Memorabilia left outside Ginsburg’s old Midwood home. Photo by Todd Maisel
COURIER LIFE, SEPT. 25-OCT. 1, 2020 3
BY MEAGHAN MCGOLDRICK
An illustration of Ruth
Bader Ginsburg surrounded
by four candles on the fountain
at Grand Army Plaza became
the site of a sizeable memorial
service for the fallen Supreme
Court justice on
Sept. 19, just
one day after the iconic jurist
passed away.
Ginsburg, who was born in
Brooklyn in 1933 and grew up
in the Midwood area, died Sept.
18 at the age of 87. Her death
sent shockwaves through the
country — and prompted city
and state leaders to quickly call
for memorials, one of which is
now being eyed for Brooklyn
Bridge Park.
Ginsburg, the second female
justice on the court, died
after a 27-year tenure on the
nation’s high court.
The makeshift memorial
at Grand Army Plaza drew
crowds of distraught mourners,
with many sying that
their own work was inspired
by that of the native Brooklynite.
“When I found out about
the news last night, I just
had this overwhelming
fear and I just realized
I couldn’t sit there in
my sadness and in my
grief, I had to do something
and I had to organize,”
said Alejandra Caraballo,
a civil rights lawyer who
organized the Sept. 19 memorial
service.
“Icons like RBG don’t come
around every day and she’s
Brooklyn-made and I think it’s
really important to honor her,”
she said. “Her legacy is going to
be felt for years.”
Caraballo’s memorial drew
mourners from across the fi ve
boroughs, including 21-year-old
Skylar Moore of Queens, who
said she was nervous about the
upcoming nomination process.
“But we can’t just play into
that fear, we can’t just dwell on
what may happen,” she said.
“This weekend we need to take
time to mourn the loss of a true
American hero, and then Monday
we gotta start packing the
Senate’s halls, we gotta write
every single senator, I don’t
care if they’re Democrat or Republican,
and we gotta make
sure that our voices are heard.”
The next day, admirers of
Ginsburg continued to make
the pilgrimage to her former
home in Midwood, where some
laid fl owers, others left messages
and some just came to see
where she lived so many years
ago.
She lived at 1584 E. Ninth
St. for much of her childhood
— and even though she hadn’t
lived at the address since about
1950, residents of the block expressed
pride that the “Notorious
RBG” had roots in the community.
“Everyone in the country
was rooting for her,” said Jean
Marotta, a fi rst grade teacher
at P.S. 104 in Bay Ridge who
held a children’s book titled, “I
Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Makes Her Mark.”
Mazie Isay, 9, laid fl owers at
the base of a tree where memorabilia
was left in her honor.
Beth Saidel, of Soho, came
to the house with her husband
Joe and son Oliver. She said
her aunt Lois and Ginsburg
had been writing letters to each
other for 17 years
“They had a lovely back and
forth all these years, and so
now we have a box full of notes,”
Saidel said.
Additional reporting by
Todd Maisel and Paul Frangipane
Brooklynites mourn
famed justice’s passing
Pols vow to fi ght against Trump appointment
BY TODD MAISEL
United States Senate
Minority Leader Charles
Schumer called efforts to appoint
a new Supreme Court
Justice to fill the seat of held
by Ruth Bader Ginsburg before
the 2020 presidential
election “despicable” at a
Sunday memorial in Midwood
honoring the late Supreme
Court justice.
At the event outside
James Madison High School
— which is both Schumer’s
and Ginsburg’s alma mater
— the New York senator
and Bronx Congresswoman
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
blasted Senate Republicans
for rushing to fill the vacancy,
citing their refusal
to confirm President Barack
Obama’s nominee, Merrick
Garland, in 2016, citing the
proximity to a national election.
“We all need to be more
courageous, to make sure
our rights are stabilized, to
make sure Mitch McConnell
hears us. We need to tell him
he’s playing with fire,” Congresswoman
Ocasio said at
the memorial.
Ginsburg, in one of her
final comments before her
death, had said, “My most
fervent wish is that I will not
be replaced until a new president
is installed.”
Ginsburg’s passing on
Sept. 18 comes only six
weeks before the November
election, compared to the
nearly eight months stretch
between when Obama nominated
Garland and the 2016
election.
Surrounded by candles
and memorabilia, Schumer
urged attendees to call their
Republican Senators and
urge them to delay the confirmation
proceedings.
“We only need two more
senators who say will abide
by Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s
wish – we need two more,” he
said. “If you care about these
rights, don’t want wealthy
special interests to control
the court, then it’s my fervent
wish that you call your
senator.”
Thus far, however, only
two Republican senators
have voice opposition to moving
forward with a conformation
of a new member of
the court — Lisa Murkowski
of Alaska and Susan Collins
of Maine.
Raising the stakes of his
criticism, Schumer also
called Trump and Senate
Majority Leader Mitch Mc-
Connell’s efforts to quickly
fill Ginsburg’s seat tantamount
to “shoving the
wishes of the hard right
down America’s throat, and
that despicable.”
President Trump told
supporters at a rally that he
intends to nominate a female
justice to replace Ginsburg,
possibly this week.
McConnell said the legislative
branch would hold
hearings and try to schedule
a vote before the November
election, claiming that they
have the constitutional authority
to do so.
Paul Frangipane
Paul Frangipane