US Supreme Court Justice and liberal icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg (also known as RBG), 87, died on September 18, opening a crucial vacancy on the high court expected to set off a pitched political battle at the peak of the presidential campaign.
Ginsburg became only the second woman to serve as a Supreme Court Justice, when she was appointed to the court in 1993 by president Bill Clinton.
She anchored its liberal faction, whittled to four by two appointments since 2017 from US President Donald Trump. The number of justices of the Supreme Court of the Unites States is nine; each justice has lifetime tenure.
Photo: EPA-EFE 照片：歐新社
Over the past decade, the Supreme Court has made several sweeping rulings on social equality issues in 5-4 votes, including its landmark decision approving gay marriage in 2015. Last term, the court held in a 6-3 decision that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or transgender status constitutes unlawful sex discrimination in the workplace.
Coming just over a month before the Nov. 3 US presidential election in which Trump lags his Democratic rival Joe Biden in the polls, the vacancy offers the Republican president a chance to solidly lock in a conservative majority at the court for decades to come.
That could lead to a court that would potentially reverse abortion rights, strengthen the powers of business, and water down rights provided to minorities and the LGBTQ community over the past three decades.
Over the years Ginsburg has become a legend. Her personal and legal struggles for equal rights are featured in the documentary RBG and biographical movie On the Basis of Sex, which have also cemented Ginsburg’s unlikely status as a pop culture hero.
(AFP with staff writer)
美國最高法院大法官、自由主義代表人物露絲‧貝德‧金斯伯格，於九月十八日辭世，享壽八十七歲。她在最高法院所留下的關鍵職缺，將在美國總統選戰方酣之時引發一場激烈的政治鬥爭。
金斯伯格在一九九三年由美國總統比爾‧柯林頓任命為最高法院大法官，成為第二位擔任大法官的女性。
美國最高法院大法官共有九席，為終身職。總統唐納‧川普自二○一七年以來已任命兩位大法官，使得自由派大法官由四位減少至兩位。金斯伯格是自由派穩住陣腳的支柱。
在過去十年中，最高法院以五票對四票在社會平等方面做出了幾項影響廣泛的裁決，包括二○一五年里程碑式的裁決，承認同性婚姻。在上個會期，最高法院以六票對三票裁定，對性傾向或跨性別者的歧視為性別歧視，而職場中性別歧視是違法的。
距離十一月三日美國總統大選只有一個多月，川普民調落後民主黨競爭對手喬‧拜登，但此大法官遺缺讓共和黨籍的川普有機可乘，讓保守派在未來數十年牢牢把持最高法院的多數。
這可能會使未來的最高法院成為讓權利夭折、讓企業權力擴大的法院，並削弱少數族群及LGBTQ同志社群過去三十年來被賦予的權利。
金斯伯格的身影多年來已成為傳奇，廣受人民尊崇甚至超越網紅。紀錄片《RBG：不恐龍大法官》與傳記電影《法律女王》，即描述她在法律上及個人生命上爭取平權的奮鬥。
（台北時報林俐凱編譯）
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