The words sound wrong to me, especially "installed." We normally speak of electing a President. If you look up the words "install" and "president" in the New York Times archive, the relevant hits are about colleges and professional organizations "installing" a president. There, a president is chosen by an elite group, not by the people.
I read through a long page of old NYT headlines and finally arrive at one that looks like it may be a political leader: "Silurians Install President" (April 16, 1963). Who are Silurians?! Is Siluria some country that has escaped my attention all these years?
Click to enlarge and clarify. Key line: "The Silurians is an association of men who have been on New York City newspapers for 25 years or more." Another professional organization, the sort of thing that installs its president.
You see my point. It is a strange and revealing word choice. And if there's one thing you can say about Donald Trump, it's that he was not installed. The 2016 election was a populist expression that gobsmacked the elite. If Hillary had won, it might make some sense to declare that she was "installed."
Ah! And now you see a motivation for Ginsburg's use of "installed." If Biden wins — which is what Ginsburg hoped for (and "a new president" implies) — it really is more of an installation. The Democratic Party elite have been working to install him. It's not his own doing. It was a reaction against the populist expression that had Bernie Sanders winning in the primaries.
When I hear "installed," I think of appliances — dishwashers, refrigerators — that need to be positioned and hooked up by licensed professionals. That resonates with the Biden story... except that no one would install an appliance so superannuated and marginally functional.
And I don't like the use of the word "replaced" either. Ginsburg filled a seat, seat #6, established February 24, 1807. She was the 13th person to sit there. "I will not be replaced until..." suggests a sense that there ought to be a new version of her, someone who will carry on as she would have. But she took over that seat from Byron White. Was there any sense that she was supposed to be like him? She certainly wasn't. The seat belongs to all of us. Just as we control who is elected President, we have a collective interest in that seat, which now needs to be filled.
Justice Ginsburg exercised her own will by holding on to the seat despite grave illness, and there was some ability to choose who would take her place, but the force of nature kept her from completing that task. The Constitution gives the appointment power to the President, and a Supreme Court Justice cannot grab that power from him.
The Constitution has its complicated method for determining who will be President. I won't elaborate on it here, but it does have something to do with what we, the people, want. The last time we cranked through the mysterious process, Trump popped out. It was very weird! But he is the President, and a Supreme Court Justice has vacated a seat.
We can make political arguments that Trump should wait and let us make filling that seat an issue in the election. I'd love to see Trump and Biden debate and give us the question: What kind of Justice we want?
Biden was chair of the Judiciary Committee for so long. Let's grill him about what he did to Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas. Let's ask him to show us his list of potential nominees as President Trump has. I think that would be great. But I also think that if the tables were turned and a Democratic President had a Democratic Senate, we'd get the nomination and confirmation quickly and without fussing about inferred principles that have nothing to do with the text of the Constitution.
ADDED: Wikipedia: "The Silurian is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at 443.8 million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, 419.2 Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleozoic Era.... A significant evolutionary milestone during the Silurian was the diversification of jawed fish and bony fish."
But also: "The Silurians are a race of reptilian humanoids in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.... The first Silurians introduced are depicted as prehistoric and scientifically advanced sentient humanoids who predate the dawn of man; in their backstory, the Silurians went into self-induced hibernation to survive what they predicted to be a large atmospheric upheaval caused by the Earth capturing the Moon."
ALSO: From the OED entry, "install":
1817 S. T. Coleridge Biogr. Lit. I. iii. 60 It is said that St. Nepomuc was installed the guardian of bridges because he had fallen over one, and sunk out of sight....
Posts
155 comments:
>>But I also think that if the tables were turned and a Democratic President had a Democratic Senate, we'd get the nomination and confirmation quickly and without fussing about inferred principles
A 100% certainty.
We can't wait 5 years to replace her. Trump is going to be president. Get over it.
We hear a lot of hand wringing about a Trump not leaving office. It is, we all agree, a bad thing for a president to extend his term. But the same logic makes it wrong for a president elect to extend his term too. Trump is president until January. If Biden wins he has no right to extend his term before that.
But did she use the verbs "replaced" and "installed"?
I read this to mean not only that the election have occurred, but that the next President be sworn in and seated - i.e., no lame-duck nomination by Trump. I also read this to demonstrate that Ginsburg did not say this, at least as an express quote.
>When I hear "installed," I think of appliances — dishwashers, refrigerators — that need to be positioned and hooked up by licensed professionals.<
No they don't "need to be positioned and hooked up by licensed professionals". Credentialism run amuck.
If she were as smart as people say, she would have retired during the Obama administration, but she had to use her gender card....which says more about her partisanship than it does her patriotism.
Excellent post by Ann. I thought “installed” was a wrong, weird and intentional word choice.
RBG was so,so smart so why did she use that word? Nothing one would expect.
"I think that would be great."
Why? To expose Joe's utter bloviating emptiness? To show the yahoos out in the hinterland what the left has in store for us? To retell the story of Joe's senatorial misdeeds for a new generation?
If the votes to confirm are not there - and who but Mitch McConnell really knows - perhaps the best approach would be for Trump to re-issue a list of potential/probable SC nominees, and only a short list this time. And at the same time challenge Biden/Harris. Release your equivalent short list AND promise that if I defer a nominee until after the election you pledge to not attempt to expand the size of the court. Of course it would be necessary to ask each of them individually to make clear statements in this regard. It would be mean spirited to ask Harris first...
If the election is to be based substantially on the SC we should at least have a clear picture of what the choices will be.
P2
What... a seat on the SCOTUS is personal property? What is it with these lefties!?!?
That seat belongs to the People.
Your last sentence is exactly right!!
Perhaps she wasn't in a position health-wise to say "inaugurated." "Elected" wouldn't be accurate.
Nope. "Installed" is perfectly apt.
Kamala Harris isn't going to be elected. She will most definitely be "installed".
