The Ginsburg Address Commentary
(c) Wikimedia (Fred Schilling, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States)
The Ginsburg Address
Edited by: Khushali Mahajan | Rajiv Gandhi National U. of Law, IN
João Carlos Souto, Professor of Constitutional Law at Centro Universitário UDF, Brazil, writes the Ginsburg Address, after seeking inspiration from the iconic Gettysburg Address, in honour of the late Associate Justice of the SCOTUS, Ruth Bader Ginsburg...

One score and 7 years ago, a man from Arkansas, brought forth on SCOTUS, a new kind of Associate Justice, inspired by Opera, conceived in Liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men and women are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a kind of Political Civil War, testing whether this nation or any nation and the Supreme Court so conceived and so dedicated must live. We have come to dedicate some minutes of reflection to the trajectory of that Associate Justice and the Supreme Court she belonged to. It is altogether fit and proper that we should do this.

But in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow the ground of the last four years. The brave men and women, who struggled here against racism, bigotry, misogyny have consecrated far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what she did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which she and others who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to maintain her legacy, words and wisdom. The United States of America, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and the 2020 Presidential Election is the right path to maintain the government of the people, by the people, for the people, and ensure that the Lighthouse of Democracy will not perish from the earth.

 

João Carlos Souto is a Professor of Constitutional Law (Centro Universitário UDF, Brasília, Brazil), S.J.D. student (CEUB-Brasília), Attorney of the National Treasury and author of the book “Suprema Corte dos Estados Unidos – Principais Decisões (Atlas, 3a edição, 2019).

 

Suggested citation: João Carlos Souto, The Ginsburg Address, JURIST – Academic Commentary, October 31, 2020, https://www.jurist.org/commentary/2020/10/joão-carlos-souto-ginsburg-address/.

This article was prepared for publication by Khushali Mahajan, a JURIST staff editor. Please direct any questions or comments to her at commentary@jurist.org

Opinions expressed in JURIST Commentary are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JURIST's editors, staff, donors or the University of Pittsburgh.
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