Democrats have never been subtle about how important courts are when it comes to imposing their agenda. Democrat see the courts as their best hope to get laws they don’t like thrown out, and to get laws they want that can’t pass legislatively enacted via judicial fiat. There’s a reason why Democrats abused the filibuster to block George W. Bush’s judicial nominees, and why they do everything in their power to destroy Republican nominees to the Supreme Court.
It’s also why when Joe Biden took office, there was almost an immediate pressure campaign to get Justice Stephen Breyer to retire. Liberal groups even launched billboard campaigns pressuring the octogenarian justice to call it quits, suggesting his “legacy” was at risk if he didn’t retire while Biden was in office and Democrats held the Senate. The radical left was still reeling after Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, and didn’t want to see another one of “their” justices make the mistake she did.
Many urged Ruth Bader Ginsburg to retire during Obama’s presidency because of her old age and declining health. Even Obama reportedly asked her to step down. She refused, ultimately passing away in 2020, allowing President Trump to nominate her replacement.
It’s been over a year and a half since Ginsburg’s death, and the overturning of Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey has reopened the wounds left by her death, which allowed Trump to nominate originalist Amy Coney Barrett to fill her vacancy. Barrett’s vote was undeniably crucial in the Dobbs decision, and that fact is not lost on the left.
“RBG was a hero for many reasons,” tweeted Hollywood Reporter columnist Scott Feinberg. “But the terrible irony is that her decision to stay too long at the party helped lead to the destruction of one of the things she cared about the most. Sadly, this will be a big part of her legacy.”
“But at least RBG got to die in office,” freelance journalist Skylar Baker-Jordan scoffed.
Conservative pundits are also expressing gratitude for Ginsburg’s decision to not retire under Obama.
NewsBusters editor Curtis Houck credited not only Ginsburg for the end of Roe, but also late Senator Harry Reid, whose nuking of the filibuster paved the way for Democrats to be powerless to stop Trump.
“We should build a statue to the pro-life movement of Harry Reid and RBG holding hands,” Houck tweeted.
“This day brought to you by Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s narcissistic refusal to retire,” tweeted Matt Walsh of the Daily Wire. “Thank you, RBG!”
Some might point out that the Dobbs decision was 6-3, meaning that had RBG been replaced under Obama with another radical leftist justice it wouldn’t have changed the outcome, but I think there’s definitely reason to believe that it would have. Why? Three words: Chief Justice Roberts.
Roberts has become the court’s proverbial swing vote, and while he sided with the majority in Dobbs, he had also hoped to sway justices away from overturning Roe and Casey tosimply upholding the Mississippi law banning abortions after 15 weeks. Had a liberal justice succeeded Ginsburg, Roberts’ vote could have changed the outcome, giving him leverage to achieve the outcome he wanted.
So, yeah, Ruth Bader Ginsburg is one of several people who made the end of Roe possible. Cheers!
