Ruth Bader Ginsburg, US Supreme Court Justice: selective values so long it is not for Palestinians
By: Ismail Y Syed
Tags: Israel, Equality, SCOTUS, Palestine, Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 2016 official portrait, credit: Supreme Court of the United States

By Ismail Y Syed

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (hereafter RBG) while being acknowledged as a fierce feminist campaigner and who added the much needed moderate voice as well as gave a new judicial dimension for progressive values, RBG also needs to be seen against the background of all her records and selective activism for selective rights. RBG was a clear pro zionist whose actions and deeds showed she supported or condoned Israel, a state that resembles no less than of an apartheid state, disregarding many Palestinians, women and girls among them who weren’t worthy of her judicial activism or her stride for equality, fairness and justice. No one should be let off the hook who advocate people’s rights selectively. Last but not least RBG chose — in contrast to other honourable Jewish brethren members — to go and collect the nominated Genesis award honoured to her by an apartheid Israeli regime that is bent on settlers’ occupation and systematic violations of Palestinians’ rights in violation of international norms and laws. RBG, by collecting Genesis Lifetime Achievement Award — whose recipient serves as a role model for Jews worldwide through a connection and commitment to their Jewish identity, Jewish values, the international Jewish community and/or the State of Israel (the last part to be noted) — she made a statement of ‘see no evil hear no evil’ in relation to the downtrodden rights of millions of Palestinians — women female community among them — whose right to equality and justice does not matter. To the contrary, actress Natalie Portman declined to collect the award from Israel as the state that was awarding it no longer reflected the humanitarian/Jewish values she was brought up with.

Had RBG been lesser of a public justice figure and more of a former Congress/Senate leader, benefit of doubt may have been given but she was a judge at the nation’s top court holding one of the highest and prestigious constitutional offices in the land whose statements and omissions can shape the legacy for generations to come, therefore RBG ought to know the consequences of actions and inactions and it is fair to judge her that way. Late practising English barrister, Muzahid Ali Syed, used to say that people from other professions are judged by their actions, while members of the esteemed judiciary and legal profession are judged by their omissions and inactions; to rephrase, they are judged by even more higher standard as pure as they can be, as impartial as they can be and as fair and equitable as they can be. There is a legal maxim, particularly for those in positions of authority and influence, that their inaction and silence can speaks as much as their words and actions, where their inaction and omissions can amount to complicity, where their silence amounts to crime and RBG therefore need to be assessed in that context. RBG was not a politician where personal bias comes into play for vote grabbing interests or the need to serve a particular lobby. She was well informed or ought to be informed of consequences of her actions and inactions as a person occupying the highest constitutional office for delivering rights, justice and fairness, not least her acceptance of award from a regime whose policies resembles settler driven apartheid, which even the A list celebrity had the moral sense to decline to attend the award as mentioned earlier, yet RBG went all the way to show her acceptance of the award. RBG needs to be praised as well as condemned, she needs to be judged by her actions and her inactions, her silence and indifference/turning a blind eye to the injustices and sufferings inflicted on thousands of Palestinian women and children who have been deprived of their male loved ones, thanks to tit for tat warcrimes committed and extra judicial killings by Israel under the so called pretext of self defence against the Palestinian victims living under the occupation. How can Justice Ginsburg possibly fail to see the miscarriage of justice or the absence of international law and norms toward the Palestinian people by willing to accept the award from a rightwing regime of Israel, a state whose government is bent on eroding egalitarian secularism and bring on race based supremacy laws? Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been made into overblown cult figure by the progressive left when it comes to equality, fairness and justice and she therefore ought to be judged both on her actions and her inactions/indifferences to the very values she is known to have stood up for, wherever she spoke or travelled. Speaking up for selective rights, selective fairness and justice isn’t an honourable thing to do, certainly not for a justice who served at the nation’s highest and prestigious court of the land where people place their trust as the last and final place for judicial conscience on fairness, equality and justice. Judicial silence and acts of omissions are also taken seriously and looked up to by many for cues on getting the direction on rule of law, justice and fairness on a values that are consistent and not selective. RBG may indeed have been a vocal judicial activist like no other for progressive feminist values but she needs to be judged with the wider cohort where she really belonged: white feminist liberalist school that draws inspiration from and uses the same post Enlightenment white imperialist values that are made to work for the white liberal imperialists, feminism being among them.

Twitter @IsmailYSyed