Ginsburg was a ‘rare prophet’

I appreciated Ed Condran’s column describing his daughter’s reaction to hearing that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died (“The impact of the notorious RBG,” Oct. 5).

She was not alone in shedding tears. So many were stunned and saddened by the news, although we knew that at some point cancer might take her. Some dismiss the “notorious RBG” moniker as a function of our pop culture. It is true that no Supreme Court justice has had the popular profile she had while a sitting justice. But as Ed’s daughter rightly pointed out, her profile as a trailblazer began much earlier, especially as an attorney for the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project during which time she argued not just for women’s rights, but that men should not be discriminated against on the basis of sex.

Justice Ginsburg’s rabbi, Lauren Holtzblatt, delivered moving eulogies at both the Supreme Court and the Capitol. She said about RBG, “To be born into a world that does not see you, that does not believe in your potential, that does not give you a path for opportunity … and despite this to be able to … imagine that something can be different … that is the job of a prophet, and it is the rare prophet who … makes that new world a reality in her lifetime.”

That was who Justice Ginsburg was, a “rare prophet.” I will miss her.

Kathryn Lee

Spokane