"But I also think that if the tables were turned and a Democratic President had a Democratic Senate, we'd get the nomination and confirmation quickly and without fussing about inferred principles that have nothing to do with the text of the Constitution."
And without violence from the right. I'm sorry all the leftist idiots are so butthurt, but they can hardly expect any consideration of their feelings after they went scorched earth over Kavanaugh (to say nothing of their other well-known temper tantrums over SCOTUS confirmations), and have been pushing an insurrection for months. Should have kept their powder dry, but not seeing the clearly foreseeable consequences of their poor choices is a feature with them (thanks, Harry Reid!). Maybe if they grow up and start behaving as adults then people might listen to their concerns. Elections have consequences, or so I've been told. Fucking deal with it.
There's something else here. Are we sure that we are actually getting the truth from her granddaughter? Are we entirely certain... Can we believe that that is in fact what she said?
Being a woman in this day and age dare we assume that she's telling ththe truth about RBGs last words and not, yet again, obfuscating the truth to achieve a TDS agenda driven goal?
I'm going 50/50 here. I trust nothing these people say actually was said anymore.
granddaughter Clara Spera, who is a fellow at the American Civil Liberties Union. It is hearsay, and we don't know for certain that Ruth Bader Ginsburg said those words at all — though of course we assume that the basic idea expressed is something that she did indeed wish. But did she use the verbs "replaced" and "installed"? Is that Spera's paraphrase?
Oh Ginsburg said those words. Is Althouse implying that a "fellow" at the ACLU is unfamiliar with standard American expressions? Nonsense.
"my most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed,"
She could have accomplished essentially the same goal, and accomplished it more reliably, by resigning while Obummer was President, so apparently this fervent wish was less fervent than her wish to stay on the court as long as possible.
Well....that may be her wish. But it isn't her choice. Tuff luck Ruthie.
The Constitution gives that power to the President, without any time constraints or stipulations on timing, etiquette, "feelings". The President proposes a candidate and the Senate ratifies or it doesn't.
I respect Ginsberg for her lifetime achievements and especially when women were not allowed a level playing field.
HOWEVER, that respect is GREATLY diminished by her refusing to exit the stage and not accepting that her shelf life date was up BUT MOSTLY because her desire to try to control the process. She should have retired under Obama if she wanted the Dems to control the pick.
Supreme Court justices are not elected and do not control the political processes. Or shouldn't but they do by making their decision based on politics.
THIS distortion and bastardization of the Constitution is why the Supreme Court is a huge deciding factor in elections and one we will fight to the death over.
This will not go well.
But I also think that if the tables were turned and a Democratic President had a Democratic Senate, we'd get the nomination and confirmation quickly and without fussing about inferred principles that have nothing to do with the text of the Constitution.
Did Obama hold back on nominating Garland because it was an election year?
The Scalia’s death was arranged to install Garland.The oligarchs of wealth really hate Trump’s movement of American patriots taking power back from their slimy hands. They thought they owned the Court too. Romney, Murkowski, and Alexander are still owned by their paymasters, so the Senate is going to be close.
And let's not forget the weird use of the phrase "a new president."
Althouse skipped over that one. If Trump is reelected he is not a new president. He will still be the 45th president.
So twist and reach as much as possible but this "wish" was designed to create maximum partisan division. Just like her lockstep opinions.
Donald Trump was installed by the Electoral College, not elected by the American people, who chose HIllary Clinton.
If Biden wins and leaves office immediately due to health issues wouldn't Harris be "installed" as President?
Maybe RBG knew something.
A "new" President would be someone other than a re-elected President Trump.
One of your best, we’ll done.
Ruth Ginsberg's wishes for her replacement on the court are about as relevant as my own.
Can we ever be sure who chose the word "installed"? An individual? A committee?
Thanks for this one, Althouse.
It's an absurd thing to say, given the way the Court is structured, and whatever one might think of Ginsburg, she wasn't an absurd person. It smells like someone trying to get out in front of the narrative - there was a lot of that going on last night as the news broke.
And given the rather extreme-ish political disposition of the speaker, Ginsburg's daughter, I've disregarded it as 'Mostly False'
Two thoughts about Ginsburg's granddaughter's alleged statement:
1 - If Ginsburg actually felt what was allegedly expressed (and I can actually believe that she did feel this way), then why not make a clear public statement to that effect? Why only tell her granddaughter? Did she think that her granddaughter had some special sway with the US legal system?
2 - I can imagine a conversation between the two that went this way:
Granddaughter: Grandma Ruth, you're so weak and suffering; why don't you retire from the bench and spend your remaining time with us, your family?
RBG: I will NOT retire! I am going to stick this out until there is a new president in office - THEN I can retire!
And then this statement got twisted into the current understanding as a "dying wish" that nothing should happen between now and the election.
Left Bank of the Charles said...
Donald Trump was installed by the Electoral College, not elected by the American people, who chose HIllary Clinton.
9/19/20, 8:47 AM
The electoral college is how we elect EVERY president. If we allowed the popular vote, then California and New York would vote, and everybody else could stay home because their vote wouldn't count. Our founders were smarter than people of today. They had foresight.
"There's something else here. Are we sure that we are actually getting the truth from her granddaughter? Are we entirely certain... Can we believe that that is in fact what she said?"
How is that "something else"? I say that quite explicitly in my first paragraph!
Left Bank of the Charles said... Donald Trump was installed by the Electoral College, not elected by the American people, who chose HIllary Clinton.
Yeah. Tuff luck again Charles.
Pure Democracy and the popular vote isn't our system of Government. We are a Representative Republic. That was devised on purpose to NOT have a popular vote.
You would be happy if the circumstances were reversed and Trump won the popular vote but lost the Electoral Votes....wouldn't you. Sour grapes and the puckered mouth are not attractive.
Perhaps you should take some Civics 101 courses.
As if these juice box mafia jour-no-listers would ask ask about his rude despicable treatment if Birk and Thomas and thorough usage of Anita Hill to boot. Joe’s have to be mistaken for a Republican to get that kind of question.
