The day that Ruth Bader Ginsburg died is a day that I will always remember. I was on a family road trip and my internet went out for eight minutes – for only eight minutes, I was completely disconnected from the world. When my signal came back, we had arrived at a gas station and as soon as I turned on my phone I saw that RBG had passed away. My heart sank, not because of my reproductive rights or because I knew what would happen with a 6-3 conservative majority court. My initial reaction was that a hero of mine – a trailblazer for equal rights on the basis of sex – had just passed away. I idolized RBG. She is the reason why I could dare to dream to become a high-powered attorney as a woman of color and why I have so many more opportunities and legal rights than I would have fifty years ago. She was my idol and she had passed away but what would prevail in the coming month would make her passing and what felt like the loss of her legacy more heart-wrenching.
This year has felt like both a fever dream and the end of democracy. The recent confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the supreme court is just the latest in a series of unfortunate events. As a young woman of color, Amy Coney Barrett is my worst nightmare. In my legal courses, I have learned the power that courts, let alone the Supreme Court, hold in our government. When the Supreme Court sets a precedent, every single lower court in our judicial system must follow their decision because of the hierarchical nature of the courts. Throughout this nomination process, I have been gaslit several times and told that the court is “not that important” and that I am “freaking out preemptively.” The rights of women and young people are on the line with the appointment of Coney Barrett. The court is set to hear a case on the Affordable Care Act on November 10, 2020, and if the act is repealed young people will lose the ability to be on their parent’s health insurance (a right they currently hold under the act until they are twenty-six). If they lose this right, they will be left without insurance or forced to pay for extremely expensive privatized insurance. There is also the overwhelming fear of the appeal of Roe V. Wade, a hallmark case protecting a women’s right to choose to have an abortion without excessive restriction from the government.
Furthermore, Amy Coney Barrett is devoid of the experience needed to be a Supreme Court justice. Not only is she only forty-six years old – relatively young for a justice – she only practiced law for two years, has only been a judge since 2017, and has spent the majority of her life in academia. There is no problem with academia, but Coney Barrett is not a skilled practitioner of the law. She may teach the law, but she has not actually practiced it enough to be able to skillfully apply it. She is anti-gay marriage, signed a petition calling Roe V. Wade “barbaric,” and is critical of birth control. To put it nicely, she is the antithesis of Ruth Bader Ginsburg – a feminist, an advocate for gender equality, LGBTQ+ rights and so much more. President Trump has used the appointment of a female justice to show he’s not a misogynist, is looking out for American women, and much more gender driven rhetoric that is a blatant lie. President Trump is not looking out for woman, because if he was he would not have been accused of sexual assault several times. Coney Barrett will never be half the woman that Justice Ginsburg was. She does not fight for what is right but is instead an inexperienced judge, pushed as a part of a political agenda to one of the most influential positions of power in the country.
Amy Coney Barrett will be on the court for life, meaning that we must keep fighting. We are now living in the age of a 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court – a court that should never lean so heavily partisan in either political direction. However, what we can do is fight to expand the court to allow for a much fairer balance. What we can do is vote. This election is a fight for our rights, this election is a way to own your agency, and lastly, voting is the greatest way you can honor the late Justice Ginsburg. We weren’t able to fulfill her wish that she not be replaced by the upcoming election, therefore we must vote in her name. Amy Coney Barrett will never derail the path Justice Ginsburg set for us and she will not be our undoing if we do not allow her to be.