Family, work and opera filled Ruth Bader Ginsburg's final summer

Ruth Bader Ginsburg's rise from ah humble Brooklyn neighborhood to the nation's highest court was a classic American story. What is the difference between the bookkeeper in New York's common district and the Supreme Court justice? Just one generation, My mother's life and mind bear witness. Where else but in America could that happen? She was smart, tied for first in her class at Columbia Law School, but in the late fifties and early sixties, the glass ceiling stood firm. There were three strikes against her. First, she was a woman. Second, she was Jewish. Third, she had a young child. She turned to teaching law and fighting gender discrimination for the A C L U very much with the model of the N Double A. C. P s legal Defense fund led by Thurgood Marshall. She had this idea that you have to build precedent step By step 1980 Ginsburg became a federal appellate court judge. So help me God, so help me God. 13 years later, she was named to the Supreme Court by President Clinton, the second woman on the bench, the first Sandra Day O Connor, was glad to see her the minute justice Ginsburg came to the court. We were nine justices. It wasn't seven and then the women, and it was a great relief to me. A za Justice Ginsburg consistently voted in favor of abortion access and civil rights, perhaps her best known work on the court, writing the 1996 landmark decision to strike down the Virginia military institutes ban on admitting women. She was also known for her bold Descents, like the one she wrote when the court stopped. The 2000 Florida ballot recount, struck down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act and ended the contraception mandate for some businesses under the Affordable Care Act. In our view, the court does not comprehend or is indifferent to the insidious way in which women can be victims of pay discrimination. In 2007 the high court ruled against Lily Ledbetter, a factory supervisor at a tire plant, in a high profile pay discrimination case. Ginsburg urged Congress to take up the issue in her dissent. 20 months later, the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was the first bill that President Obama signed into law after Justice John Paul Stevens retired in 2010. Ginsburg became the most senior of her liberal colleagues. But she didn't slow down. Stephen Colbert discovered that the hard way, trying to keep up with RPGs. Famously tough workouts. I'm cramping and a working out with an 85 year old woman. Ginsburg hired a trainer after treatment for colorectal cancer in the late nineties. In 2018 doctors treating the justice for broken ribs discovered cancerous growths on her lung. The surgery was successful, but the recovery caused Ginsburg to miss oral arguments at the Supreme Court for the first time in her career. She was also treated several times for pancreatic cancer, but always stayed up on her court work. Even after losing her husband of 56 years to cancer, Ginsberg was back on the bench the next morning. I love the work I do. I think I have the best job in the world for a lawyer. I respect all of my colleagues and genuinely like most of them. It says this. Her best friend on the bench was the late Justice Antonin Scalia, Her ideological opposite what's not to like except her views of the law. Of course, they shared a laugh about Ginsburg drinking wine before nodding off at the state of the Union. I wasn't 100% sober because before we went to the State of the Union, Mhm Way had dinner together, and Justice Kennedy brought well, that's the first intelligent thing you've done. In her later years, she gave rock star status with millennials. Thanks to Social Media, it was beyond my wildest imagination that I would one day become the Notorious. Oh jeez, Theo Nickname was a play on the name of the late rapper the Notorious B. I. G. There were books, clothing, tattoos, even a species of praying Mantis in her honor, along with a recurring SNL sketch you just gottgens burned. There was a feature film on the basis of Sex and a documentary produced by CNN. RBG was an unexpected box office hit and gave the justice and even larger platform to share her lifelong mission of gender equality. People ask me sometimes when will there be enough women on the court? And my answer is when there are nine. Oh, okay. Okay,

She was seeing family. She was exercising. She was listening to opera. She was doing the work of the court. She even officiated at a wedding.That's how Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg spent the weeks before her death Friday at 87. Those who had been in touch with Ginsburg or her staff recently said she seemed to be coping with treatment for cancer and also making plans for events months away. So the announcement of her death came as something of a surprise, even to some close friends.Mary Hartnett, one of her two authorized biographers, visited Ginsburg in mid-August at her longtime home in the Watergate apartment complex next to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. She said Ginsburg was “plowing ahead” despite a cancer recurrence.“She was trying very hard to treat this, and essentially her body just gave out,” Hartnett said.Hartnett, who wore a mask and tested negative for the coronavirus before visiting, said the justice was continuing to do court work. She also exercised, working out on a treadmill or using a tape made by her longtime trainer, Bryant Johnson. In the evenings, she’d watch “Live at the Met” operas, Hartnett said.Hartnett said she’d asked the justice whether there were any silver linings to her illness and to the coronavirus pandemic.“She immediately lit up and said ‘Yes, I’ve had so much time with my family, and they have been wonderful,’” Hartnett said.Ginsburg announced in mid-July that she was receiving chemotherapy treatments, the fifth time she had dealt with cancer since 1999.“I have often said I would remain a member of the Court as long as I can do the job full steam. I remain fully able to do that,” Ginsburg said at the time.But it was hard for the public to gauge how sick Ginsburg was. She started receiving chemotherapy in May, four months before she revealed it publicly and at a time of year when the justices typically take the bench at least once a week to announce decisions. But because of the coronavirus, the justices were hearing arguments by telephone and out of the public's eye.In late August, however, one photo of her became public. It was a joyous image, Ginsburg wearing a black-and-white embroidered collar and black judicial robes as she presided over an outdoor wedding in the Washington area.The picture from Aug. 30, which was posted on bride Barb Solish’s Twitter account, suggested that Ginsburg was soldiering on. Solish didn’t respond to emails from The Associated Press requesting comment.Also this summer Ginsburg would have been engaged in the work of the court. The justices handle some emergency matters over the summer, and Ginsburg would also have been preparing for an extended private conference the justices hold at the end of September and before the start of the term in October.Betsy West and Julie Cohen, who co-directed the 2018 documentary “RBG” about Ginsburg’s life, said they got an email from her in mid-August signed in her typical fashion: RBG.But on Friday, longtime friend Nina Appel got a call from Ginsburg’s son James. He told her that his mother had died just before sundown. He didn’t want her to hear the news first on television, she said, adding that she was grateful for the call. The court said she died surrounded by family at her home in Washington.Appel, the former dean of Loyola University Chicago’s law school who was friends with Ginsburg for over 60 years, said the news was a “terrible shock” and caught her off guard.She said she would remember her friend not only as a brilliant jurist but also as someone who connected with young people. “She was always herself. She didn’t pretend to be anything other than who she was,” she said.Ann Claire Williams, a former federal appeals court judge and Ginsburg’s friend, said she’d been in touch with Ginsburg’s office over the summer to reschedule a public talk they’d planned for the fall and then pushed off to 2021.“As recently as, say, two months ago she was looking ahead to next year, so even though we knew she was ill we didn’t expect it to come to an end at this point,” Williams said.A day before she died, Ginsburg was honored by the National Constitution Center with its Liberty Medal. The center’s president, Jeffrey Rosen, said in the opening to the video ceremony that Ginsburg was “watching at home.” The nearly hour-long video included some of Ginsburg’s favorite opera singers and celebrity friends who addressed her directly. Ginsburg sent a note the center made public.It closed by sending “bravissimos” to the “participants in this event, and all in attendance for lifting my spirits sky high.”___Associated Press reporter Mark Sherman contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON —

