[An Open Letter to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg]
Dear Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg,
I am one of your greatest admirers. Your ability to reason, your process for making decisions of law, is an inspiration to anyone interested in justice.
The first paper I produced in graduate school was an attempt to challenge a commonly held view in political science about the role of political preference in judicial reasoning.
It was a case study of the two justices that are at the foundation of modern American legal reasoning. You, and your late friend Justice Antonin Gregory Scalia.
I chose this dichotomy because the opposing outcomes of your well-reasoned judgment are a valuable part of our collective social consciousness.
I focused on cases in which yourself and Justice Scalia agreed, against the remainder of the court. Reynolds v. United States (2011) and Michigan v. Bryant (2010) were amongst the most interesting.
It was a terribly written paper, by nearly any measure. I share the idea only to express my genuine admiration of your and Justice Scalia’s abilities to reason.
I write to you now to ask you to help heal our Nation. To bring back a sense of unity that is unbearably absent within the current status quo.
I write now to ask you to do the unthinkable. To do the unthinkable in order to give my generation of legal thinkers a chance at an American Jurisprudence to be proud of.
I am aware of the constitutional ramifications of this proposal and have written or tweeted at the other relevant actors. However, your part is the most integral.
What I respectfully propose is that you agree to retire.
I propose that in response, President Trump nominate Professor Katharine Jo Strandburg to fill your seat.
I propose that the Senate then simultaneously confirm Judge Neil McGill Gorsuch of the Tenth Circuit and Professor Katharine Jo Strandburg of New York University by unanimous vote.
I have no affiliation with Professor Strandburg. I propose her as a potential nominee solely because I believe she would help ensure that our jurisprudence adapt to the most fundamental change in our political structure in the 21st century, the Technological Revolution.
In these several noble acts, you, President Trump and the Senate could preserve the integrity of the core institutions of our political system as well as ensure that strong and diverse positions remain a part of 21st century American Jurisprudence.
You have, and continue to, serve with honor and dignity. An honor and dignity that makes me feel shame to even request you to consider such an act.
Yet the outcome of my own genuine process of reasoning, a skill I continue to work diligently to train, concludes with the belief that this is the best solution for the future or our political community.
Thank you for your service, leadership, and most of all for your class. Your work championing rights will forever be a part of my social and political beliefs.
"Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.” Notorious RBG
Sincerely,
AMS IV
TexasLaw JD '15
