Read tributes to the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg from national and regional leaders

The death of Jus­tice Ruth Bad­er Gins­burg is a huge tragedy for the Unit­ed States and the world at a time of great per­il for human­i­ty. Her pass­ing has deeply affect­ed mil­lions and prompt­ed lead­ers at the local, state, and fed­er­al lev­els to reflect on her incred­i­ble life and lega­cy. Below is a com­pendi­um of state­ments NPI has received hon­or­ing the late Jus­tice and all that she accomplished.

Pres­i­dent Barack Obama:

Six­ty years ago, Ruth Bad­er Gins­burg applied to be a Supreme Court clerk. She’d stud­ied at two of our finest law schools and had ring­ing rec­om­men­da­tions. But because she was a woman, she was rejected.

Ten years lat­er, she sent her first brief to the Supreme Court — which led it to strike down a state law based on gen­der dis­crim­i­na­tion for the first time. And then, for near­ly three decades, as the sec­ond woman ever to sit on the high­est court in the land, she was a war­rior for gen­der equal­i­ty — some­one who believed that equal jus­tice under law only had mean­ing if it applied to every sin­gle American.

Over a long career on both sides of the bench — as a relent­less lit­i­ga­tor and an inci­sive jurist — Jus­tice Gins­burg helped us see that dis­crim­i­na­tion on the basis of sex isn’t about an abstract ide­al of equal­i­ty; that it doesn’t only harm women; that it has real con­se­quences for all of us. It’s about who we are — and who we can be.

Jus­tice Gins­burg inspired the gen­er­a­tions who fol­lowed her, from the tini­est trick-or-treaters to law stu­dents burn­ing the mid­night oil to the most pow­er­ful lead­ers in the land.

Michelle and I admired her great­ly, we’re pro­found­ly thank­ful for the lega­cy she left this coun­try, and we offer our grat­i­tude and our con­do­lences to her chil­dren and grand­chil­dren tonight.

Ruth Bad­er Gins­burg fought to the end, through her can­cer, with unwa­ver­ing faith in our democ­ra­cy and its ideals.

That’s how we remem­ber her. But she also left instruc­tions for how she want­ed her lega­cy to be honored.

Four and a half years ago, when Repub­li­cans refused to hold a hear­ing or an up-or-down vote on Mer­rick Gar­land, they invent­ed the prin­ci­ple that the Sen­ate shouldn’t fill an open seat on the Supreme Court before a new pres­i­dent was sworn in.

A basic prin­ci­ple of the law — and of every­day fair­ness — is that we apply rules with con­sis­ten­cy, and not based on what’s con­ve­nient or advan­ta­geous in the moment.

The rule of law, the legit­i­ma­cy of our courts, the fun­da­men­tal work­ings of our democ­ra­cy all depend on that basic principle.

As votes are already being cast in this elec­tion, Repub­li­can Sen­a­tors are now called to apply that stan­dard. The ques­tions before the Court now and in the com­ing years — with deci­sions that will deter­mine whether or not our econ­o­my is fair, our soci­ety is just, women are treat­ed equal­ly, our plan­et sur­vives, and our democ­ra­cy endures — are too con­se­quen­tial to future gen­er­a­tions for courts to be filled through any­thing less than an unim­peach­able process.

Pres­i­dent Bill Clinton:

We have lost one of the most extra­or­di­nary Jus­tices ever to serve on the Supreme Court. 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.

Pres­i­dent Jim­my Carter:

Ros­alynn and I are sad­dened by the pass­ing of Jus­tice Ruth Bad­er Gins­burg. A pow­er­ful legal mind and a staunch advo­cate for gen­der equal­i­ty, she has been a bea­con of jus­tice dur­ing her long and remark­able career. I was proud to have appoint­ed her to the U.S. Court of Appeals in 1980. We join count­less Amer­i­cans in mourn­ing the loss of a tru­ly great woman. We will keep her fam­i­ly in our thoughts and prayers dur­ing this dif­fi­cult time.