She was seeing family. She was exercising. She was listening to opera. She was doing the work of the court. She even officiated at a wedding.

That's how Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg spent the weeks before her death Friday at 87. Those who had been in touch with Ginsburg or her staff recently said she seemed to be coping with treatment for cancer and also making plans for events months away. So the announcement of her death came as something of a surprise, even to some close friends.

Mary Hartnett, one of her two authorized biographers, visited Ginsburg in mid-August at her longtime home in the Watergate apartment complex next to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. She said Ginsburg was “plowing ahead” despite a cancer recurrence.

“She was trying very hard to treat this, and essentially her body just gave out,” Hartnett said.

Hartnett, who wore a mask and tested negative for the coronavirus before visiting, said the justice was continuing to do court work. She also exercised, working out on a treadmill or using a tape made by her longtime trainer, Bryant Johnson. In the evenings, she’d watch “Live at the Met” operas, Hartnett said.

Hartnett said she’d asked the justice whether there were any silver linings to her illness and to the coronavirus pandemic.

“She immediately lit up and said ‘Yes, I’ve had so much time with my family, and they have been wonderful,’” Hartnett said.

Ginsburg announced in mid-July that she was receiving chemotherapy treatments, the fifth time she had dealt with cancer since 1999.

“I have often said I would remain a member of the Court as long as I can do the job full steam. I remain fully able to do that,” Ginsburg said at the time.

But it was hard for the public to gauge how sick Ginsburg was. She started receiving chemotherapy in May, four months before she revealed it publicly and at a time of year when the justices typically take the bench at least once a week to announce decisions. But because of the coronavirus, the justices were hearing arguments by telephone and out of the public's eye.

In late August, however, one photo of her became public. It was a joyous image, Ginsburg wearing a black-and-white embroidered collar and black judicial robes as she presided over an outdoor wedding in the Washington area.

The picture from Aug. 30, which was posted on bride Barb Solish’s Twitter account, suggested that Ginsburg was soldiering on. Solish didn’t respond to emails from The Associated Press requesting comment.

Also this summer Ginsburg would have been engaged in the work of the court. The justices handle some emergency matters over the summer, and Ginsburg would also have been preparing for an extended private conference the justices hold at the end of September and before the start of the term in October.

Betsy West and Julie Cohen, who co-directed the 2018 documentary “RBG” about Ginsburg’s life, said they got an email from her in mid-August signed in her typical fashion: RBG.

But on Friday, longtime friend Nina Appel got a call from Ginsburg’s son James. He told her that his mother had died just before sundown. He didn’t want her to hear the news first on television, she said, adding that she was grateful for the call. The court said she died surrounded by family at her home in Washington.

Appel, the former dean of Loyola University Chicago’s law school who was friends with Ginsburg for over 60 years, said the news was a “terrible shock” and caught her off guard.

She said she would remember her friend not only as a brilliant jurist but also as someone who connected with young people. “She was always herself. She didn’t pretend to be anything other than who she was,” she said.

Ann Claire Williams, a former federal appeals court judge and Ginsburg’s friend, said she’d been in touch with Ginsburg’s office over the summer to reschedule a public talk they’d planned for the fall and then pushed off to 2021.

“As recently as, say, two months ago she was looking ahead to next year, so even though we knew she was ill we didn’t expect it to come to an end at this point,” Williams said.

A day before she died, Ginsburg was honored by the National Constitution Center with its Liberty Medal. The center’s president, Jeffrey Rosen, said in the opening to the video ceremony that Ginsburg was “watching at home.” The nearly hour-long video included some of Ginsburg’s favorite opera singers and celebrity friends who addressed her directly. Ginsburg sent a note the center made public.

It closed by sending “bravissimos” to the “participants in this event, and all in attendance for lifting my spirits sky high.”

___

Associated Press reporter Mark Sherman contributed to this report.

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