"That is the form of her dying wish, as told to us by her granddaughter Clara Spera [who is another ultra lefty]"
Classic hearsay.
Headline: "Schumer, Waters Warn Republicans Not To Try To Fill Ginsburg’s Seat Before Election"
There is an implied "or else" attached to their warning. Not sure what it is though.
We say a President is "elected" so "installed" sounds off, but of course, the elected President doesn't control appointments until he takes office, but we don't use the word "installed" to refer to the President taking office! We say "inaugurated" or just "takes office." I did a search of the NYT archive to prove my point. "Installed" is not the normal word at all! Don't argue with me on this timing point. If you think "installed" is a good word to use for the beginning of a new presidency, you need a better argument.
" refrigerators — that need to be positioned and hooked up by licensed professionals."
Boy did I fool those refrigerator professionals by plugging in the refrigerator and rolling it into position. Of course before I retired I was a licensed professional engineer. Those years at the old U were NOT in vein!
I'm suspicious of the language as well. But I also took it to mean until the next inauguration.
"And let's not forget the weird use of the phrase "a new president." Althouse skipped over that one."
You are right about that — except to the extent that I wrote "If Biden wins — which is what Ginsburg hoped for."
"I'll add on RBG: If reports of her "last wish" are true, then she had a fundamental misunderstanding of her role. She didn't own her seat - merely had the privilege of filling it for many, many years - and had no business telling the political branches how it should be filled."
-- Carrie Lukas on Twitter
I agree with this completely and believe that if she did really make this last wish it has tarnished her legacy. Her granddaughter would have been wise to keep her mouth shut.
The Swamp specializes in tactical installations. Ginsburg knew that.
@wendybar
You win the prize.
She fucked up and she knew it. Outliving Trump's first term might have brought absolution.
But if she is replaced before the election, or if Trump is reelected, she will soon lose her luster in the eyes of liberal historians...
She will forever be the justice who didn't retire when she should have...
And for the last time, it's not her fucking seat, just as the MA senate seat didn't belong to Ted 'killer' Kennedy.
"You are right about that — except to the extent that I wrote "If Biden wins — which is what Ginsburg hoped for.""
-- I think the question is: Did Ginsburg hope for that, or did she literally mean, "And if Trump wins, you better wait for the next president anyway." My assumption is she assumed Biden would win, but there are going to be less charitable readings of her alleged statements. Which, I'm already suspicious of, as yesterday, they were her deathbed words... and today they were made some time ago.
@Left Bank
Give it a rest already.
Hillary fucked up.
Her much smarter husband gave her a roadmap and she spit on it.
Hilarity ensued...
We say a President is "elected" so "installed" sounds off, but of course, the elected President doesn't control appointments until he takes office,
Good point. The new/incoming President has NO power until he/she is officially President. Until then, it is just a President in waiting.
Any decisions that are to be made between the election and the official beginning of the next term are those of the EXISTING President.
Like it or not....even if Trump were to lose the election...he is still President until Inauguration/Installation/Whatever.
Murkowski's already saying she won't vote on a nominee until after the election.
The reason I ultimately voted for Trump in 2016 instead of not voting at all for president was because I hoped against hope that he would keep his promises regarding Supreme Court picks. I really doubted he would, but the alternative was Hillary Clinton and I knew with certainty what she would do. I also knew with certainty that she was incompetent and a criminal. Trump should go for it. RIP Ruth Bader Ginsberg. But, she is dead and has nothing to say about it - it is and was never her decision to make. If she wanted to have input, she should have resigned when Obama was president. I guess she thought she was indispensable.
I would bet RBG understood the meaning of the word "wish".
@AA
My point was that I'm dubious if it was even paraphrasing, and not an outright lie.
Oh, the bs over words in this blog!
Everybody knows what Ginsburg meant. She obviously meant a democrat, that's why she has held on so long after her "sell by" date. So she selected a word that seemed close at the moment and likely was not thought out ad nuseum as our hostess is prone to do here.
Also, what is that lizardian holding? On second thought I don't want to know...
If Congress had not abandoned it's responsibility to legislate to the bureaucracy and the executive branch and if those who didn't like the outcomes of elections hadn't "Installed" judges who legislate from the bench, then picking the people who occupy the Presidency and the Supreme Court would not be The. Most. Significant. Matter. Of. Our. Lifetime!
Alas and alack, Congress did abandon it's responsibility in order to garner more votes and stay in office as long as possible all the rest has followed.
May RBG fly swiftly and surely to the eternal reward due her. And may God have mercy on our country's soul. I suspect 2020 isn't done with us yet.
I mostly agree with all of this post, Althouse.
Coming from the wing of anti-Trumpers who have also had Federalist Society memberships, like George Conway, I’m not losing any sleep over a successor to Justice Ginsburg’s seat on the Court. The one and only thing in this Presidency that Trump has screwed up the least is his acting as the vehicle to channel Federalist Society judicial nominees to McConnell’s Senate for confirmation. In that enterprise, Trump’s personal impulses and inputs are minimized.
I just hope that the net electoral outcome of whatever happens with the nomination in the end helps assure that Trump is defeated in the general election.
The karmic irony is that it was Her Choice, not her choice.
You are right about that — except to the extent that I wrote "If Biden wins — which is what Ginsburg hoped for."
I appreciate the response. Are you agreeing with me that her "wish" is that she will not be replaced until Trump is out of office? To me that seems huge. Much bigger than using an odd word like "install."
She could have easily said "until, hopefully, a new president"
The quote is fabricated. No one believes the Court is not political. Except for Justice Roberts who choked out these words: " “We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges.”
IF the Republicans do not "install" a justice before the election, they deserve to be voted out as a party of unfailing weakness and submission.
In evaluating any public figure, the most important question to ask is: did this person's career contribute more to the cause of liberty, or more to the expansion of statism? I think with RBG, the answer is clear.