Vice Pres­i­dent Joe Biden, Demo­c­ra­t­ic nom­i­nee for President:

Tonight our nation mourns an Amer­i­can hero, a giant of legal doc­trine, and a relent­less voice in the pur­suit of that high­est Amer­i­can ide­al: Equal Jus­tice Under Law.

Ruth Bad­er Gins­burg stood for all of us. She fought for all of us. As a young attor­ney, she per­sist­ed through every chal­lenge that an unequal sys­tem placed in her way to change the laws of our land and lead the legal charge to advance equal rights for women.

It was my hon­or to pre­side over her con­fir­ma­tion hear­ings, and to strong­ly sup­port her acces­sion to the Supreme Court.

In the decades since, she was con­sis­tent­ly and reli­ably the voice that pierced to the heart of every issue, pro­tect­ed the con­sti­tu­tion­al rights of every Amer­i­can, and nev­er failed in the fierce and unflinch­ing defense of lib­er­ty and freedom.

Her opin­ions, and her dis­sents, will con­tin­ue to shape the basis of our law for future gen­er­a­tions. May her mem­o­ry be a bless­ing to all peo­ple who cher­ish our Con­sti­tu­tion and its promise.

Tonight, and in the com­ing days, we should be focused on the loss of Jus­tice Gins­burg and her endur­ing lega­cy. But just so there is no doubt, let me be clear: The vot­ers should pick a Pres­i­dent, and that Pres­i­dent should select a suc­ces­sor to Jus­tice Ginsburg.

This was the posi­tion that the Repub­li­can Sen­ate took in 2016, when there were near­ly nine months before the election.

That is the posi­tion the Unit­ed States Sen­ate must take now, when the elec­tion is less than two months away.

We are talk­ing about the Con­sti­tu­tion and the Supreme Court. That insti­tu­tion should not be sub­ject to politics.

Sen­a­tor Kamala Har­ris, Demo­c­ra­t­ic nom­i­nee for Vice President:

Tonight we mourn, we hon­or, and we pray for Jus­tice Ruth Bad­er Gins­burg and her fam­i­ly. Tomor­row we fight for her legacy.

For all who believe in the pow­er of the law as a force for change, Jus­tice Gins­burg was and will always be a titan.

She was a relent­less defend­er of jus­tice in our coun­try and a legal mind for the ages. She also remained, through­out her life, a proud daugh­ter of Brook­lyn, with immi­grant roots and a fire lit from an ear­ly age as a cham­pi­on for progress and equality.

Jus­tice Gins­burg was known to pose the ques­tion, ‘What is the dif­fer­ence between a book­keep­er in the Gar­ment Dis­trict and a Supreme Court jus­tice?” Her answer: “One gen­er­a­tion.” She nev­er for­got where she came from, or those who sac­ri­ficed to help her grow into the his­toric icon we all came to revere.

Even as we focus on the life that she led and process tonight’s grief, her lega­cy and the future of the court to which she ded­i­cat­ed so much can’t dis­ap­pear from our effort to hon­or her. In some of her final moments with her fam­i­ly, she shared her fer­vent wish to “not be replaced until a new Pres­i­dent is installed.” We will hon­or that wish.

Jus­tice Gins­burg used every ounce of life she was bestowed to urge our nation down a path toward equal jus­tice. Doug and I send our heart­felt prayers to Jane and James, and the entire Gins­burg fam­i­ly, par­tic­u­lar­ly on this holy day of Rosh Hashanah.

Accord­ing to Jew­ish tra­di­tion, on Rosh Hashanah we begin a peri­od of reflec­tion. Tonight, we reflect on the lega­cy of Jus­tice Gins­burg and we hon­or her belief in cre­at­ing a fair and just world by recom­mit­ting to fight for that justice.

Speak­er of the House Nan­cy Pelosi:

The loss of Ruth Bad­er Gins­burg is devastating.

