Front of us. At mutual of america, we believe taking care of tomorrow can help you make the most of today. Mutual of america financial group, Retirement Services and investments. Additional support has been provided by consumer cellular. And by and by the corporation for public broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the american people. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Sreenivasan good evening, and thank you for joining us. Ruth bader ginsburg, the second woman to serve as a u. S. Supreme court justice, who became the leader of the courts liberal wing, died yesterd at the age of 87. Ginsburg was at home with her family. Her death was due to complications from metastatic pareatic cancer. Outside the Supreme Court, where she served for 27 years, mourners continued to add to an informal memorial that began last night with candles, flowers and notes to the justice. President trump heard the news of ginsburgs death fr reporters as he left a Campaign Rally in minnesota late yesterday. You are telling me now for the first time. She led an amazing life. What else can you say . She was an amazing woman whether you agreed or not she was an amazing woman who led an amazing life. I am actually saddened to hear that. I am saddened to hear that. Thank you very much. Sreenivasan this morning, the president tweeted to fellow republicans that selecting a Supreme Court justice is the most important of decisions, and we have this obligation without delay democratic president ial nominee, former Vice President joe biden, called on the Republican Controlled Senate to wait until after the november election to consider a nomination to the court. Tonight, and in the coming days, we should focus on the loss of her, the justice, and her enduring legacy. But there is no doubt, let me be clear, that the voters should pick the president and the president should pick the justice for the senate to consider. Sreenivasan today at both the u. S. Capitol and the white house, flags were lowered to half staff in ginsburgs honor. Newshours amna nawaz has more on the life and career of Justice Ruth Bader ginsburg. Serving on this court is the highest honor, the most awesome trust that can be placed in a judge. Nawaz she was born Ruth Joan Bader in 1933 in brooklyn, new york to parents of ukrainian and austrian descent. What is the differee between a bookkeeper, a new york city garment worker and a Supreme Court justice. A generation. High own life bears witnesses. The Young Ruth Bader graduated first in her class from Cornell University in 1954. That same ar, she married martin ginsburg. He became a lawyer and encouraged her to do the same. I have had the great good fortune to share life with a partr truly extraordinary for his generation. A mawho believed at age 18 when we met, that a womans work, whether at home or on the job, is as important as a mans. Nawaz ginsburg was one of just nine women in her entering class at harvard law school. It was 1956. The dean admonished the women fortaking spots that could have gone to men. Despite that, she became the first woman to join the prestigious harvard law review and all the while cared for her Young Children and her husband recovering from cancer. Ginsburg ended up transferring to Columbia Law School and graduated first in her class. Many law firms still balked at hiring women, but she landed teaching jobs and eventually became Columbia Law Schools first female tenured professor. During the 1970s, she worked with the American Civil Liberties union, arguing six landmark cases on gender equality before the u. S. Supre court and winning five of them. Sex, like race, has been made the basis for unjustified or at least unproved assumptions concerning an individuals potential to perform or to contribute to society. Nawaz in 1980, president carter named ginsburg to the u. S. Court of appeals for the district of columbia. It was another milestone moment, as she told the newshour in 2016. Iwould not be a realistic ambition for a woman to want to become a federal judge. Was not realistic until jimmy carter became, well, president. He looked around at the federal judiciary and said, thats nice. But theyll look like me. Thats not how the great United States looks. Nawaz ginsburg served on the Appeals Court for 13 years until president clinton nominated her to the Supreme Court. She was overwhelmingly confirmed by the senate. I Ruth Bader Ginsberg do solemnly swear nawaz and went on to become one of the courts most prolific writers and frequent questioners, as well as the Senior Member of its liberal bloc. Still, ginsburg became Close Friends with an ideological opposite conservative colleague antonin scalia. She eulogized him after his death in 2016. Nce asked how we could be friends given on disagreement, on lots of things. Justice scalia answered, i attack ideas. I dont attack people. Some very good people have some very bad ideas. Nawaz privately, ginsburg also faced a number of health complications. In 1999, she was diagnosed with colon cancer. A decade later, she was treated for pancreatic cancer. In 2014, she underwent a heart procedure to have a stent implanted. Then came surgery for lung cancer in 2019. But ginsburg never slowed down for long, working out with a personal trainer twice a week. And she remained a staunch advocate for women and minorities in