And again in 2014, when the court ruled to allow Hobby Lobby to discriminate against employees who wanted their health care to cover contraceptives. Holderin 2013, when the Roberts Court gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Gore in 2000 when the court halted the recount in Florida, awarding the presidency to George W. She stood against the majority in Bush v. But RBG imagined a world in which women would be judged before the law as equal to men - a view some conservatives today consider anathema - and she used the law to make that world a reality.Īs the court swung to the right, she became known for her dissents. Her education and career bear the marks of that discrimination. Ruth Bader Ginsburg started her career in the 1950s when discrimination on the basis of sex was culturally dominant and enshrined in law.

Let’s reflect on what we will lose when this happens. But the illegitimacy will stick permanently to Barrett if she’s confirmed now, through this deeply cynical, political power grab. If Trump wins reelection in November, he can fill the seat without tainting his pick. When Mitch McConnell refused to consider Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama’s selection to replace Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016, he established a new precedent he ought to live with now. One commentator describes Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, Donald Trump’s first two appointees, as representing the center of the court if Barrett is seated.

With the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, we are on the verge of living under a 6-3 court that has marched steadily and radically rightward since the 1970s and will remain, under the leadership of Chief Justice John Roberts, the most conservative court since that time. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images) This article is more than 2 years old. Amy Coney Barrett speaks as President Trump announces her nomination as his choice for associate justice of the Supreme Court in the Rose Garden of the White House on Saturday, Sept.

Who replaced ruth bader