Jus­tice Gins­burg embod­ied jus­tice, bril­liance and good­ness, and her pass­ing is an incal­cu­la­ble loss for our democ­ra­cy and for all who sac­ri­fice and strive to build a bet­ter future for our children.

Every fam­i­ly in Amer­i­ca ben­e­fit­ed from her bril­liant lega­cy and courage. Over the course of her quar­ter cen­tu­ry as an Asso­ciate Jus­tice of the Supreme Court, Ruth Bad­er Gins­burg became an icon, inspir­ing peo­ple around the world with her tenac­i­ty, tow­er­ing intel­lect and devo­tion to the Amer­i­can promise of equal­i­ty and oppor­tu­ni­ty for all.

Her tire­less advo­ca­cy in the fight for gen­der equal­i­ty, whether work­ing at the ACLU, argu­ing cas­es before the Supreme Court or author­ing thought­ful and his­toric opin­ions and dis­sents as an Asso­ciate Jus­tice, leaves an endur­ing lega­cy of progress for all women.  Her opin­ions have unequiv­o­cal­ly cement­ed the prece­dent that all men and women are cre­at­ed equal.

We must hon­or Jus­tice Ginsburg’s trail­blaz­ing career and safe­guard her pow­er­ful lega­cy by ensur­ing that the next Asso­ciate Jus­tice of the Supreme Court upholds her com­mit­ment to equal­i­ty, oppor­tu­ni­ty and jus­tice for all. May it be a source of com­fort to her chil­dren, Jane and James, her grand­chil­dren Paul, Clara, Miran­da and Abi­gail, and loved ones that so many peo­ple around the world mourn their loss and are pray­ing for them at this sad time.

Sen­ate Demo­c­ra­t­ic Leader Chuck Schumer:

Tonight, we mourn the pass­ing of a giant in Amer­i­can his­to­ry, a cham­pi­on for jus­tice, a trail­blaz­er for women. She would want us all to fight as hard as we can to pre­serve her legacy.

The Amer­i­can peo­ple should have a voice in the selec­tion of their next Supreme Court Jus­tice. There­fore, this vacan­cy should not be filled until we have a new president.

DNC Chair Tom Perez:

Five years ago, Ruth Bad­er Gins­burg was asked in an inter­view, ‘When the time comes, what would you like to be remem­bered for?’ She replied, ‘Some­one who used what­ev­er tal­ent she had to do her work to the very best of her abil­i­ty, and to help repair tears in her soci­ety.’ Through­out her extra­or­di­nary career, Ruth Bad­er Gins­burg did her very best to repair the tears in our society.

She was a bril­liant jurist, a fear­less cham­pi­on for jus­tice, a trail­blaz­er for count­less women and girls, and a tire­less advo­cate for the rights of those on society’s mar­gins. With a sharp mind and even sharp­er wit, Jus­tice Gins­burg changed our court and our coun­try for the bet­ter. The Supreme Court has lost a giant today, and Amer­i­ca has lost a hero. May her mem­o­ry be a bless­ing, and may her fam­i­ly find solace in the prayers of a grate­ful nation.

As we mourn this trag­ic loss, we also rec­og­nize the grav­i­ty of Jus­tice Ginsburg’s posi­tion. There is now a vacan­cy at the U.S. Supreme Court, and it should be filled with a jus­tice who embod­ies the same integri­ty, courage, and com­mit­ment to equal­i­ty that Jus­tice Gins­burg showed on the bench and through­out her life. As was Jus­tice Ginsburg’s final wish, the Amer­i­can peo­ple deserve a voice in this deci­sion. And they will make their voic­es heard in November.

ACLU Exec­u­tive Direc­tor Antho­ny D. Romero: 

Few indi­vid­u­als have had such a dra­mat­ic and last­ing effect on a par­tic­u­lar area of law as Supreme Court Jus­tice Ruth Bad­er Gins­burg, who direct­ed the work of the ACLU Women’s Rights Project from its found­ing in 1972 until her appoint­ment to the fed­er­al bench in 1980.

