pursuit of america's highest ideal, equal justice under the law. a jewish teaching says that those who died just before the jewish new year, or those who godt is held back until the last moment because they were most needed on earth so it seems fitting that justice ruth bader ginsburg last trend left this world is a some ascetic last friday at the start of russia sean. works before she made histories on the second woman to ever serve in the united states supreme court. even at that time she'd already earned an enduring place in american history. she has been called the third good marshal of the gender equality movement. as a lawyer and law professor she was the mastermind in the 1970s behind a legal strategy that finally began to dismantle an american legal system that treated women and many ways as second-class

citizens professor david cole called her strategy radical incrementalism. it's hard today for many americans to imagine how deeply entrenched and how commonly accepted gender discrimination was in american law and american society. before ruthea bader ginsburg began her legal crusade to make real for women the worlds of the doors of the supreme court, equal justice under the brought change to the way the world is for women and for awe americans. before she began her legal crusade, women were treated by law differently than men, hundreds of state and federal laws and programs restricted what women could t do. many jobs were legally close to women, many basic economic social and legal rights we now take for granted were l legally denied for women for no reason other than gender. a before the legal victories achieved by ruth bader ginsburg, the women could not

often on her own, by a car, open a checking account, get a credit card, sign a lease, obtain a mortgage, buy real, opr obtain a business loan. she needed a man to cosign. before ruth bader ginsburg, women could be and were barred from public institutionss that excluded professions they could be demoted or fired if they became pregnant. in fact ruth bader ginsburg yiherself was forced to accept a lower paying job with the social security administration when she became pregnant at age 21 with her first s child. her legal strategy was strategic, knowing that she needed to persuade mostly mail judges including an awe mail supreme court, she chose cases it illustrated how gender discrimination could also harm men.

she took up the case of a young widower whose wife died in childbirth. the man one to stay home to raise his son but was denied social security survivor's benefits because such benefits by law could only go to widows. decades later when that little boy, who was the subject of this case grew up, justice ginsburg officiated at his wedding. at the supreme court building. her goal was simple but compelling. to make clear that the 14th amendment promise of equal protection under the law covers women as well as men. as i said it was not only women who benefited but her's life work for if you are man has been covered by your thank medical benefits, ruth bader ginsburg pretty you been able to claim social security survival benefits or name a woman as executor state , thank ruth bader ginsburg. we have not erased gender-based inequality and ruth bader ginsburg knew that

well. some of the legal victories for equal justice at sea and others achieved are now threatened. now have been diminished outright. her concern about these threats was the basis for some of her most famous and fiery dissents and why this often quiet soft-spoken woman took the unusual step many times of reading her dissent from the bench, she wanted us to understand what was at stake so we could join her in the fight. that is what she did in 2007 case of lily versus u.s. tire.ily versus the supreme court ruled that the woman paid less than her mail coworkers forrs years to be exactly the same work, could not sue her former employer for wageor discrimination. the woman only learned about the pay gap after she retired. but a conservative majority than on the court, ruled that she had lost her chance at

justice by failing to sue within six months of her first unequal paycheck. inal her dissent, justice ginsburg challenge congress to correct this injustice, and we did. the very first law signed by president barack obama, was the lily led better fair pay act. that company that signed law hung and her supreme court chambers as a gift from obama.nt he signed it with the following inscription. thanks for helping create a more equal and just society. in her dissent in the 2013 voting rights case, shelby county versus holder, which gutted the heart of the voting rights acts for justice ginsburg pointed out the awful irony of the majority decision. she wrote that throwing up the need for jurisdiction with histories of voter suppression declared changes in the voting laws before elections because the laws had already worked, was quote like throwing away

your umbrella and a rainstorm because you are not getting wet. she was right. our democracy will be stronger today had just one more justice on the supreme court agreed with her. it is up to congress not to heed her warning bypassing the john lewis voting rights advancement act which languishes on the desk of senator mcconnell. ruth bader ginsburg was a champion of workers rights. of disability rights. lgbtq rights. and environmental justice. and she was a woman who believed deeply, the part of america's greatness is to welcome and safety and opportunity that america's offered to immigrants and refugees for most of our history. like myself, justice ginsburg was a child of an immigrant who came to this country partly to flee live just persecution. my mother and her family left russian occupied lithuania partly to escape anti-catholic

persecution. her father, ginsburg father left russia for new york when he was 13 to-j escape anti-jewish programs. the born in new york for month after they move from austria. extended family members later died in the holocaust. justice ginsburg's mother was like my mother and another way.wo they were both very intelligent women who were denied a full education because the money was tight. because they lived in a time and expectations about women were so low. like my mother, sylvia ginsburg tookhi her child to the public library which she would check out as many books as she could reid priddy saved her penny so her daughter could one day at the college education she was never able to get herself. sylvia ginsburg dreams are bright young daughter might growow up, if she were lucky and works really hard and become a high school history teacher.

