THE EMBASSY of Ireland in Washington has paid a special tribute to Ruth Bader Ginsburg following the US Supreme Court Justice’s passing at the age of 87.
Ginsburg, who was the oldest of the nine Supreme Court justices in place, died following a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer.
According to an official statement from the court, she slipped away “surrounded by her family at her home in Washington, DC.”
Hundreds of tearful mourners took to the streets of Washington in the hours following her death to lay flours and light candles outside the Supreme Court where Ginsburg served with distinction.
A key figure in the establishment of rights for women and minorities, it was perhaps fitting that Ginsburg, a Jewish woman from Brooklyn, would pass away on the evening marking the beginning of Rosh Hashanah.
According to traditions surrounding the Jewish New Year, those who die during the holiday are revered as “tzaddik” meaning a person of great righteousness.
Ginsburg was a key player in the establishment of civil rights and regularly sought to limit the use of capital punishment in the US.
Tributes came from far and wide in the wake of her passing, with the Embassy of Ireland in the US posting a special message that simply read: “Ní Bheidh A Leithéid Arís Ann.”
Ní Bheidh A Leithéid Arís Ann. pic.twitter.com/VcCDGbnszu
— Embassy of Ireland USA (@IrelandEmbUSA) September 19, 2020
The phrase, written in Gaelige, roughly translates as “they’ll never be my like again” and serves as a fitting homage to a figure that did so much for so many across the United States.
A follow-up statement from the Embassy added: “Our sincere condolences to the family of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a jurist who inspired people across Ireland & the wider world, as in the United States.
“May she rest in peace.”
That was just one of the many tributes paid to Ginsburg.
Barack Obama recalled how she “fought to the end, through her cancer, with unwavering faith in our democracy and its ideals.”
Our sincere condolences to the family of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a jurist who inspired people across Ireland & the wider world, as in the United States. May she rest in peace.
— Embassy of Ireland USA (@IrelandEmbUSA) September 19, 2020
Fellow former president Jimmy Carter was similarly effusive in his praise, describing Ginsburg as a “beacon of justice”.
Hilary Clinton thanked her for paving the way for “so many women” while Chief Justice John Roberts lamented that “Our Nation has lost a jurist of historic stature.”
President Donald Trump said “Whether you agreed or not, she was an amazing woman who led an amazing life while Joe Biden described her as “an American hero, a giant of legal doctrine, and a relentless voice in the pursuit of that highest American ideal: Equal Justice Under Law.”