Dur­ing the 1970s, Gins­burg led the ACLU in a host of impor­tant legal bat­tles, many before the Supreme Court, that estab­lished the foun­da­tion for the cur­rent legal pro­hi­bi­tions against sex dis­crim­i­na­tion in this coun­try and helped lay the ground­work for future women’s rights advocacy.

By 1974, the Women’s Rights Project and ACLU affil­i­ates had par­tic­i­pat­ed in over three hun­dred sex dis­crim­i­na­tion cas­es; between 1969 and 1980, the ACLU par­tic­i­pat­ed in six­ty-six per­cent of gen­der dis­crim­i­na­tion cas­es decid­ed by the Supreme Court.

In 1981, Pres­i­dent Carter appoint­ed Gins­burg to the Unit­ed States Court of Appeals for the Dis­trict of Colum­bia Circuit.

In 1993, Ruth Bad­er Gins­burg became the sec­ond woman to be a Jus­tice on the Supreme Court.

In her hon­or we will be ded­i­cat­ing the ACLU Cen­ter for Lib­er­ty as the Ruth Bad­er Gins­burg Lib­er­ty Center.

She leaves a coun­try changed because of her life’s work.

Amer­i­can Con­sti­tu­tion Soci­ety Pres­i­dent Russ Feingold:

Tonight we cel­e­brate the life and mourn the pass­ing of one of the most influ­en­tial and inspi­ra­tional lawyers and jurists in Amer­i­can his­to­ry. She was a giant, and we shall not see her like again.

In the com­ing weeks there will be time to dis­cuss how, by means of her tow­er­ing intel­lect and unflinch­ing courage, she blazed a path toward a bet­ter life for Amer­i­can women, and all Americans.

But tonight I can only express my pro­found sad­ness at her pass­ing, and offer deep­est con­do­lences to her fam­i­ly and friends.

Her mem­o­ry will sure­ly be a bless­ing to the mil­lions of Amer­i­cans whose lives she touched.

Mass­a­chu­setts’ Mau­ra Healey and Ore­gon’s Ellen Rosen­blum, Co-Chairs of the Demo­c­ra­t­ic Attor­neys Gen­er­al Association:

Ruth Bad­er Gins­burg was a pio­neer, a giant. She was a role mod­el to women, lawyers, judges, and mil­lions more. Jus­tice Ginsburg’s lega­cy can­not be over­stat­ed and we will nev­er give up fight­ing for what she devot­ed her life to — equal­i­ty and jus­tice for all. The days and weeks to fol­low will be the most con­se­quen­tial in our life­times and we must work togeth­er to fol­low the path Jus­tice Gins­burg paved for us — the stakes have nev­er been this high. We must hon­or her dying dec­la­ra­tion to give her appoint­ment to the next Pres­i­dent. Tonight, we hon­or her mem­o­ry. Tomor­row, we fight for her legacy.

Unit­ed States Sen­a­tor Pat­ty Murray:

Ruth Bad­er Gins­burg was the first Jus­tice I vot­ed for. Tonight, my heart is break­ing for a mil­lion rea­sons — for her fam­i­ly, for our coun­try, for my North Star. I’ll remem­ber her as a friend, a role mod­el, and a woman who opened doors for all the rest of us with her genius and her relent­less pur­suit of jus­tice, free­dom, and equal­i­ty for each and every one of us, no mat­ter who we are.

That fight for jus­tice, which she led so pas­sion­ate­ly for so long, is now ours to take up in her mem­o­ry. Ruth Bad­er Gins­burg gave her all to us, and I will give mine to mak­ing sure the Amer­i­can peo­ple have their next Pres­i­dent before her seat is filled.

Unit­ed States Sen­a­tor Ron Wyden of Oregon:

Ruth Bad­er Gins­burg was a once-in-a-gen­er­a­tion role mod­el and cham­pi­on of equal rights.