the courtroom and beyond. Sreenivasan Ruth Bader Ginsburgs legacy began in the midwood section of brooklyn, new york, where she was born and raised. I spoke with newshour weekends Ivette Feliciano, who was outside of ginsburgs childhood home today. Hari, im here on east 9th street on a beautiful treelined block. Its in a neighborhood that borders midwood and graves end. Its long been known as a jewish neighborhood. And ginsburg was born to a jewish family in 1933. She went to grade school just a few blocks away from here and then graduated fm James Madison high school, where bernie sanders, new york senator Chuck Schumer and judge judy all attended reenivasan all right. So what about the house that she grew up in . Still a house . Still a residence . It is still. Theres a family here. I was speaking to the owners, diana and william brenneisen. Theyve lived here for about 50 years and say aside from the siding on the house, its remained largely unchanged. And they had heard for years rumors that ginsburg grew up in this home, but they didnt know for su until bill clinton nominated her to the Supreme Court in 1993. My girls called me on the job, ma, medias here. laughs Ruth Ginsburg is nominated. She lived here. Thats just when we found out and was that meaningful . Was a beautiful experience just to know and to be part of the history in a sense. Sreenisan any plans for memorializing the space or any people stopping by . We havent seen a huge number of people stopping by. A few people have come by to drop off flowers in front of her home. But actually, n York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that brooklyn will be receiving a statue in honor of ginsburgs memory and life and hell be appointing a commission to choose the location and artist for that. Sreenivasan all right. Newshour weekends Ivette Feliciano joining us from brooklyn. Thanks so much. Thank you. Sreenivasan news of Justice Ginsburgs death last night, 47 days before the president ial election, caused both democrats and republicans to immediately focus on both the who and the when of replacing her. Newshour correspondent Lisa Desjardins has more on the political battle over the next Supreme Court nominee. Reporter Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell controls the agenda of the senate, and he s made it very clear. He said there will be a vote on president trumps nominee to the Supreme Court. What we dont know from senator mcconnell, perhaps what he isnt sure of yet, is when that vote would be, whether it will be before the elect or after the election. Also, we dont know how Many Republican votes he has for this. Mcconnell needs 50 votes to advance this nomination. He has 53 republicans in the senate. Already, one of them, senator Lisa Murkowski of alaska, has said she cant support moving forward with a nomination at this time, that it is simply too close to the election. Many will remember, mcconnell made a similar argument in 2016 when he blocked the nomination of Merrick Garland by president obama. That was more than eight months before the election then. Meantime, Senate Democrats held a Conference Call today. Their leader, Chuck Schumer, stressing the stakes that are involved ithis nomination, and, also, making a threat, saying that if senate republicanmove forward with this nomination, absolutely everything is on the table next year. Procedurally, that would mean democrats would essentially go to war with republicans if they push through this nomination. Sreenivasan for more on the life and legacy of Supreme CourtJustice Ruth Bader ginsberg, visit www. Pbs. Org newshour. Sreenivasan for more on Justice Ginsburg and what comes next at the court, i spoke with marcia coyle, chief washington correspondent for the nional law journal, and amy howe, co founder of the scotus blog. Marcia coyle, im going to start withou. How significant was Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the Supreme Court as we know it, at least in the modern era . Well, i think that shes been very significant. Even though she has often been in dissent, her dissents have been very powerful. She also wrote some very important majority opinions. And as you probably remember, hari, her opinion at the Virginia Military institute, in which she led the courts majority in striking down the maleonly policy at the military institute. So i think that she was quite a towering figure in many in many respects, and important to the Supreme Court. Sreenivasan amy howe, when you were writing the obituary for her and and look back at her legacy, you focused on some of those cases that she tried as a lawyer and how important they were in front of the court. Yes, and she had really a remarkable strategy. Many of the plaintiffs in the cases that she brought to the Supreme Court as a young lawyer in the 1970s were actually men, and it was not an accident. She wanted tappeal to the judges and the justices, many of whom most of whom at that time were men, and havehem see that many of the laws that she believed harmed women were based on the idea of placing women on a pedestal, but they actually affected men and children. And so one of the cases, for example, was a case in which she represented a man whod been widowed, left with an infant son, and he wanted to stay home to take care of his his infant son. And if hed been a woman, he would have