly — injudicious. But Ruth Bader Ginsburg is not just some Supreme Court Justice. She is “Notorious R.B.G.” 

The coinage, a mashup of Ginsburg and murdered rapper The Notorious B.I.G. (a.k.a. Biggie Smalls), was the brainchild of then–NYU law student Shana Khiznik in 2013, shortly after Justice Ginsburg issued much-feted dissents in Fisher v. University of Texas, an affirmative-action case, and Shelby County v. Holder, a case dealing with the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Since then she has become an Internet sensation: ubiquitous meme, Halloween costume for infants, arm tat, the likeliest candidate on the Supreme Court to be made into an ice-cream flavor. In February, U.S. News & World Report recalled how Ginsburg drank before the 2015 State of the Union (!), once rode an elephant (!!), and another time went parasailing (!!@#$%!!!) — all dredged up “just in case you need more reasons to love Notorious RBG.”

I.m Good Thanks.

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