This is such an extra­or­di­nary loss for our country.

Unit­ed States Sen­a­tor Maria Cantwell of Washington:

Jus­tice Gins­burg was a giant — our longest-serv­ing female Supreme Court Jus­tice. She will be remem­bered as a fierce war­rior against gen­der dis­crim­i­na­tion. Every woman who has ever had to advo­cate for the law owes her a great debt of gratitude.

We have lost a real hero.

Jus­tice Gins­burg stood by the most vul­ner­a­ble in her deci­sions, from end­ing sin­gle sex admis­sion poli­cies and pro­tect­ing rights for those with men­tal dis­abil­i­ties to her dis­sents stand­ing up for vot­ing rights and paving the way for Con­gress to pass the Lil­ly Led­bet­ter Fair Pay Act, which strength­ens pro­tec­tions against pay discrimination.

My thoughts are with her fam­i­ly, friends, and every­one in our coun­try who looked up to her for inspi­ra­tion and comfort.

Unit­ed States Sen­a­tor Jeff Merkley of Oregon:

I am stunned, dev­as­tat­ed, and crushed by the news of Ruth Bad­er Ginsburg’s pass­ing. This is an unfath­omable loss for our country.

Ruth Bad­er Gins­burg will go down in the his­to­ry books as a hero who made a pro­found impact on gen­der equal­i­ty in our nation, both through her trail­blaz­ing legal advo­ca­cy and her tenure on the U.S. Supreme Court. She will also be remem­bered as an unwa­ver­ing cham­pi­on for jus­tice, espe­cial­ly for the rights and inter­ests of those too often for­got­ten or mar­gin­al­ized by society.

When the Court made deci­sions that pri­or­i­tized the inter­ests of the priv­i­leged and pow­er­ful at the expense of oth­ers, Jus­tice Gins­burg stood strong as the moral con­science of the Court. Her pow­er­ful words fight­ing against polit­i­cal cor­rup­tion, racial injus­tice, and attacks on women’s health and auton­o­my will con­tin­ue to rever­ber­ate through­out Amer­i­ca. I have no doubt that her work will inspire many more cham­pi­ons for jus­tice for decades to come.

Jus­tice Gins­burg her­self had expressed that it was her ‘most fer­vent wish’ not to be replaced on the Court dur­ing this pres­i­den­tial term. Since my Repub­li­can col­leagues have also been adamant that a vacant Supreme Court seat should not be filled in a pres­i­den­tial elec­tion year, I look for­ward to the Amer­i­can peo­ple mak­ing their voic­es heard before a replace­ment is selected.

Thank you, Jus­tice Gins­burg, for a life­time of ser­vice to build­ing a bet­ter Amer­i­ca. It is impos­si­ble to express how much we will miss you.

Unit­ed States Sen­a­tor Eliz­a­beth War­ren of Massachusetts:

Ruthie was my friend, and I will miss her ter­ri­bly. The t‑shirts sim­ply labeled “RBG” made her noto­ri­ous. But it was her wit, her tena­cious­ness, and her skill as a jurist that made her an icon.

As a young mom head­ing off to Rut­gers law school, I saw so few exam­ples of female lawyers or law professors.

But Ruthie blazed the trail. I’m for­ev­er grate­ful for her exam­ple — to me, and to mil­lions of young women who saw her as a role model.

Lat­er, Ruthie’s ground­break­ing work as a legal advo­cate for women led to a dis­tin­guished career as a fed­er­al judge and a Supreme Court Jus­tice. Her life­long ded­i­ca­tion to fight­ing for jus­tice for every­one, and her love for our nation, will be sore­ly missed.

With vot­ing already under­way for the 2020 elec­tions, Ruthie’s “most fer­vent wish” was for her replace­ment not to be named “until a new pres­i­dent is installed.” We must hon­or her wish.

