Readers React: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the irreplaceable Supreme Court justice

To the editor: I find the debate about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg more than fascinating, and I understand those who would have her retire so that President Obama may pick her replacement. (“Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg signals she has no plans to retire soon,” Sept. 20)

But Ginsburg is no ordinary justice. Over the years she has fought for the marginalized, the poor, the minorities, the weak. Her voice has become louder and more insistent when confronting the five men on the court who don’t appear to recognize the realities of ordinary Americans’ lives, especially the realities of women’s lives.

I have idolized Eleanor Roosevelt all my life as a fighter for women and minorities, and in this generation Ginsburg has taken up Roosevelt’s banner. She speaks for me and every other person in this country who cares about women’s and minorities’ rights, and I want her voice and her fighting spirit to continue on the court as long as she has breath.

I pray that will be a long, long time.

Linda Winters, Culver City

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To the editor: My parents were married in Alabama during the Great Depression. My father’s wedding present to my mother was a corner cabinet and buffet he handcrafted from the oak floorboards of a burned-down house.

Their first two children died as infants, and my father and his brothers rode the freights to Pennsylvania, where they worked and slept in the coal fields and sent their money back home. Only when President Roosevelt started the Civilian Conservation Corps was my father able to return.

People don’t develop their political philosophies haphazardly. My hope is that Ginsburg is replaced by a liberal justice of her caliber.

Ronald Webster, Long Beach

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