been able to receive Social Security benefits to do that. But because he was a man, the law wouldnt provide him with Social Security benefits. And so Justice Ginsburg, then Ruth Bader Ginsburg and a lawyer for the a. C. L. U. , took the case to the Supreme Court and changed that. She also served as a reminder to the other justices on the bench of how the work world really operated. And there was the case, the Lilly Ledbetter fair pay case, in which, even though she lost that case, in dissent, she called basically called on congress to deal with this situation, since the Supreme Court would not. And congress did respond. And it was the first law that president obama signed the first legislation that president obama signed into law. So even in dissent, she had a powerful influence. Sreenivasan amy, i want to ask, in the now we have justice kagan. We have justice sotomayor. Before bader ginsburg, we had sandra day oconnor. What does she add into thimix . She often talked about how Justice Oconnor sort of mentored may have been a strong word, but really sort of helped her along when she arrived on the bench and, you know, when she was assigned her first opinion. Frequently, the first opinion for a new justice is a relatively straightforward one, butustice ginsburg thought it was a relatively complicated one, and Justice Oconnor, who was, you know, really just sort of no nonsense, said to her, just just get it done, ruth, before the he assigns you the next opinion. And i think she tried to carry that forward with the new female justices, trying to, you know, to help them get settled in. Sreenivasan what was she like on the bench . What did she add to the questioning process . She was very straightforward, matter of fact. She was often the first justice to ask a question, although justice sotomayor, think, has surpassed her in that. But she was very articulate, very pointed. She ao was a bear about cases following the rules, that they got to the court the way they were supposed to get to the court. And if there was a problem with those rules not being followed, she would hunt it out immediately. She really knew what we call civil procedure law. So, she she was very straightforward, very respectful of other lawyers and also her colleagues on the bench. She didnt interrupt much, and she didnt ask that many questions. But the ones she asked were very concise and to the point. Sreenivasan what should we be looking for amy, ill start with you in someone. There might not be anybody that could fill her shoes, but someone who takes that place . Its going to be really interesting process. I would expect the president to nominate someone quite quickly. And, he had suggested after the kavanaugh nomination that he had been saving Amy Coney Barrett of the seventh circuit for the justicginsburg seat if it were to become available while he was the president. Hari, i think last night there was a lot written about her dying wish that she had said that her dying wish was that her seat not be filled till after the election and many people might take that as a slap at president donald trump. But the way i look at it is something she said back in 2011 in an interview. What she most cares about, and she thought her colleagues most cared about, was maintaining the Supreme Court as an institution that was not a Political Branch of government, that it not be viewed as a partisan institution. And asking that her seat not be filled until after the election, i think was her way of saying please, you know, let not get into huge partisan fight over this. Lets wait until after the election and the partisan election dust has settled a bit, and then go forward. And she also often spoke in interviews about her desire that the senate and the two Political Parties in the senate find a way to lower the temperature of the Supreme Court confirmations in particular, and that, remembe to remind people that when she was nominated, she who was a very liberal nominee, who had worked for the a. C. L. U. , was confirmed by a vote of 96 to three. Whether that could happen again today seems unlikely. But still, i think thats what she meant by her dying wish. Lets avoid a truly partisan dogfight. Sreenivasan marsha coyle of national law journal, amy howe of the scotus blog. Thank you both. Pleasure, hari. Thanks for inviting me. Sreenivasan Ruth Bader Ginsburgs career on the Supreme Court spanned decades, and one of the people who knew her best and covered many of her landmark opinions is National Public radio correspondent nina totenberg. They also had a deep and long lasting friendship. I spoke with her this morning from washington, d. C. Well, she was amazing. You know, my late husband was very, very sick for about five years, and during that time, she used to just call up, scoop me up, take me out with marty to the opera, to dinner at their house with somebody interesting, poff of what things were like. Nd a Birthday Party for her, where, i have a picture of the two of us wearing little crowns. And, at the same time, she was this very serious person who you could have a really deep conversation about the law with. Now, maybe iwasnt deep for her when i discussed the law with her, but it was deep fo me. She taught me an enormous amount about the law. And she taught me an enormous amount about how to live. And i have to say, she taught me an enormous a