On dissents and rest, and the notorious RBG

Dissents speak to a future age. It’s not simply to say, ‘my colleagues are wrong and I would do it this way,’ but the greatest dissents do become court opinions.Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I’ve always looked up to Ruth Bader Ginsburg. So much of the doctoral research I am conducting is fuelled by the trails she has blazed. To me she is a beacon of hope, and so I was particularly saddened by her passing in September. Like many others, I was getting increasingly worried about her health over the past several months. Hospitalisation was becoming more frequent. What would we do without her, without her voice, without her toughness, without her bravery, without her dissents? 

I think it’s very important how she describes dissenting and how it is more than plainly disagreeing. It’s not just saying, ‘no’. She talks about how it contributes to the future, ‘that they are writing not for today, but for tomorrow’. It is a contribution, it’s future-thinking, meaningful, and intentional contribution. It promotes improvement. It’s thoughtful and courageous in pointing out injustices, paying attention to flaws and weaknesses, and identifying what should be changed.

RBG has become somewhat of a superhero for a lot of women. She’s achieved so much, worked so incredibly hard, and never hesitated to say that her husband, Marty, was a vital factor in her becoming a lawyer in the first place. She would often describe how his support for her was real and tangible. Her ambition did not mean, she was an uncaring wife. Early in their marriage, with a young baby and Marty battling cancer, Ruth would be helping Marty with his study, making sure she did her own study, as well as look after their baby. Theirs was a true marriage of equals, a partnership, a team.

Women will have achieved true equality when men share with them the responsibility of bringing up the next generation.Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Now she has passed. What do we do? What do I do? I persist. I persevere. I press on and I do so with many others, lifting each other up and continuing the work. It is our turn. Now, I continue to live out my passions, my contributions to the community, and my work, not only for myself and my generation, but for my daughter. I hope that she can  enjoy all the opportunities I’ve had - the chance to carve her own path, live her passions, contribute to enhancing the lives of others, protect the environment, and be happy and safe. I also hope she gets to enjoy opportunities I’ve not had the privilege of experiencing.

Notorious RBG - I love how many have said, ‘her rest is earned’. How very true. Now she is resting with her beloved equal, Marty.

PS: Let me leave you with a few more of my favourite quotes from Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg:

• “You think about what would have happened ... Suppose I had gotten a job as a permanent associate. Probably I would have climbed up the ladder and today I would be a retired partner. So often in life, things that you regard as an impediment turn out to be great good fortune.”
• "[W]hen I’m sometimes asked when will there be enough [women on the supreme court]? And I say ‘When there are nine.’ People are shocked. But there’d been nine men, and nobody’s ever raised a question about that."
• "I’m dejected, but only momentarily, when I can’t get the fifth vote for something I think is very important. But then you go on to the next challenge and you give it your all. You know that these important issues are not going to go away. They are going to come back again and again. There’ll be another time, another day."
• Sarah Grimke and RBG: “All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks and permit us to stand upright.”