Gov­er­nor Jay Inslee of Washington:

We have lost one of the great­est Amer­i­can patri­ots to ever serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. Ruth Bad­er Gins­burg was so much more than a judge; she was one of America’s great­est cham­pi­ons for jus­tice, in the truest sense of the word.

Tru­di and I are devastated.

Jus­tice Gins­burg leaves an enor­mous lega­cy of advanc­ing women’s equal­i­ty in Amer­i­can jurispru­dence and uphold­ing repro­duc­tive rights. She fought to pre­serve the Vot­ing Rights Act and enshrine equal­i­ty under the law for the LGBTQ com­mu­ni­ty on the Court.

In a career as a lit­i­ga­tor fight­ing for equal rights for women, she repeat­ed­ly over­came gen­der-based dis­crim­i­na­tion in the ser­vice of oth­ers fac­ing oppression.

Jus­tice Gins­burg was a pub­lic ser­vant who kept Amer­i­ca true to its pur­pose. She nev­er shied away from vig­or­ous­ly dis­sent­ing when the Court set back the course of justice.

Her career over the decades inspired count­less oth­ers to join the fight for equal­i­ty. Gen­er­a­tions of Amer­i­cans, from those who fought at her side for decades to young peo­ple inspired by her guts and bril­liance, will remem­ber her as a folk hero.

I have faith that no mat­ter what hap­pens next, Jus­tice Gins­burg’s lega­cy will have reshaped Amer­i­ca forever.

We should all raise our voic­es to make sure her last wish­es are met: Her seat should not be filled until 2021. I believe the voice of the Amer­i­can peo­ple will be heard to make sure we will hon­or the life, the career and the lega­cy of Ruth Bad­er Ginsburg.

As she once wrote, “The great­est men­ace to free­dom is an inert peo­ple; that pub­lic dis­cus­sion is a polit­i­cal duty; and that this should be a fun­da­men­tal prin­ci­ple of the Amer­i­can government.”

Gov­er­nor Kate Brown of Oregon:

Ruth Bad­er Gins­burg cre­at­ed a land­scape and set the legal frame­work for wom­en’s equal­i­ty in this coun­try — case by case, brick by brick. She was ahead of her time, a true pio­neer. Her sto­ry was remark­able. Through­out her career, she faced dis­crim­i­na­tion at every turn –– for being a woman, for being Jew­ish, for being a moth­er –– yet over­came it to sit on the high­est court in our country.

Along the way, her work in the legal sys­tem led to land­mark struc­tur­al changes that reduced gen­der dis­crim­i­na­tion and cre­at­ed more equal pro­tec­tions for all Americans.

Her efforts have helped cre­ate a more just and fair coun­try – and ensured that even if she was the first one to make it through a cer­tain door, she wouldn’t be the last.

Through­out my life and career, in the law and in gov­ern­ment, I have walked through doors that she opened. From the time I was a young lawyer, I was inspired by her incred­i­ble intel­li­gence, her tenac­i­ty, and her unfail­ing moral com­pass that guid­ed her work toward cre­at­ing a more per­fect union, one with equal oppor­tu­ni­ties for all of us.

Fierce, per­sis­tent and filled with grit, she was our hope and our inspi­ra­tion. Jus­tice Gins­burg nev­er, ever gave up and Amer­i­ca is bet­ter for it. We can hon­or her lega­cy by con­tin­u­ing to work to dis­man­tle all forms of inequal­i­ty and dis­crim­i­na­tion, in our jus­tice sys­tem and in our lives, with every­thing we have.

Dan and I send our love to her entire fam­i­ly as they mourn the loss of an Amer­i­can icon and legend.

Unit­ed States Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Alexan­dria Oca­sio-Cortez of New York:

We have lost a giant in the his­to­ry of our nation with the pass­ing of Ruth Bad­er Gins­burg. It is heart­break­ing that in her final moments she was, as are many oth­ers, pre­oc­cu­pied with what would hap­pen after her pass­ing. I want to make one thing clear: we can, and must, fight. Now is not the time for cyn­i­cism or hopelessness.

