With apologies to the egos of the Kardashians, there is no woman hotter in America right now than Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. There is not one but two movies coming out about her life–one a documentary by CNN that premiers on Sunday night–and another starring Felicity Jones being made in Hollywood. There are novelty T-shirts bearing Bader Ginsberg image and often sassy titles like “Queen Bitch”. She has been given a gangster rap-type nickname “The Notorious RBG”. She is portrayed on a regular basis on Saturday Night Live (always as a butt-kicking, spunky, “Golden Girls-type character) and there is even a Ruth Bader Ginsberg action figure.
Bader Ginsberg has been on the Supreme Court for 25-years now–so her sudden popularity may seem a bit strange. Actually, the pop culture popularity of any Supreme Court justice should be baffling–but there is a reason for it at this time. Given that she is 85-years old, Bader Ginsberg is seen as the “next” Supreme Court Justice to leave the High Court–either through retirement (which she would never do with a Republican President in office) or through death. And as the staunchest of liberals on the Court, the Left cannot bear the thought of her being replaced by someone that would be appointed by Donald Trump or any other Republican that might win in 2020.
So a concerted effort is underway to elevate Justice Bader Ginsberg to some sort of “legal giant” status who could not ever be replaced by someone of differing political and social views. Therefore promos for the CNN documentary present Bader Ginsberg as a pioneer–“the first” to do everything she ever did. I’m sure more than a few of the talking heads invited to take part had to be corrected in calling her “the first female Justice”–as Sandra Day O’Connor holds that distinction (but because she was appointed by President Ronald Reagan and sided with the Conservatives on the court more often than not, her accomplishments and historic stature “don’t count”.) One contributor even calls Bader Ginsberg “a superhero!!”.
If you thought the nomination hearings to replace the “boring” Justice Anthony Kennedy were a clown show with protest inerruptions and Senators claiming they would rather be “kicked out of the Senate” than allow innocuous e-mail documents not to be released the public (who couldn’t care less), just imagine if a Republican President got to nominate a replacement for Justice Bader Ginsberg–especially after millenials come to think of her as the “Beyoncé of the Supreme Court”.
