Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Statue To Be Located In Brooklyn

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Statue To Be Located In Brooklyn
At the memorial for RBG last month. (Photo: Zainab Iqbal/Bklyner)

BROOKLYN –  New York Governor Cuomo announced last month that NYS would honor the legacy of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg with a statue of her in her hometown of Brooklyn – Ginsburg grew up and attended school in Midwood.  Yesterday he announced the commission that would provide recommendations to him regarding the artist, design, location, and installation of the statue.

The commission includes 18 members and five honorary members, all appointed by the Governor himself. The members are Ginsburg’s daughter Jane Ginsburg; Ginsburg’s granddaughters Clara Spera and Mimi Ginsburg;  Ginsburg’s artist/portraitist Constance Beaty; the co-Author of “Notorious RGB: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and senior correspondent at New York Magazine Irin Carmon;  James Madison High School principal Jodie Cohen; president of the Human Rights Campaign Alphonso David; president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center Fatima Goss Graves; Ginsburg’s former clerk and Special Counsel for Ethics, Risk and Compliance at MTA, Subash Iyer; United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Judge Robert A. Katzmann; co-author of “Notorious RGB: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg” and staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society, Shana Knizhnik; director of Emerita of El Museo del Barrio, Susana Torruella Leval; Ginsburg’s former clerk and Harlan Fiske Stone Professor of Constitutional Law at Columbia University, Gillian Metzger; Ginsburg’s former clerk and and dean of NYU School of Law, Trevor Morrison; president of NOW New York Sonia Ossario; director of the Brooklyn Museum Anne Pasternak; Ginsburg’s former clerk and Partner, Litigation Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, William Savitt; and Legal Affairs Correspondent at NPR Nina Totenberg.

Additionally, the five honorary members of the commission are Hillary Clinton, Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals and the State of New York Janet DiFiore, Attorney General Letitia James, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and feminist activist and co-founder of Ms. Magazine Gloria Steinem.

Last month Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the Brooklyn Municipal Building would be named after Ginsburg.

“Justice Ginsburg will forever stand as a singular figure in history, unmatched in her pursuit of justice and equality under the law for all Americans. Only the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court, Justice Ginsburg was a tireless champion for women’s rights and, throughout her lifetime, brilliantly navigated a complex landscape of gender-based discrimination to ultimately ascend to the highest court in the land, Cuomo said. “She leveraged that position to fiercely advocate for equal rights and ensure those who followed in her footsteps would face fewer obstacles along the way.”

“Ruth Bader Ginsburg embodied a set of ideals often missing in today’s civic dialogue – she showed us reason, empathy, and hope,” he continued. “Her legacy as a jurist, professor, lawyer, and scholar will endure for generations, and we are honored to erect a permanent statue in memory of Justice Ginsburg. Lord knows she deserves it.”

Now – where in Brooklyn do you think it should be?