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Trailblazing Supreme Court JusticesRuth Bader GinsburgandSandra Day O’Connorwill be honored with statues inside the U.S. Capitol or on its grounds thanks to the efforts of lawmakers who sent a bipartisan bill to PresidentJoe Bidento sign in April.
On Thursday, Sen.Amy Klobuchar— who sponsored the legislation with Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins as well as fellow Democrat Kyrsten Sinema — joined House SpeakerNancy Pelosiand Rep. Lois Frankel, co-chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, outside the Capitol to celebrate with people close to the justices.
“One of our goals in our caucus and working in a bipartisan way was to have more diversity in the Congress,” Pelosi said.
Their contributions, Pelosi said, are “something that people know very well, have seen in their lifetime.”
Amy Klobuchar.
Justice O’Connor’s eldest son, Scott O’Connor, and Prof. Kelsi Corkran, a former clerk for Justice Ginsburg, were also on hand to mark the occasion.
“I had so much fun calling Scott to tell him that we got this done,” Klobuchar said. “I don’t think people ever believe that we actually pass bills, but we do.”
Scott O’Connor said he and the family are “delighted that mom is sharing the honor with Ruth Bader Ginsburg, her colleague, and her family.”
“Mom and Justice Ginsburg worked together in friendship and mutual respect, even when they found themselves on opposite sides of cases before the court. They’re role models for how government leaders should work together to solve our nation’s problems,” he continued, before offering a suggestion. “Perhaps as the statue project takes shape, the two of them might be cast to stand together.”
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In 2018, O’Connorannounced in a letterthat she had been diagnosed with the “beginning stages of dementia, probably Alzheimer’s disease.”
Her son told the small crowd gather in front of the Capitol that his mother has not been depressed through her ordeal. “It’s a blessing,” he said. “She’s in very good spirits and happy to see close friends and family for visits.”
Ginsburg, a beloved liberal icon who became a popular figure in reaches of American culture that extend far beyond judicial circles, was previouslyhonored with a statuein her hometown of Brooklyn, N.Y., last year.
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In the statement the former clerk read, Spera praised the bipartisan legislation as a start to addressing the imbalance in represented leaders depicted in National Statuary Hall.
Corkan also recalled a meme inspired the justice that said, “You can’t spell ‘truth’ without Ruth.”
“I’ve always loved that meme because I think it sums up her legacy so well,” Corkan said.
In announcing the new law that green-lights the creation of new statues in Ginsburg and O’Conner’s likenesses, Klobuchar spoke about the significance of placing monuments to the first women justices on the grounds of the Capitol.
In honor of the justice’s legacies, the newly passed legislation requires the consideration of artists from underrepresented demographic groups to be commission to sculpt the Capitol collection’s newest additions.
source: people.com
