Jewish observerS - are pleased with President Clinton's
choice for the Supreme Court.
KIMBERLY LIFTON STAFF WRITER
Ruth Bader
Ginsburg:
President
Clinton's
court nominee.
here had been rumblings
about a Jew being
appointed to the U.S.
Supreme Court for some
time. Yet Jewish groups
remained quiet for fear
that lobbying might create
a backlash.
Still, the fact that a
Jewish judge shad not
served on the U.S.
Supreme Court since the
resignation of Abe Fortas
in 1969 left many hopeful
that this would be the
year to reclaim a Jewish
seat.
Monday's nomination by
President Bill Clinton of
an irrelevant considera-
tion. It is important to
have people who are good
people, along with their
qualifications.
"Women have different
perspectives from men;
Jews have different per-
spectives from non-Jews;
blacks have different per-
spectives from whites,"
Ms. White said. "She will
bring a different perspec-
tive to that court."
If confirmed by the U.S.
Senate, Ms. Bader
Ginsburg, 60, would
become the second woman
on the High Court, and the
sixth Jewish judge, follow-,
ing Louis Brandeis,
Benjamin Cordozo, Felix
Frankfurter, Arthur Gold-
berg and Mr. Fortas. A
longtime advocate for
women's rights with a
moderate court record, she
is the first Democratic
presidential pick in 26
years.
Ms. Ginsburg is touted
as a favorable choice by
Senate Democrats and
Republicans, and is set to
replace Byron White, a
moderate who was
appointed by President
John F. Kennedy.
"She sounds good to
me," said Kathleen Straus,
a member of the Michigan
Board of Education. "I
U.S. Court of Appeals
wouldn't have been as
Judge Ruth Bader
excited had it been
Ginsburg to the U.S.
Stephen Breyer (the
Supreme Court came as a
Jewish
candidate most
pleasant surprise to.
touted
by
the media). I am
Jewish judges, women and
excited because she is a
community leaders. A
woman who has played a
Jewish woman, they said,
leading role in developing
will bring a new per-
equal treatment under the
spective to the High
law for women."
Court.
As an attorney for the
"I am really pleased to
American
Civil Liberties
see a Jewish woman nomi-
Union,
Ms. Bader
nated to the court," said
Ginsburg argued six
Michigan Court of Appeals
women's rights cases
Judge Helene White. "She
before
the U.S. Supreme
strikes me as being a
Court.
She
won five. For
thoughtful, intelligent and
her work, she often is
a nice person, which is not
referred to as "the
Thurgood Marshall of the
women's movement."
The American Jewish
Committee, American
Jewish Congress and B'nai
B'rith International
praised Judge Bader
Ginsburg for her dissent-
ing opinion in Goldman v.
Secretary of Defense, in
which the U.S. Court of
Appeals of the District of
Columbia let stand a regu-
lation that banned wear-
ing yarmulkes while on
duty.
Yet these same groups
criticized Ms. Bader
Ginsburg when she con-
curred with an opinion by
U.S. Appeals Court Judge
Laurence Silberman, say-
ing convicted spy
Jonathan Pollard's case
should not be reopened.
"We would be mistaken
to pass judgment on her
on the basis of a single
decision she made," said
David Gad-Harf, executive
director for the Jewish
Community Council of
Metropolitan Detroit. "I
am very excited about the
appointment, mostly
because she is a Jewish
woman. She has been in
the forefront of the
women's rights movement,
and she is someone we
should be proud of.
"We have examples of
Jews on the U.S. Supreme <
Court, and that makes a
statement that we can be
in positions of great influ-
ence."
Sam Rabinove, national
legal director for the
American Jewish
Committee, said Ms.
Bader Ginsburg was the
most qualified of all those
on the list.
"No judge is infallible,
and people will find (
things to criticize; but
her record is splendid,"
Mr. Rabinove said. ❑