Policy Lessons from RBG

by Jessica Newfield (MPA Candidate '21)

The Goldman School community is heavy-hearted at the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. To many of us, she was an icon of the second wave feminism movement that paved the way for legal and policy reform to protect women’s reproductive health and equal pay rights. She was a symbol of dissent against a highly patriarchal justice system, while staying strategically nonpartisan throughout her career, and withstanding the disruptive waves of frequent political turbulence in her 27 years on the Supreme Court. 

The Notorious RBG offers us crucial policy lessons in incremental change. One of them is being able to get your opponents to relate to your cause based on their own values set. Ginsburg was an expert negotiator and worked the system relentlessly to expose its flaws. By invoking the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, she was able to win several landmark suits in the 1970s for gender equality and the LGBTQ community using arguments of unfair treatment towards white men to get sympathy from jurors. 

As Dean Henry Brady shared earlier this week, “Her greatness comes from taking her exceptional analytical skills and using them to highlight her lived experience and to make changes for the better.  For all of us, she demonstrates the importance of learning and knowing directly about the realities of injustice and discrimination."

Still, just like the system, RBG was not perfect and very much had her own shortcomings and blind spots.

“I think it's important to also acknowledge that as much as she is loved by white feminists, Black and brown activists have been disappointed by her words and rulings,” says GSPP lecturer Erika Weissinger (PhD ‘13). “In particular, her comments condemning Colin Kaepernick's protest of police brutality, calling his actions "arrogant" and "dumb" were wrongheaded and hurtful. As we celebrate all that she did for gender equality, we also need to acknowledge Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation in which she did not stand up for the sovereign rights of the Oneidas or open the door for Native American reparations long overdue.”

Hence, RBG offers us another lesson in acknowledging the polarities within ourselves and political circles. With just little over a month before the presidential election, there couldn’t be a more relevant time for RBG’s legacy to serve as a reminder of the importance of protecting and upholding democratic processes in the United States. Similar to the 2000 election dispute of Al Gore vs. Bush, the Senate decision could pose a turning point for the country’s chance at democracy after 2020. 

If the House confirms Trump’s appointment of a new Justice to replace RBG, there is serious concern that his choice will sway the November election outcomes in such swing states as Florida. 

“A political earthquake could ensue”, says American and African American Studies Professor Michael Mark Cohen, “... the death of RBG is asking us to consider serious questions about structural transformation to democratize the United States.”

As a community of policymakers and advocates at GSPP, we can turn this crisis of legitimacy into a moment of both dissent and reform, in true RBG fashion. Here are some tactics shared by Professor Saru Jayaraman from her Big Ideas: Election 2020 class we can immediately deploy:

• Call the Senate Switchboard and demand accountability to the constitution and democratic procedures (not a majority leadership). A Senate vote rides on 4 GOP votes only. 
• Exercise your right to vote and get others, especially in swing states, to vote. You can contact GSPP student Reed Levitt to get involved in the Voter Engagement Campaign.
• Mass mobilize. Protest is a citizen tradition and a very effective one. 

Though our current political climate might seem too disastrous to undo, Professor Jayaraman speaks to the possibility of hope in these times: “There are moments of extreme despair that drive even more mass mobilization, contention, and transformational change”. 

Perhaps, the greatest way to honor RBG’s legacy is to rise to the occasion and help swing back the “pendulum” of justice. As Berkeley Law Professor Catherine Fisk shared earlier this week in Berkeley Conversations: “Whatever happens to the Supreme Court without her on it, it does not have the last word. Ordinary people organizing have the last word. Congress, state, and local governments have the last word (..) she would want us to fight no matter how hard it is.”

So now GSPP community, let’s go do what we do best.