There is and con­tin­ues to be polit­i­cal pos­si­bil­i­ty to pre­serve our democ­ra­cy and move forward.

It will require each & every one of us, from the streets to the Sen­ate, to grow in courage, strength, and strat­e­gy. But it is possible.

Unit­ed States Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Prami­la Jaya­pal of Washington:

Tonight, our nation not only lost a his­toric mem­ber of the high­est court in our land but a trail­blaz­er for women every­where. From her pas­sion­ate advo­ca­cy work on behalf of women to her near­ly three decades on the Supreme Court, Ruth Bad­er Gins­burg served with grace and bril­liance while fight­ing for equal­i­ty and justice.

As the Direc­tor of the Amer­i­can Civ­il Lib­er­ties Union’s Women’s Rights Project, Jus­tice Gins­burg put her strength and unpar­al­leled legal knowl­edge to work each day as an orga­niz­er who helped lay the foun­da­tion for land­mark con­sti­tu­tion­al pro­tec­tions against sex discrimination.

Fol­low­ing her con­fir­ma­tion to the bench in 1993, she brought her fierce intel­lect, deter­mi­na­tion for jus­tice, and quick-wit with her as she became only the sec­ond woman to ever serve on the Supreme Court.

As some looked out for cor­po­ra­tions and the pow­er­ful, she lift­ed up fam­i­lies and the most vul­ner­a­ble. With every case she delib­er­at­ed on, she was guid­ed by the promise of the very words carved above the Supreme Court: equal jus­tice under law.

Her tire­less work on the court pro­tect­ed and expand­ed women’s rights, repro­duc­tive rights, vot­ing rights, civ­il rights, and work­ers’ rights. She helped make pos­si­ble his­toric progress on LGBTQ+ equal­i­ty, health care, immi­gra­tion, the envi­ron­ment, and get­ting mon­ey out of pol­i­tics. And she did all of this while nev­er los­ing sight of what makes our nation great — our inclu­siv­i­ty, our sense of jus­tice, our com­mit­ment to equal­i­ty and oppor­tu­ni­ty for all.

In hon­or of Jus­tice Ginsburg’s inspir­ing life, her pow­er­ful lega­cy, and her nev­er end­ing pur­suit for jus­tice, let us con­tin­ue her work. I am com­mit­ted to con­tin­u­ing the crit­i­cal work nec­es­sary to make our coun­try more equal, more fair, and more just.

As one of only sev­en­ty-nine women of col­or to have ever served in the Unit­ed States Con­gress, I am ful­ly com­mit­ted to con­tin­u­ing the lega­cy of this beloved “shero”: from final­ly rat­i­fy­ing the Equal Rights Amend­ment to pro­tect­ing abor­tion rights, work­ers’ rights, LGTBQ+ rights, and civ­il rights for all.

And I am com­mit­ted to mak­ing sure women across the coun­try and through­out the world can blaze their own trails, that they are nev­er held back on the basis of sex — or any iden­ti­ty.  May Jus­tice Ruth Bad­er Ginsburg’s mem­o­ry be a bless­ing. And may she rest in power.

Unit­ed States Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Adam Smith of Washington:

Supreme Court Jus­tice Ruth Bad­er Gins­burg was an exem­plary bea­con of jus­tice. Her life­long work to expand the rights of all Amer­i­cans has enshrined her mark on the his­to­ry of our coun­try and will serve as an inspi­ra­tion for gen­er­a­tions to come. Her lead­er­ship and hon­or­able ser­vice have shaped count­less lives for the bet­ter, and we are a stronger, more just nation due to her jurisprudence.

No words can accu­rate­ly por­tray the mon­u­men­tal impact she had on our jus­tice sys­tem or describe her pro­found ded­i­ca­tion to our nation even until her very last moments with us. We mourn the loss of her today, but we con­tin­ue our fight for jus­tice tomor­row. I extend my deep­est con­do­lences to her and her fam­i­ly and my sin­cer­est grat­i­tude to Jus­tice Gins­berg – may she Rest in Peace.

