A Bolt of Lightning: Measuring the Impact of Modern Transitions on the Supreme Court

Authors

Daniel Kiel, The University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law

Abstract

Lightning struck on September 18, 2020. In a year in which so many unimaginable events had unfolded and were unfolding, the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg sent shock waves not only through the nation’s legal community, but throughout the country. Ginsburg, a champion of women’s rights as both lawyer and Justice, the multi-time survivor of cancer, the Court’s tiny, surprising, and notorious rock star, passed away at a precarious moment. Aside from the existential challenge presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, the nation was 46 days from a presidential election. Given that the responsibility of nominating Supreme Court Justices fell to the President, battle lines were drawn over whether the current President ought to move forward nominating a replacement for Justice Ginsburg, or rather, whether the results of the election should impact who the next Justice would be.

Keywords

Executive Branch, Politics (General), Gender and the Law, Judges, Legal Education, Biography, Supreme Court of the United States

Disciplines

Judges | Law | Law and Gender | Law and Politics | Legal Biography | Legal Education | President/Executive Department | Supreme Court of the United States

Recommended Citation

Daniel Kiel, A Bolt of Lightning: Measuring the Impact of Modern Transitions on the Supreme Court, 42 Cardozo L. Rev. 2813 (2021).
Available at: https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/clr/vol42/iss7/7