Human Rights Campaign Remembers U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

by HRC Staff •

Post submitted by Lucas Acosta (he/him), former Deputy Director of Communications, Politics

Today, the Human Rights Campaign responded to the tragic news that United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has passed away at the age of 87.

Today, we lost an unqualified, undisputed hero. She wasn’t just an iconic jurist, Justice Ginsburg was a force for good -- a force for bringing this country closer to delivering on its promise of equality for all. Her decades of work helped create many of the foundational arguments for gender equality in the United States, and her decisions from the bench demonstrated her committment to full LGBTQ equality. She was and will remain an inspiration to young people everywhere, a pop culture icon as the Notorious RBG and a giant in the fight for a more just nation for all. We extend our deepest condolences to her family and loved ones. What she represented — fairness, justice and equality for all — we must all continue to fight for. Those principles are not transactional, they are fundamental to our democracy.

Alphonso David, Human Rights Campaign President

Justice Ginsburg has long been on the right side of history in the fight for LGBTQ equality. Justice Ginsburg joined Justice Kennedy’s majority decisions in many landmark cases in LGBTQ civil rights history, including Romer v. Evans in 1996, Lawrence v. Texas in 2003, Windsor v. U.S. in 2013 and Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015. In addition, she joined the majority in Bostock v. Clayton County in 2020. In her private life, Justice Ginsburg has performed many same-sex marriage ceremonies -- the first Supreme Court justice to do so.

Justice Ginsburg blazed many trails in her lifetime. She graduated at the top of her class from the Columbia School of Law, founded the Women’s Rights Project at the ACLU and argued cases of women’s rights and gender justice before the Supreme Court, helping pave the way for gender justice and equality in the U.S. Justice Ginsburg was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1993, becoming only the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court.

Contact Us

To make a general inquiry, please visit our contact page. Members of the media can reach our press office at: (202) 572-8968 or email press@hrc.org.

Topics:
SCOTUS