“ That is the form of her dying wish, as told to us by her granddaughter Clara Spera, who is a fellow at the American Civil Liberties Union.”
Sorry to be cynical there. But one would expect that a Jewish attorney working for the ACLU would be willing to do, or say, almost anything to replace RBG with a like minded leftist. I actually belonged to the ACLU at one point, when they were actually interested in protecting civil liberties. But then they became more interested in expanding leftist power, and I quit. Any more, it seems that they fairly consistently take the position that restricts civil liberties, and I am usually surprised when they take the pro civil liberties side of issues.
You so obviously need a "Doctor Who" tag!
She apologized for bashing Trump during the last election on three different press conferences, saying he’s a “faker” and she’d have to move to New Zealand if he were elected. If one if the conservative Supreme Court judges spoke that way about Hillary, he would have been forced to resign, especially if she had become president.
The left loved her not because she was a great judge but because she wasn’t really a judge at all, and made no bones about it.
These were not spontaneous death bed words, and I doubt that they've been altered by family. RBG composed them herself, for use when needed. In coming days or weeks, expect some sort of testament that expand on her thoughts.
Left Bank: "Donald Trump was installed by the Electoral College, not elected by the American people, who chose HIllary Clinton."
It doesn't get any more "left bank" than that.
Most amazing part? He isn't kidding.
I assume Ruth's Bader Ginsburg ACLU grand-daughter would lie like a dog for partisan purposes. Why candy it up?
Eight is not a good number Ginsburg said in 2016. 'Confirm Garland to avoid 4-4 splits.'
Obama said much the same thing. He also wanted a confirmation, and was very disappointed when his immigration plan was killed by a 4-4- split. Frustrated Obama Faults Republicans After Immigration Defeat.
Of course all Democratic Senators said they'd confirm Garland if the could.
And let's not forget Joe Biden in 1992 saying that if a vacancy opened up that year, the Democratic Senate wouldn't confirm any nomination George H. W. Bush made. So if we're bringing up what happened in 2016, we have just as much or as little consistency on the Democratic side as the Republican.
Face it, ever since FDR the Supreme Court has been a political institution. The Democrats can lie in the bed they made.
The supposed defender of our constitution said, “I would not look to the U.S. Constitution if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012.” Of course not. Too much individual freedom, not enough installing by autocrats like herself.
democrats install their leaders.
that's why we keep finding boxes of ballots after the election is over.
The Silures and the Ordovicies were tribes of Welshmen who opposed the Roman conquest of Britannia in 40 AD. The geologic eras were named so because the relevant stones were found in the region occupied by these gentlemen. Kind of like Braveheart 1300 years earlier.
"My fervent wish is that I will not be replaced" is the important part of her words, not "installed." Little Old Lady did not want to die, especially while Trump was in office.
Don't overthink RBG. She clung onto life, and her Court authority, far, far longer than anyone thought she would, or could, or should. She died not wanting to let go of that power. Her last words prove that assertion. She was a perfect leftist to the very last breath.
Iman said...
"That seat belongs to the People."
No, it belongs to the states.
Nominated by the president. The presidency was conceived as having no popular input. Elected by state appointed electors.
Confirmed by the state appointed senators.
The people, via their Representatives in congress have no voice at all.
The constitution is of the United States for a reason.
John Henry
Remember when all the NeverTrump marxists (who pretended for years to be "muh principles" "conservatives" at the Weekly Standard/Bulwark/et al) told us it was stupid to believe the next President would have the chance to appoint 3 SC justices and that's why it was perfectly reasonable to vote for Hillary?
Good times, good times.
Left Bank of the Charles said...
Donald Trump was installed by the Electoral College, not elected by the American people, who chose HIllary Clinton.
Actually, that is incorrect. Hillary's majority of votes was only in California. We could call her the President of California if you like. The rest of the country rejected her.
Barack Obama: ""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,"
Recall how Obamacare was passed.
"That resonates with the Biden story... except that no one would install an appliance so superannuated and marginally functional."
Ha. Good one.
Silurians?! And how could you ignore Madame Vastra, the lesbian Silurian on Dr. Who, married to an earth woman, Jenny Flint? Perhaps the first trans-species lesbian couple on television! Talk about transgressive role models! We won't do more than mention Strax, their Sontaran butler, a true gentlewoman's gentlesontaran. And they first were installed in Dr Who way back in 2011.
I wonder if RBG ever wondered at the connections between her support and direction of feminism via court decisions and stuff like that.
She was a liberal ideologue and activist who consistently undermined the republic's constitutional order with her decisions. I will not miss her.
This dying wish to not be replaced by Trump seems to be the big Ginsburg story this morning. Can someone please explain to me why anyone should give a shit about who she wanted to replace her?
She wanted it to be Hillary enthroned, not a mere Biden installed, but she lost that bet.
I'm glad that Althouse brought up Ginsberg hanging on to her seat. It'd be hilarious if all the Ginsburg Worshippers end up being hurt by her selfish desire to hang on to power no matter what. She's a perfect example of why we need fixed terms - I'd say 20 years - for SCOTUS judges, instead of life terms.
Had she cared more about her Lefty worshippers, and less about her own selfish desires, she'd have retired in 2015, at the age of 82 and 20 plus years on the Court. Instead, she just hung on despite, one grave illness after another. She might win yet, if creeps like Murky lisa, Mittens, and Collins block a vote and Biden wins.
I think "Installed" is the perfect word coming from anyone on the left.
"Donald Trump was installed by the Electoral College, not elected by the American people, who chose HIllary Clinton."
Yes, and if Hillary had won the EC and lost the popular vote, you'd be saying the same thing. LOL. You leftists are such hypocrites. No one buys your propaganda.
These words are meaningless. Trump will get his supreme pick on the court and the Dems have only theyselves to blame.
