[ad_1]
U.S. Supreme Court Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Thursday expressed her sympathy with her counterparts in Israel's highest court, but not because of thorny human rights situations they may face. .
"Here, there is a mandatory retirement age: If I were in Israel, I would have retired 15 years ago," she said at the University of New York. audience of the Jerusalem Cinematheque, following a screening of the documentary about his life and career, "RBG".
The 85-year-old jurist's resistance to retirement is one of the topics discussed in the film, when she says she's determined to stay put as long as she can do her job "at full throttle" – and obviously taking It was asked if she regretted not having resigned during the Obama administration, in order to be replaced by a liberal justice.
The acclaimed documentary was screened a day after Ginsburg received the inaugural Genesis Lifetime Achievement Award in Tel Aviv. A representative of the organization interviewed Ginsburg after Thursday's screening.
Ginsburg said it was his fifth visit to Israel. During a visit to Jerusalem earlier in the day, she met and had lunch with the judges of the Supreme Court of Israel.
Ginsburg said that she had initially been offered the main Genesis Award, but had to refuse it, she explained, "because our Constitution prohibits anyone in public office from accepting anything "From a foreign government, and the Genesis selection committee includes members of the Knesset.
Her decision led to the creation of the Lifetime Achievement Award, which she said was selected by a committee of previous Genesis Award winners. She was "very happy" to be the first winner, adding, "I hope that there will be many more."
Ginsburg's decision to decline the main award inadvertently triggered a scandal when actor Natalie Portman, who became the new recipient of the award, declined to attend the awards ceremony in Israel because of the presence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Unsurprisingly, the Genesis representative did not mention it during the Q & A with Ginsburg.
When Justice, who has served on the Supreme Court since 1993, was questioned about the influence of her Jewish background on her approach to the law, she noted that at the entrance from his room, there was a large poster with Hebrew letters saying " Tzedek, tzedek, tirdaf – justice, justice that you pursue."
"The concept of tikkun olam – repairing tears in your community and making things a bit better for people less fortunate than you – that's certainly part of my Jewish heritage," he said. She also noted with pride that her office had the only mezuzah in the Supreme Court – a gift, she said, of a Jewish girls' school in her native Brooklyn.
Magnolia Pictures / AP
In addition to its improbable status as a celebrity and cultural icon, the other goal of "RBG" is on the pioneering legal work of Ginsburg in promoting equality for the women.
But while she welcomed the adoption by the US court of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment with regard to gender equality, she did not go far enough for the satisfied.
Ginsburg said that she hoped to see equality for women explicitly stated in the Constitution "in my life".
Waving the small Constitution that she held throughout her appearance on stage, she told the audience, "When I take this Constitution to show my granddaughters, I can not always not mention a provision that offers equal protection to women. … I would like to withdraw this Constitution and tell my great-granddaughter: "Your equality is a fundamental principle of the United States."
While she was careful to avoid the current controversy that is plaguing the United States over the choice of a new Supreme Court Justice to replace Judge Anthony Kennedy after that. " he announced his retirement last month, she lamented The process of appointment and confirmation of judges was less partisan.
"I was considered a controversial person because of my affiliation with the ACLU," she said. And yet, this affiliation was not a problem during the confirmation process, in which the Senate confirmed it with a 96-3 vote. She noted that her "biggest supporter" was Republican conservative Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch.
"Since then, the Senate has tended to split along party lines – and it's unfortunate," she said. "I hope that someday we will return to the bipartisan spirit that once prevailed in the matter of confirmation of judges."
[ad_2]
Source link
