Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
Thursday, March 28, 2024
The Observer

Jenkins releases statement on death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a trail-blazing advocate for women's rights, died at the age of 87 on Friday after serving on the court since 1993. University President Fr. John Jenkins recalled Ginsburg’s visit to Notre Dame in 2016.

“Combining intellectual rigor with playfulness and candor, Justice Ginsburg discussed policy, politics and the struggle for women to find their rightful place in the administration of justice,” he said in the release. “It was a personal privilege for me to take her on a tour of campus and witness her kindness and courtesy to everyone she met.”

Ginsburg was the second woman appointed to the Supreme Court. She put forth strong dissenting opinions during her time on the Court and became an icon to the younger generation. She died in her home in Washington D.C. from complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer, the Supreme Court said.

1474313840-8b0ab394630bae3-700x546
Caitlyn Jordan | The Observer
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg visited Notre Dame for a conversation, moderated by U.S. Circuit Judge Ann Williams, a Notre Dame alumna, at Purcell Pavilion Sept. 13, 2016.


In his statement, Jenkins highlighted a quote from Ginsburg in the statement she released to honor Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia after his passing, which referenced the two justices’ shared love of opera.

“Upon the death of her close friend and ideological opposite, the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Justice Ginsburg wrote a fitting epitaph for all who serve the law so well: ‘Toward the end of the opera Scalia/Ginsburg, tenor Scalia and soprano Ginsburg sing a duet: “We are different, we are one,” different in our interpretation of written texts, one in our reverence for the Constitution and the institution we serve,’” Jenkins said.