Remarks at the University of Buffalo, Buffalo, NY by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg-26/08/2019

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
University of Buffalo
Honorary Degree Remarks
August 26, 2019

This occasion is both a joy and a sorrow for me. A joy because a bright and caring young man in the class below mine at Cornell University, Wayne Wisbaum, was both a strong supporter of the University of Buffalo and its Law School, and a prominent member of Western New York’s legal community. A sorrow, because Wayne did not live to be with us today. In July 2018, Wayne wrote to me that his health disabled him from playing a lead role in the arrangements for my visit, but he still hoped to attend all the events. He asked me to confirm that I would come to Buffalo in August 2019 in any event. I did so immediately, and did not withdraw when my own health presented challenges. Wayne was the very best of lawyers, the least selfregarding, the most dedicated to the well-being of the people, organizations, and communities he served. Although he is no longer in our midst, we remember Wayne with affection and esteem for all the good he has
done.

It was beyond my wildest imagination that I would one day become the Notorious RBG. I am now 86, yet people of all ages want to take their picture with me. Amazing! If I am notorious, it is because I had the good fortune to be alive and a lawyer in the late 1960s. Then, and continuing through the 1970s, for the first time in history, it became possible to urge before courts, successfully, that equal justice under law required all arms of government to regard women as persons equal in stature to men.

In my college years, 1950-1954, it was widely thought that women were not suited for many of life’s occupations — lawyering and bartending, military service, foreign service, driving trucks, piloting planes, policing, serving on juries, to take just a few of many examples that now seem senseless. It was exhilarating to help bring down the barriers that, in Justice Brennan’s words, put women less “on a pedestal,” than “in a cage.” So much has changed for the better since then. True, we have not reached Nirvana, but the progress I have seen in my lifetime makes me optimistic for the future. Our communities, nation, and world will be increasingly improved as women achieve their rightful place in all fields of human endeavor.

At a reception some years ago, a college student asked if I could help her with an assignment. She had one question and hoped to compose a paper by asking diverse people to respond. What, she asked, did I think was the largest problem for the 21st century. My mind raced passed privacy concerns in the electronic age, terrorist threats, deadly weapons, fierce partisan divisions in our legislatures and polity. I thought of Thurgood Marshall’s praise of the evolution of our Constitution’s opening words, “We, the people,” to embrace once excluded, ignored, or undervalued people — people held in human bondage, Native Americans, women, even men who owned no real property. I thought next of our nation’s motto: E Pluribus Unum, of many, one. The challenge is to make or keep our communities places where we can tolerate, even
celebrate, our differences, while pulling together for the common good. “Of many, one” is the main aspiration, I believe; it is my hope for our country and world.

With appreciation for the degree just awarded me, I am proud to be affiliated with the University of Buffalo
and its Law School.

CURRENT SUPREME COURT JUDGMENTS

Somesh Chaurasia Vs. State of Madhya Pradesh & Anr-22/07/21 - There are distinct doctrinal concepts in criminal law namely (i) the grant of bail before trial or, what is described as the 'pre-conviction' stage; (ii) setting aside an order granting bail when the principles which must weigh in the decision on whether bail should be granted have been overlooked or wrongly applied; (iii) the post- conviction suspension of sentence under the provisions of Section 389(1); and (iv) the cancellation of bail on the ground of supervening events, such as the conduct of the accused during the period of bail, vitiating the continuance of bail.
Union of India Vs. Rajendra N. Shah & Anr-20/07/21 - These appeals raise an important question as to the vires of the Constitution (Ninety Seventh Amendment) Act, 2011 [the "Constitution 97th Amendment Act"] which inter alia introduced Part IXB under the chapter heading 'The Co-operative Societies'. The Constitution 97th Amendment Act was passed by the requisite majority of the Lok Sabha on 27.12.2011 and the Rajya Sabha on 28.12.2011.
K.P. Natarajan & Anr. Vs. Muthalammal & Ors-16/07/2021 - There is no dispute on facts and there is no escape from the conclusion that the respondents have been grossly negligent in defending the suit as well as the execution proceedings. But the fact remains that while the parties can afford to remain negligent, the Court cannot. The High Court has found, after summoning the records from the trial Court that as a matter of fact, the trial Court failed to appoint a guardian for the third respondent/minor in a manner prescribed by law.
Sachin Kashyap & Ors. Vs. Sushil Chandra Srivastava & Ors-15/07/2021 - Writ Petition having been filed for a particular cause and with a particular prayer cannot be expanded to cover within its ambit all the issues which may be of general or public importance without there being any pleadings or prayer with regard to a particular issue.

EXECUTIVE ORDERS

Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy-09/07/2021 - The American information technology sector has long been an engine of innovation and growth, but today a small number of dominant Internet platforms use their power to exclude market entrants, to extract monopoly profits, and to gather intimate personal information that they can exploit for their own advantage.
Blocking Property and Suspending Entry Into USA of Certain Persons Contributing to Destabilizing Situation in Western Balkans-EO-08/06/21 - All property and interests in property that are in the United States, that hereafter come within the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of any United States person of the following persons are blocked and may not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in: any person determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State
Threat posed by military Industry of China- Biden Issued Executive Order-03/06/2021 - I find that the use of Chinese surveillance technology outside the PRC and the development or use of Chinese surveillance technology to facilitate repression or serious human rights abuse constitute unusual and extraordinary threats, which have their source in whole or substantial part outside the United States, to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States, and I hereby expand the scope of the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13959 to address those threats.
Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity-EO 12/05/2021 - The United States faces persistent and increasingly sophisticated malicious cyber campaigns that threaten the public sector, the private sector, and ultimately the American people’s security and privacy. The Federal Government must improve its efforts to identify, deter, protect against, detect, and respond to these actions and actors. The Federal Government must also carefully examine what occurred during any major cyber incident and apply lessons learned. But cybersecurity requires more than government action.

© Advocatetanmoy Law Library

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