Her jurisprudence may be reliably and maddeningly left-wing, but I'll say this for Justice Ginsburg: She tells some important, uncomfortable truths to the liberal cult of personality that has sprouted up around her. As her super fans consume films about her, buy hagiographic RBG swag, and hang on her every word, she advances certain ideas and truths that they need to hear. She praised Justice Kavanaugh's character ("very decent, very smart") and his commitment to empowering women in law. She also slapped down the hard Left's dangerous fantasies about court-packing, warning about institutional damage:
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg chastises 2020 Democrats on court packing: “bad idea,” “partisan”https://t.co/xYtUPlnQix pic.twitter.com/uxHPJ4VALZ
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 24, 2019
One wonders what she thinks of Democratic Senators' letter explicitly threatening the Court; her track record suggests she's likely not a fan. Her latest statement against the grain of escalating, hostile tribalism deals with her famously close friendship with her late colleague, Justice Antonin Scalia. A wonderful response:
Question: "Justice Scalia used to say not such wonderful things about your views and you then still went to the opera with him. Was that a little awkward or hard to do?"
— The Hill (@thehill) September 21, 2019
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: "Not at all."
RBG talks about her friendship with Justice Antonin Scalia. pic.twitter.com/1i4eB4tvzi
"What did I love most about him? His infectious sense of humor...he'd sometimes whisper something to me. It would crack me up. I had all I could do to contain hysterical laughter."
Take two minutes and watch the full question and reply. It's well worth it. It also reminds me of another recent exchange that underscores how basic decency and cordial conduct is seen by some as ideological betrayal or weakness. Here's Joe Biden getting hissed because he said something polite about Mike Pence:
An attention grabbing moment from Biden’s time on stage when moderator ?@lyzl? pushed Biden on past votes and calling ?@VP? a “decent guy.”
— Molly Nagle (@MollyNagle3) September 21, 2019
“You’re a lovely person,” Biden tells the moderator to laugher.
“Just asking the questions people want to know,” she replied pic.twitter.com/DB10NGuBCP
Toxic, all-encompassing, soul-crushing partisanship is a poison that will make our national challenges worse, not better.