Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a statement on Saturday mourning the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and recalling the time Ginsburg came to the White House to be interviewed by Bill Clinton.
“This is a devastating personal loss for so many,” Clinton tweeted about Ginsburg, who died Friday at age 87 after battling pancreatic cancer. “But more than that, it is a devastating loss for our country. Her memory is already a blessing. May it also be a call to continue her work for justice and equality under the law.”
Clinton appended to her tweet a more extensive statement, which read:
When Ruth Bader Ginsburg came to be interviewed for the Supreme Court vacancy Bill had to fill, she was told that it would be a casual interview on a Sunday afternoon. Bill knew that she was coming so he got out of Sunday afternoon football-watching clothes and put on a suit and tie, and she came in very casually dressed. She was a little embarrassed about coming to The White House and seeing the president when she was not properly attired. But they hit it off. They had an extraordinary conversation about the Constitution and the role of the courts. It was a masterclass.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg was someone I had looked up to for a long time—as a young lawyer, and throughout my time practicing and teaching law. She believed that the Constitution had to be interpreted as providing for the equal rights of men and women. She understood there were certain assumptions in the law that favored or disfavored men as well as women, and had the brilliant insight that she could demonstrate that lack of equality by litigating on behalf of men.
Her great gift was not only being a brilliant lawyer, litigator, and judge, but also a warm and empathetic human being. She felt the loss of respect and rights that her clients felt. And she felt compelled to try to right those wrongs.
This is a devastating personal loss for so many. But more than that, it is a devastating loss for our country. Her memory is already a blessing. May it also be a call to continue her work for justice and equality under the law.
Speaking with MSNBC host Rachel Maddow on Saturday, Clinton said, “I’m devastated by this, Rachel. Just losing her is such a massive hole in my young adulthood, my becoming a lawyer, both practicing and teaching law, looking up to her, following her career. But much more than that, it is a devastating loss for justice and equality.”
Former President Bill Clinton also issued a statement following Ginsburg’s death, whom he appointed to the Supreme Court in 1993. “We have lost one of the most extraordinary Justices ever to serve on the Supreme Court,” he tweeted on Friday. “Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s life and landmark opinions moved us closer to a more perfect union. And her powerful dissents reminded us that we walk away from our Constitution’s promise at our peril.”
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