Her fervent wish is phrased in terms of the instrument, the new president, but the implied wish is for a like-minded replacement, rather than someone off of Trump's list. She wanted a reliable liberal block, I suppose.
I don't care what Ginsburg wanted, Biden wants, Schumer wants, Pelosi wants....
Constitution gave the CURRENT President of the United States power to propose a candidate and the U.S. Senate the power to vote on that proposal. There was no (if an election is coming soon) clause.
And the argument that if one is not installed now then if here is a constitutional question, as Al Gore give when he lost the race for president and sued, then we need a tie breaking vote.
We need another SCOTUS member to make the court whole NOW.
Tough nuts Democrats. You can thank Harry Reid for ending the filibuster rule.
"Left Bank of the Charles said... Donald Trump was installed by the Electoral College, not elected by the American people, who chose HIllary Clinton."
Ignoring the Constitution and forgetting about J.Q. Adams, Hayes, Harrison and G.W. Bush are we? The "American people" chose Trump. Get over it, you lost and are going to lose again.
RBG passed away at age 87. Rest in Peace.
However, as purely a factual (or counterfactual hypothetical), had she resigned in 2014 (at age 81), Prez Obama and his Dem majority in the Senate could have nominated and confirmed a suitable replacement.
But that didn't happen. And here we are.
Thank you for doing this.
If it was her most fervent wish, why not document or authenticate it in a better way? They are surrounded by legal education, immersed in it and the granddaughter is burdened with making Justice Ginsburg’s most fervent and dying wish known? There could have been witnesses , or a signature, an audio recording but instead one of the youngest members of the family had the message dictated to her.
Just days before her death, as her strength waned, Ginsburg dictated this statement to her granddaughter Clara Spera: "My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed."
https://www.npr.org/2020/09/18/100306972/justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-champion-of-gender-equality-dies-at-87
I suggested weeks ago that the Dims might want to brush off Obama's "President-Elect of the United States" podium; that was an imaginative innovation in its day.
Narr
We so screwed
"Ah! And now you see a motivation for Ginsburg's use of "installed." If Biden wins — which is what Ginsburg hoped for (and "a new president" implies) — it really is more of an installation. “
Yep, that’s the kind of insight I read this blog for. They are putting a new figurehead on their transnational elite. Just yesterday Biden said that he would withhold any trade agreements with the UK until they accept the EU deal on the EU’s terms. They don’t give a flying fuck about American citizens except as they serve this elite.
If you believe the Viking guide on the Prague bridges, St Nepomuc was tortured by the king's henchmen to reveal what the queen had told him in confession.
He didn't fall, he was pushed or dumped.
Narr
Depontification of Prague
It’s probably a lie that she made that dying wish, either that or to her the Constitution is “just a goddamned piece of paper."
That is the form of her dying wish, as told to us by her granddaughter Clara Spera. [my emphasis]
So did Ginsburg really say “installed,” or did her granddaughter mis-hear “inaugurated”? Or perhaps the granddaughter merely mis-remembered? In my book this is too much deep analysis for what could just be a simple mistake on the part of a Millennial.
If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
I confess, I was triggered by reading those words last night. They sounded un-American and tinged with revolution to me. Scary. Of course I've been immersed in reading about the Serbian regicides in the run up to WWI so I suppose I am primed to see extra-constitutional language. I attribute the offensive wording to her tone read granddaughter.
Knowing she was ill, why did RBG not trust Obama to pick her replacement?
Oh Cuck “mostly agrees” with an Althouse post! She must be very relieved.
What are you going to do when your presidential candidate packs the court Cuck? You’re powerless and third-rate, so nothing, just as the worthless squishes at the Bulwark you love so much never “conserved” a fucking thing.
And regarding the Silurians on “Doctor Who,” I really enjoyed the recurring character Madam Vastra, a Silurian living in Victorian London with her wife Jenny. Madame Vastra is a consulting detective. Jenny asks her how she found Jack the Ripper ...
“Stringy, but delicious.”
Left Bank of the Charles said...
Donald Trump was installed by the Electoral College, not elected by the American people, who chose HIllary Clinton.
Micheal K says:
Actually, that is incorrect. Hillary's majority of votes was only in California. We could call her the President of California if you like. The rest of the country rejected her.
Me: AGAIN. This is the reason for the Electoral College. No one State can dominate the rest by virtue of having a larger population. Each State gets representative votes, so that even the smallest, least populated State gets a voice.
We live in the United States of America. If the Electoral College were not devised, the Colonies/incipient States would never have joined.
If it was her most fervent wish, why not document or authenticate it in a better way? They are surrounded by legal education, immersed in it and the granddaughter is burdened with making Justice Ginsburg’s most fervent and dying wish known? There could have been witnesses , or a signature, an audio recording but instead one of the youngest members of the family had the message dictated to her.
So what?
It isn't her choice or her decision.
I wish all sorts of things that have no chance in Hell of coming true. (You don't want to know....trust me)
I think Hillary served as interpreter between RBG and her granddaughter.
when I hear installed I think of popes and bishops. Inaugurated more precise, but generic installed better than elected because elected does not convey the correct timing.
Howard: "These words are meaningless. Trump will get his supreme pick on the court and the Dems have only theyselves to blame."
I don't blame the dems.
It was RBG that ignored their desperate pleas to step down when obama could have appointed a replacement. Repeatedly. Despite her clearly poor health which was never going to get better and was only going to accelerate in a negative direction.
And no, all the fake "I can't believe how strong and vibrant Justice Ginsburg is" and "I just did the Ginsburg workout and it kicked my a**....and I'm in my 30's!" lies. (https://bookriot.com/rbg-workout-kicked-ass/)
Of course, those lies always work on the readerings and r/v's of the world but then not every adult is as easy to fool as a young child.
Multiple cancers including pancreatic....but she just had to make a political statement (Hillary appointing a chick replacement for the ultimate chick leftist on the SC) instead of accepting the smartest tactical and strategic move/timing.
