Tucson, Arizona Sunday, 10 August 2003
* M.L.B. v. S.L.J., a 1996 ruling that allowed a Mississippi woman to appeal
the loss of her parental rights even though she could not afford to pay about
$2,350 in administrative court costs. "We place decrees forever terminating
parental rights in the category of cases in which the State may not 'bolt the
door to equal justice,' " Ginsburg wrote for a 6-3 majority.
* United States v. Virginia, a 1996 ruling that forced the tax-supported Virginia
Military Institute to admit women for the first time in its more than 150-year
history. "Education, to be sure, is not a 'one size fits all' business,"
Ginsburg wrote for a 7-1 majority. "The issue, however, is not whether
women, or men, should be forced to attend VMI; rather, the question is whether
the state can constitutionally deny to women who have the will and capacity,
the training and attendant opportunities that VMI uniquely affords."
* Ring v. Arizona, a 2002 ruling that struck down death penalty laws in several
states because a judge, not a jury, had the final say over whether a convicted
killer would die. Those laws violate the Constitution's Sixth Amendment, even
though they were intended to make death sentences more evenhanded, Ginsburg
wrote for a 7-2 majority. "The Sixth Amendment jury trial right . . . does
not turn on the relative rationality, fairness or efficiency of potential fact-finders,"
she wrote.
* Ginsburg dissented in a 1995 ruling, Adarand Constructors v. Pena, that dramatically
limited the use of racial preference programs in government contracting.
"White and African-American consumers still encounter different deals.
People of color looking for housing still face discriminatory treatment by landlords,
real estate agents, and mortgage lenders. Minority entrepreneurs sometimes fail
to gain contracts though they are the low bidders, and they are sometimes refused
work even after winning contracts. Bias both conscious and unconscious, reflecting
traditional and unexamined habits of thought, keeps up barriers that must come
down if equal opportunity and nondiscrimination are ever genuinely to become
this country's law and practice."
* Ginsburg was also on the losing side in Bush v. Gore, the 2000 ruling that
ended Democrat Al Gore's hopes of becoming president. "The court's conclusion
that a constitutionally adequate recount is impractical is a prophecy the court's
own judgment will not allow to be tested. Such an untested prophecy should not
decide the presidency of the United States."
The Associated Press