Glorious, Not-Spurious RBG

Tell your students, your children, your masses yearning to know Ruth Bader Ginsburg that “spurious” is an excellent word that means “false” or “inauthentic.” And tell them that RBG is the opposite of spurious. She speaks her mind and she’s true to her values.This characteristic was viewed with some consternation by at least one lawyer in the White House counsel’s office in 1993, after President Bill Clinton nominated then-Judge Ginsburg to the Supreme Court. The concern wasn’t about her qualifications, or about how she might perform as a Supreme Court justice. It was about how she would perform at her Senate hearings.The lawyer sent a worried memo to David Gergen, then White House counselor."When asked a specific question about a prior decision or writing," the memo noted, "Judge Ginsburg seems unable (or unwilling) to reassure that questioner's underlying concerns, and instead, seems set on answering the specific charge. . . .”What? She insisted on answering the specific question directly? She would not just make the questioner feel good about her prior rulings or writings?Also from the worried lawyer’s memo:"Judge Ginsburg has a strong tendency to defend the ACLU position. She has an instinct for defending some rather extreme liberal views. . . .”It might have been more convenient for RBG to distance herself from the not-entirely-popular ACLU, after serving as director of the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project in the 1970s. But it would also have been . . .  spurious.The memo concludes: “And finally, Judge Ginsburg’s technique—her failure to make eye contact, her halting speech, her ‘laconic’ nature . . . is not helpful.” The memo was titled “Judge Ginsburg: Performance Pitfalls.”The Senate confirmed Judge Ginsburg to become Justice Ginsburg by a vote of 96-3.Glorious, Not-Spurious RBG. Next time: Expurgatorious RBG. (Yes. Expurgatorious.)(Photo credit: White House Photography Office/Sharon Farmer)