But I also think that if the tables were turned and a Democratic President had a Democratic Senate, we'd get the nomination and confirmation quickly and without fussing about inferred principles that have nothing to do with the text of the Constitution.
And that's the bottom line. Is there a single thinking, well-informed person in the country who honestly disputes this, including Barky himself?
Nope.
Let's have the vote. If traitors like Murkowsky and Romney want to proclaim themselves, let the chips fall where they may.
I was with my mother as she died of cancer. She was in no condition to make any "last statement". I am very skeptical that RBG made such a statement especially one so politically charged. Since it was relayed to us by an obviously partisan democrat, my skepticism is only increased. There is really no reason to believe this statement is true except if you are a partisan democrat who wants to believe it's true and wants to use it for partisan purposes.
I have been lied to so many times by democrat politicians that I would go outside and look for my self if they told me the sky is blue.
All the lefty arguments boil down to this:
Nominating Merrick Garland 237 days before an election was the president's duty.
Nominating someone else 45 days before an election is an outrage.
So, lefties... what's the number of days where it shifts from "duty" to "outrage"?
And where in the Constitution do you find support for your number?
Readering: "when I hear installed I think of popes and bishops. Inaugurated more precise, but generic installed better than elected because elected does not convey the correct timing."
To this very day, a solid majority of democraticals (and their associated towel boys the LLR-lefties) believe Putin hacked voting machines and vote totals to install Trump in the WH.
They literally believe that.
But only literally.
Lest it go unremarked, I would like to thank Josephbleau for his erudite and educational 9:55am post about the Silures and Ordovicies having been Welsh tribes at the time of the Roman invasion of Britain. Good knowledge!
I assume the language used by Spera is just careless and done without much deep thought. You can usually determine the quality of an intellect by how carefully a person writes complex thoughts, especially how carefully the words themselves are chosen. Given that the words "replaced" and "installed" make Spera look comparatively shallow suggests it was all unintentional, maybe a Kinsley gaffe of some kind.
It was RBG that ignored their desperate pleas to step down when obama could have appointed a replacement.
Is it possible that she had an epiphany, a change of heart, and hoped for karmic justice? She knew it wouldn't happen with President "burden", and her only hope was to resist until the new President would prove his worth, and before her life ended with Her Choice. RIP
Left Bank wrote:
"Donald Trump was installed by the Electoral College, not elected by the American people, who chose HIllary Clinton."
The Electoral College of 2016 was elected by the American people- if the American people wanted Hillary to be president, they would have elected a different Electoral College. Thanks for playing.
Micheal K says:
Actually, that is incorrect. Hillary's majority of votes was only in California. We could call her the President of California if you like. The rest of the country rejected her.
Yep. If you leave Cali, with 27% of its population foreign-born, out of the mix and look at the other 49 states, Trump wins by nearly two-million votes. If you leave New York out too, Trump wins by more than three-million.
Ruth rolled the dice and lost. Is it really likely that her last words to her beloved progressive granddaughter were an assertion unlikely to become reality. No. It is more likely that her granddaughter, like all progressive Democrats, allows TDS to become an excuse for lying.
I think Spera should have paraphrased this way given the actualy beliefs I think all the parties hold:
"My grandmother, in her dying wish, hoped her successor not be installed until the American people replaced the President."
That statement would have been the actual belief of Ms. Ginsburg herself.
I'll guess that RBG hasn't written any opinions in the last few years.
She's been a rubber stamp justice. Someone else has been writing for her. You can't take that much poison, and radiation, but still be lucid.
In fact, it might be interesting to review the language used in her opinions, and watch how the vocabulary, phrasing changes over time.
Sure, you could argue that the poison, and radiation affected her language, but.......then you've reached my premise.
Now, she's gone, and they want to use her seat as an entitlement. Having your cake, and eating it as well.
It occurs to me that people that are in the late stages of cancer/treatment are usually on very high doses of opioids for palliative care. My own father, in his last weeks of lung cancer, was not particularly lucid.
One can't generalize, of course, but it seems a very specific statement from the granddaughter considering the circumstances.
Regardless of whether he is Majority Leader or Minority leader, Mitch ought to punish apostates with shitty committee assignments and otherwise ostracize them.
They were not elected to pander to Democrats on the most important decision they will be called upon to make - ever.
How about this, Trump resigns Pence is installed and her dying wish is fulfilled...
We shouldn't really quibble about whether or not Spera told the truth about Ginsburg's "wish". There really is no doubt that Ginsburg didn't want her successor installed by Trump and the Republican Senate. We can agree on that, can't we? Whether or not Spera is lying about being told this by her grandmother, there is no doubt it accurately relays Ms. Ginsburg's own thought on the matter.
Jews will not replace us?
No, she said YOU will not replace me.
Murkowski's already saying she won't vote on a nominee until after the election.
Cocaine Mitch decides when Murkowski votes.
I wish all sorts of things that have no chance in Hell of coming true. (You don't want to know....trust me)
You're on fire today so we kinda do. Just give us one...
No, it belongs to the states.
Nominated by the president. The presidency was conceived as having no popular input. Elected by state appointed electors.
Confirmed by the state appointed senators.
The people, via their Representatives in congress have no voice at all.
The constitution is of the United States for a reason.
President and Congress answer to the People, it’s why elections are held.
"Install" is what you do when you are the PRI in Mexico. For 80 years the "party of the revolution" selected the President of Mexico. I always chuckled when I thought about the PRI as the "party of the permanent revolution". The selection process was not transparent--the outgoing President and, maybe, some of the PRI party honchos selected the new President. Presidents were limited to a single six year term. Of course they had elections--but the PRI nominee almost always got 80 to 90 percent of the votes cast. The PAN party won some of the state and local elections---but in the national election for President, the PAN party mostly had the role the Washington Generals had to the Harlem Globetrotters--always losing to PRI.
