The SCOTUS with the Mostest.
By Alisha Giampola (Writer/Performer)
The Notorious RBG gave a speech in New York City last week at the Temple Emanu-El Skirball Center, and I had the extreme honor of attending with my friend Ilana (of Argument Sessions fame). We stood in line to get our tickets checked with the obnoxiously giddy excitement of two teenagers circa 2002 at a Britney concert. Behold:
It's tempting to say that this is the nerdiest picture I've ever been a part of, but I'm sure I'm underestimating myself.
Justice Ginsburg was asked if she thought women still faced bias in the workplace as they did years ago when she founded the Women's Rights Project in the seventies. She conceded that while things have gotten better for women over the years, particularly from a strictly legal perspective, that unconscious bias towards both women and minorities continues to persist in workplaces and society in general. "People are comfortable with people who are like them, and white men are comfortable with other white men," she pointed out, a tiresomely familiar sentiment to any female who has ever tried to make an impression at a job or have a conversation in a public space or make a point at a political debate without being incessantly interrupted. Cough cough, Hillary.
Literally don't know how you kept it together, girl. High fives.
When asked about the climate of discussion within the Supreme Court and whether or not things get tense during argument, RBG smiled and pointed out, "You can disagree without being disagreeable." Preach, girl. Justice Ginsburg famously had a personal friendship with a man who couldn't have been more her ideological opposite on the bench, late Justice Antonin Scalia. When talking about their friendship, RBG said that although they frequently did not agree, she valued their friendship, shared love of opera, and then visibly teared up as she added "He just made me laugh." That's the kind of classy, across-aisles working friendship I can barely imagine happening anywhere else in politics today. While I personally think Scalia was a horrible human with horrible ideas, I am happy to wrap my head around the idea that he and another person who I admire were able to put aside what made them different in order to seek out the things that brought them together.
It's blurry, but this is an actual picture I took of Ruth Bader Ginsburg being interviewed by Dan Abrams, live, and for that, you're welcome future little girls of America.
The Supreme Court is the closest thing America has to some kind of panel of ancients. They're sworn in for life, the threat of losing their job never influencing the decisions they make, they look at change with a macro, rather than microscope. Decisions take time, the constitution requires study and interpretation, and ultimately dissents are as valuable as decisions. The queen of the eloquent dissent, RBG pointed out that "great dissenters are looking to a future age." This forest-rather-than-trees view of history is something I find comforting, particularly during an election season such as this. She discussed major heavy hitting cases including Citizens United and the recent striking down of the restrictive Texas abortion laws with equal gravity, and in the case of decisions she disagreed with, the hope that the dissents of her court could provide historical support for future generations who may be more amenable to change. It's so easy to look back on Brown v. Board of Education now and marvel at how ridiculous it was that racism used to be ingrained in law to such an extent, but then we unfortunately have almost daily reminders of the systemic and institutionalized racism that still permeates our lives. Active desegregation of schools basically stopped short in the 80s, and currently schools in the US are as segregated as they were in the 60s, despite the fact that bussing to desegregate student communities has been more successful than any other measures in raising educational fortunes of minority students.
I listened to an amazing NPR podcast (This American Life's "The Problem We All Live With") about this recently, and first of all, you should just go ahead and listen to the whole thing because it's incredible, but a few things stuck with me. One was the point that Americans basically decided to end segregation, did some hard work to make actual desegregation happen for about 20 years, and then were basically like: "Hey, who knew ending hundreds of years of ingrained racism and post-Civil-War tension would take more than a few decades to fix? Screw it, this is way too hard." Additionally, listening to the members of the community faced with the possibility of having their district become desegregated discuss their "concerns" about the "kinds of people" who were going to be attending school with their kids was horrifying and fascinating. The audio of the town hall meeting I'm referring to is just a few years old, but it just may as well be from 1960.
It's possible that you, like me, are tired of the gaslighting, misogyny, xenophobia, racism, and skepticism of education that a distressingly large percentage of our nation seems to support. I'm constantly surprised by this almost-half of our nation as I live in the magical rainbow-tinted bubble of diversity that is New York (our city motto: It Doesn't Matter What Your Gender Identity Is, A Homeless Person Has Slept In Both Of These Bathrooms So Just Use Whichever One Is Open). However, if you're way over it, as I am, it might delight you to know that there are still people who care about civility in government and about equal representation in politics, and one of those people is 83 years old and currently sitting on the bench of the highest court in the land. (And if any of you are worried about her being 83, let me assure you that RBG responded to that concern as well. "At my age, you have to take it year by year," was her response to being asked about her thoughts on retirement. "I know I'm good this year," she added with a smile. How does she maintain her stamina in such a demanding and emotionally taxing job? Push ups. Her personal trainer is taking on a few more fellow SCOTUS clients this upcoming year, from her recommendation, and she was quick to point out that she's currently struggling with something even tougher than push ups. "Have you ever heard of a plank?" She asked her interviewer, flexing like Rosie the Riveter.
Have you ever seen an entire synagogue of nerdy Manhattanites swoon? That'll do the trick. To paraphrase the Notorious B.I.G., "looks weak, but she's strong: she's got it going on."
image via.
ALISHA GIAMPOLA is an NYC based actor/teacher/writer who regrets having ever changed her voter registration from Florida to New York. She knows. She knows.
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