instead, ruth bader ginsburg grew up and change history. she changed america forever. v america is fundamentally different and fair as a nation because of the division a work of ruth bader ginsburg. i recalled over the weekend, repeated to my wife, this amazing statistic that ruth bader ginsburg battled cancer five times over nearly 20 years. and then of course, lifted the death ten years ago of her beloved husband, marty. but she almost never missed a day on the bench. she worked there chemo sickness, broken ribs, terrible pain. nevertheless, she persisted. i want to read you something she said r many times, i really like this. she said, what is the difference between a bookkeeper in eric's garment district and a supreme court justice? one generation. my own wife bears witness she said, the deficit and the

opportunities available to my mother and those afforded to me. ruth bader ginsburg did not simply take opportunities afforded to women, more than perhaps any american in history, she helped create those opportunities. we offer our deepest condolences to her friends and her family. especially her daughter, jane, her son james who now calls chicago home, her grandchildren and her great-granddaughter, it may her memory be a blessing and make her be a guiding light for awe of us. madam president i asked consent the nace segment be placed and the next part of the record. two without objective icepack meta- president, americans across the nation was shocked and devastated when they heard the news of justice ginsburg's passing. it was a moment we will not forget. the gravity of that announcement hit hard because the loss of a national icon, because of the sense of foreboding of what would happen next, right here in

this chamber, and the united states senate. the year 2020 has already brought us so much pain and anguish.00 pandemic that is killed 200,000 americans, sickened over 6 million. devastating job losses and economic damage. long overdue of a racial justice wildfires natural wildfires destroying communities. the president sadly seeks to divide andng inflame. instead of uniting america and bringing together with common purpose.es justice ginsburg foresaw the tension that her absence but the court would cause. shortly before she passed away, justice ginsburg said and i quote, my most fervent will not be i

replaced until a new president is installed. unfortunately, justice ginsburg's last request is falling onhe deaf ears in the senate chamber. shortly after the news of her death, senator mcconnell announced he would hold a supreme court vote this year. look at what senator mcconnell said himself. the date was february 13, 2016. justice scalia had died. a vacancy on the supreme court. here is what senator mcconnell, then the leader of the senate said, the american people should have a voice in the selection of the next supreme court justice. therefore this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president. the words of senator mitch mcconnell. that statement is very clear

and unambiguous. senator mcconnell made 269 days before the presidential election. it is a so-called o'connell rul rule. this was a firm president establishing the senate republicans would not consider a nominee in an election year. president barack obama sent the name of garland to the senate for a hearing and a vote. the treatment he received from the senate was d disgraceful. senator mcconnell announced he would not even give him the time of date nor meet with him in his office. and he those republican senators who did. merrick garland was being shoved by senator mcconnell because of his rule. the mcconnell rule. no vacancy shall bewe filled until we have a new president. steadfast in his determination

to show that this principle will prevail and shunned mary garlan garland. well, it turns out that this rule of law, this mcconnell rule, that guided the senate for years ago was on a sector sent as one might think. a nation guided by a rule of law cannot have one set of rules with a democratic president and another set under republican presidents. that is just what senator mcconnell called for on friday. shortly after the news, a short time after the news of justice ginsburg's passing, he said, senator mcconnell's", president trump's nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the united states senate. in direct violation of his own statement four years ago, senator mcconnell said that within hours after the announcement of the death of justice ginsburg, when senator

mcconnell made that statement there were only 46 days from election. many states has already started casting their vote. senator mcconnell's justification for breaking his own rule simply don't stand up to scrutiny. distinction without any difference. and they have never stood up to l common sense. senator mcconnell clearly said when he laid down the mcconnell rule on febrile 13th 2016, that the american people shall have the last word. and that election your supreme court vacancy should be filled in the nextti presidential term. their network no caveats, no exceptions no amendments restated clearly when just a handful of words. now senator mcconnell claims that whether or not the american people depend on which party controls the senate h. now his party controls the senate and his party has the president. and the rules, the so-called mcconnell rule we were to live

by apparently is being rejected by senator mcconnell himself 2. he says that what republicans did in 2016 was acceptable because the senate at that time was controlled by democrats. pardon me by republicans for the white house and the different party in the white house that year. a distinction without a difference. d why should the composition the senate dictate whether or not the american people should have a voice and selection of the next supreme court justice. he could just as easily point out that 2016 was different because we had a president, barack obama, who actually want a popular vote unlike the current president. should that p affectce resolved with theut american people get a voice in the courts future? either the american people do get it election your voice for running the court or they don't.d in 2016, senator mcconnell said they do. now he says they don't. it is a flip-flop, plain and simple because it is to his personal political advantage

to reverse this stated principle. effort republican dissented senate harry reid to change the senate rules for lower court nominations in 2013 is no justification to anyone who has a memory. senator reid was responding to an precedent republican obstruction of president of obama's nominees. senator reid made a point of not changing the rule. that 60 requirement when it came to supreme court confirmations. it was senator mcconnell who did that in 2017. : : : es that depend on whether it's a republican or democratic president or a republican or democratic senate. that's exactly what senator mcconnell is calling for. so here's what it comes down to. in 2016, senator mcconnell said the people should get the voice through an upcoming election because that outcome at the moment was better for his republican agenda for controlling the court. in 2020, senator mcconnell reversed himself and said the people should not get a voice

through the upcoming election because that outcome is better for the republicans today. for the republicans today. that outcome is better for the republicans today. let's be clear, this is not about rules or principal or comity but this is about raw, partisan power and hypocrisy is bad enough. what makes it worse is that it's hypocrisy so evident the american people at this moment in our history. what is at stake here? is this a matter of the battle of the giants in washington and the big shots screaming at one another in the news through the media? or is there more to it? turns out there is much more. let's start with healthcare appeared this november the supreme court will hear argument in a case in which the trump administration and rachel begins are arguing the affordable care act should be struck down in its