And "installed" is what will happen when the Democrat party finally assumes full national control. And that's what "installed" means as Ginsburg was using it. No I can't read her mind--but I think my sentence is a pretty good guess as to what she meant.
It says everything about RBG about her time on the bench when the last words she uttered before passing on to the afterlife were that of a political partisan.
RBG had this to say in July 2016 about a hearing and appointment of Merrick Garland in Obama's* final year:
"Asked if the Senate had an obligation to assess Judge Garland’s qualifications, her answer was immediate.
“That’s their job,” she said. “There’s nothing in the Constitution that says the president stops being president in his last year.”"
Maybe that's the vocabulary the granddaughter uses within her group of friends at the ACLU??
"Man Plans God Laughs" a well known English translation of a Yiddish proverb: "Der mentsh trakht un got lakht"
Associate Judge of the US Supreme Court, RGB, today goes before the Ultimate Supreme Court.
Maybe the grand daughter was speaking 'her truth.'
Dems are good at that.
My assumption has been that she did not resign while Obama was President because she assumed that Clinton was going to win, and she wanted the symbolism of a female president appointing her successor.
my most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed
A comment at Ace said it best, "SCOTUS isn't a Make a Wish program."
Donald Trump was installed by the Electoral College, not elected by the American people, who chose HIllary Clinton. - Left Bank
It's hard to believe there are adults who are actually this stupid.
Did you say the same thing in 1992 when 57 percent of the American people voted for someone other than Bill Clinton?
“I was with my mother as she died of cancer. She was in no condition to make any "last statement". I am very skeptical that RBG made such a statement especially one so politically charged. Since it was relayed to us by an obviously partisan democrat, my skepticism is only increased. There is really no reason to believe this statement is true except if you are a partisan democrat who wants to believe it's true and wants to use it for partisan purposes.”
“It occurs to me that people that are in the late stages of cancer/treatment are usually on very high doses of opioids for palliative care. My own father, in his last weeks of lung cancer, was not particularly lucid.”
My thoughts too. At least for the ovarian cancer that took my mother. My father had brain cancer, and never seemed in much pain. Or at least not as much as my mother. Her last week involved higher and higher doses of morphine. She would be almost lucid for an hour or two in the mornings, but not lucid enough to make and understand pronouncements that could affect the nation over the next 30 years. And then a slide for the rest of the day. Because of where my father’s cancer was, he wasn’t really lucid at all, during his last two weeks, after he was brought home.
When I hear "installed," I think of appliances — dishwashers, refrigerators — both of which are smarter these days than Joe.
I heard her dying words were, "Courage Clara. Courage."
"In my book this is too much deep analysis for what could just be a simple mistake on the part of a Millennial.”
So why do you come to this blog again?
Drago is something. One comment about me after I basically agreed with his point about RBG staying on too long in an earlier post. And a second that is a non-sequitur. Drago, give it a rest.
" I'd love to see Trump and Biden debate and give us the question: What kind of Justice we want?"
And if you could get your wish, what do you suppose would result?
Biden: "I want judges who advance social justice!"
Trump: "I want judges who read the text and interpret it as it would have been understood by those who wrote and voted for it."
Biden: "So you want African-Americans counted as three-fifths of a person?"
Trump: "Do you not realize that clause was put there by advocates of slavery, for the purpose of making it more difficult to abolish slavery?"
Biden: "So you DO wish African-Americans were still enslaved!"
Trump: "Anyone who understands the Constitution understands that the three-fifths clause has been moot since the 13th Amendment was ratified; only a fool would pretend otherwise. I will appoint judges who have a deep understanding of that document, not 'judge-philosopher-kings" tempted to just make stuff up."
Biden: I will appoint judges who will champion the rights of women and people of color. My opponent would appoint judges who support white supremacy!"
The Dunning-Kruger effect is a type of cognitive bias in which people believe that they are smarter and more capable than they really are. Essentially, low ability people do not possess the skills needed to recognize their own incompetence.
Readering, Freder, and Left Bank are living proofs that you can’t be a lefty in the 21st Century unless you have Dunning-Kruger at an unbelievable level.
I find it unbelievable that a woman as dedicated to the rule of law and American institutions as Ruth Bader Ginsburg would dictate any such deathbed statement to her granddaughter. I think the granddaughter is of a generation of "liberals" who think "any means necessary" is a laudable way to approach the political process.
Come on Ann! The President is elected some two months before he is installed as POTUS. Her obvious meaning was that a lame duck Senate not install a new Supreme Court justice. Recently you seem to be doing a lot of what I call intentional misreading.
Wasn't Ginsburg participating in court deliberations up until a few weeks ago. Why would she be dictating to her granddaughter?
When I hear "installed," I think of appliances — dishwashers, refrigerators — that need to be positioned and hooked up by licensed professionals. That resonates with the Biden story... except that no one would install an appliance so superannuated and marginally functional.
Damn, you are operating at a high plane today!
Left Bank of the Charles said...
Donald Trump was installed by the Electoral College, not elected by the American people, who chose HIllary Clinton.
Bzzt. Trump was elected by the American people , using the rules of the election that everyone knew beforehand
You might as well say that the Cubs didn't win the world series, because at teh end of 9 innings of game 7 they were down 27 runs to 26.
Grow up and get over yourself
Unknown said...
Come on Ann! The President is elected some two months before he is installed as POTUS.
No, unknown, he is "Inaugurated" as President, not installed.
Don't throw out accusations of bad faith just because your vocabulary is insufficient
Trump: "I want judges who read the text and interpret it as it would have been understood by those who wrote and voted for it."
Biden: "So you want African-Americans counted as three-fifths of a person?"
Trump: "Do you not realize that clause was put there by advocates of slavery, for the purpose of making it more difficult to abolish slavery?"
Biden: "So you DO wish African-Americans were still enslaved!"