Unit­ed States Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Den­ny Heck of Washington:

Jus­tice Ruth Bad­er Gins­berg was one of the sharpest legal minds and fiercest defend­ers of jus­tice this nation has ever known.

Her lead­er­ship on the court—and at the moral cen­ter of our democracy—cannot and will not be eas­i­ly replaced. Jus­tice Ginsberg’s stir­ring legal opin­ions helped advance the rights of women and count­less under­rep­re­sent­ed Amer­i­cans. And when the Court strayed from the tenets of due process and equal pro­tec­tion under the law, her fiery dis­sents sound­ed the alarm in the soul of our nation.

Jus­tice Ginsberg’s life sto­ry is one of grit and determination.

She strong-armed her way into the upper ech­e­lons of legal acad­e­mia, and then opened the door from the inside, so that future gen­er­a­tions of women could fol­low in her footsteps.

Tonight, I share in the solemn, heavy grief of our nation. But I also share in our grat­i­tude to a vision­ary who bold­ly assert­ed that our laws pro­tect us all, regard­less of gen­der, race, sex­u­al ori­en­ta­tion, or any oth­er cat­e­go­ry that could be used to divide us. Jus­tice Gins­burg was a voice for the voice­less. It’s up to us to pro­tect her lega­cy — and con­tin­ue her fight on behalf of the most vul­ner­a­ble among us.

King Coun­ty Exec­u­tive Dow Constantine:

For near­ly three decades, Amer­i­ca ben­e­fit­ted from the wis­dom and moral guid­ance of a woman whose life of ser­vice was ded­i­cat­ed to mak­ing real a cen­tral ide­al our nation: justice.

Ruth Bad­er Ginsburg’s era on the Supreme Court was itself his­toric, and her deci­sions — and of course, her dis­sents – helped affirm the equal rights of women and, indeed, of every American.

Her ded­i­ca­tion to fight­ing for the rights of all did not begin with her appoint­ment to the high court, nor will her impact on our shared his­to­ry end with her pass­ing today. Her ser­vice, her ded­i­ca­tion to the law, and her life sto­ry is quin­tes­sen­tial­ly American.

It would be the height of hypocrisy — and an immense dis­ser­vice to the court, the law, and our democ­ra­cy — to ignore her final wish­es and allow this moral­ly bank­rupt Pres­i­dent and Sen­ate major­i­ty to rush through a replace­ment for this irre­place­able patri­ot before the vot­ers chart our nation’s course just six weeks from now.

Wash­ing­ton State Demo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty Chair Tina Podlodowski:

We lost a leg­end tonight. Jus­tice Gins­burg will go down in Amer­i­can his­to­ry as one of the fiercest advo­cates for civ­il rights and equal­i­ty under the law that we’ve ever been blessed to serve us in pub­lic life.

Tonight, we send our love and our sym­pa­thy to Jus­tice Gins­burg’s fam­i­ly, and we grieve with them as we mourn her loss.

But tomor­row, the work of fight­ing to pro­tect the rights Jus­tice Gins­burg enshrined in deci­sions issued from the high­est court in the land must con­tin­ue. The secu­ri­ty of so many Amer­i­cans’ repro­duc­tive rights, right to mar­ry whomev­er they love, and the fun­da­men­tal right to be treat­ed as equals in our soci­ety should nev­er have rest­ed on the shoul­ders of a five foot tall, eighty-sev­en year old giant of Amer­i­can jurispru­dence. We must recom­mit our­selves to ensur­ing Amer­i­ca lives up to the vision of a just soci­ety Jus­tice Gins­burg brought to life in both the deci­sions she authored and the exam­ple she set for women every­where. May she rest in peace.

Thank you, Jus­tice Gins­burg. We hon­or you, we cel­e­brate you, and we car­ry on remem­ber­ing what you taught us. Your wis­dom is time­less.