No, the 3/5s clause was put in by slavery opponents, to cut the power of the slave owning Democrats
I never cease to be appalled by the historical ignoramuses who complain about the power of slave owners being decreased
"Donald Trump was installed by the Electoral College, not elected by the American people, who chose HIllary Clinton."
Um, no. That was California.
I don't have time to read all the comments to see if this has been mentioned before, but, in my experience, dishwashers and refrigerators do not require installation by licensed professionals!
The last time we cranked through the mysterious process, Trump popped out. It was very weird! But he is the President, and a Supreme Court Justice has vacated a seat.
But that wasn't done with the last president, Obama. And as a result, Trump has gotten to choose one more Justice than he should have. Now we're less than 2 months away from the election, and the supposed reason for Obama's choice not to be considered was that 9 months was too close to the election. If 9 months was too close, then obviously 2 months is too close.
When I hear the word "installation," Millennial that I am, I think of software. Perhaps Biden's personality and memories have been transferred to the cloud, and are awaiting download and installation in a new body—if he manages to win the election.
By the way, the Three-Fifths Compromise is so-called because the pro- and anti-slavery factions both agreed to it, their primary objective being a workable constitution for the union of states that actually existed. The pro-slavery faction would have preferred slaves to be counted in whole for the purpose of representation, and the anti-slavery faction would have preferred they be counted not at all. It doesn't make sense to speak of this as though it were inserted by one faction or the other alone.
John Althouse Cohen said...
But that wasn't done with the last president, Obama.
Sure it was. Obama nominated Gorsuch, and the GOP Senate rejected him.
Sorry, chum, but ever since the Democrats decided to deep six Bork, there's been absolutely NO presumption that the Senate will approve of a President's nominees. So what your complaint boils down to is "It's no fair that a Republican controlled Senate is approving a Republican President's SC nominees, and rejecting a Democrat President's nominees!
Are you intelligent enough to understand how stupid that complaint is?
JAC @ 8:15pm, I think the GOP's refusal to conduct confirmation hearings for Garland was a naked parliamentary move; the spin that it was about allowing the people to have a say in the appointment of the next justice was a nicety, and not a particularly compelling one—it was, after all, originally suggested by Biden in 1992. Both sides are now regurgitating each other's arguments in a display of rank hypocrisy. But the difference is, the president's party controls the Senate this time.
"If 9 months was too close, then obviously 2 months is too close."
Is there a time frame specified in the Constitution?
The Silures and the Ordovicies were tribes of Welshmen who opposed the Roman conquest of Britannia in 40 AD.
Close but not quite. There were no “Welshmen” at the time. All there were — from the Firth-Firth isthmus crossing the center of what's now Scotland, all the way south to Land's End, the Isle of Wight, and Dover — were (tribes of) Britons, speaking dialects of ancient “Britannic” (ancestor of modern Welsh and Breton).
Two of those tribes of Britons conquered by the Romans were the Silures and Ordovices noted above (who did give the Romans some considerable trouble in their subduing) — but which, like the rest of what became the Roman province of Britannia following its mid-1st century A.D. Conquest, got afterwards transformed into autonomous, self-governing city-states (the fundamental unit of the Roman Empire: known as [plural] civitates, [sing.] civitas) for the tribal peoples of Britain.
Recall that Britain (south of the Roman Wall) thereafter remained “Roman” for the entire 2nd, 3rd, and 4th centuries — longer than the modern British daughter state, the United States of America has so far existed in toto.
Here's a map showing the civitates of Roman Britain. The city-states of the Silures and Ordovices (including their capital plus the broad hinterland they controlled) lay in the west of Britain, in what's now Wales.
Looking at the Silurian civitas more particularly, one might notice it incorporated two principal Roman civic institutions: one being the Silures' tribal capital, known to the Romans as Venta Silurum — today as (the ruins of the walled city of) Caerwent.
The other installation (not under Silurian civitas jurisdiction) was one (of three) Roman Army legionary fortress(es in Britain — placed in a broad arc facing the highland zone) — i.e., the southeastern Welsh ruined Roman fortress-city known to the Romans as Isca; now known as Caerleon (Welsh: city of the legion). (There were many lesser forts in Britain manned by Roman “auxiliary” forces; Isca contrariwise was a fortress of the legions [Legio II Augusta, in this case]: Roman citizens, crack troops.)
What were the capitals of the tribal city-states of Roman Britannia such as that of the Silures (Caerwent) like? Here's a map showing the city plan of the relatively nearby capital of the Atrebates civitas — the town known to the Romans as Calleva Atrebatum, and to the British of today as (ancient) Silchester. Silchester's ancient city-plan (in white) is shown superimposed atop a Google Maps image of what that site looks like today.
One might note that the “Inn” appearing in the south near the city wall of ancient Silchester was apparently a facility of the Roman imperial post. Northwest of the center of town one can see where a modern archaeological excavation has been ongoing.
Jim at said...
Donald Trump was installed by the Electoral College, not elected by the American people, who chose HIllary Clinton. - Left Bank
It's hard to believe there are adults who are actually this stupid.
Did you say the same thing in 1992 when 57 percent of the American people voted for someone other than Bill Clinton?
9/19/20, 1:32 PM
And Hillary won the popular vote over Obama in the Primary...so should she have been President instead of "The One"???
I am happy and proud of our commentariat to observe that to this point, a text search of this thread reveals no use of the word "owe."
Because if Ruth Bader Ginsburg thought that her wishes were or are owed any consideration whatsoever in the Constitutional political process, Youngblood Preacher has a few words to say to her around the 1:01 mark:
https://youtu.be/r8lVYz-OPzw
Installed seems doubly curious, since it isn't necessary. "It is my most fervent wish that I not be replaced before the President is," would have been punchier and avoided the suspiciously Millennial passive voice in the last clause.
"Most fervent wish," feels odd for a dying person to say (you really can't think of anything you'd like more than this?), too, and stilted, like a younger person trying to sound like an older one.
asdf
Hispanics, taken as a group, should not be taken as a group.
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