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How Justice Ginsburg spent her final weeks living as if there'd be many more
From CNN's Joan Biskupic and Ariane de Vogue
In the weeks right before her death, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was still conferring on cases, penning notes to friends and continuing to schedule social events, including a wedding that she was to officiate the day she died.
Ginsburg, who had been fighting complications from metastatic cancer of the pancreas, was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore a week earlier, stayed for a few days, and returned home on September 11, according to two people familiar with the situation. Her medical condition during that time is not known, and the Supreme Court public information officer said on Thursday that the family did not wish to provide details of Ginsburg's final days.
The 87-year-old justice's situation turned severe the week of September 14, and she died the evening of September 18, surrounded by her family.
Until the sudden end, the woman who had become known as the "Notorious RBG" was living as if there would be more tomorrows.
An in-demand wedding officiant: Eric Motley, whose wedding she was to officiate the night of her death, was told two days earlier, without reference to Ginsburg's medical condition, that the wedding would have to be postponed.
"I had been in touch with the chambers, in preparation for Friday," Motley told CNN. "They said we need to push it back, let's look at some other days."
Motley, who wrote about the planned wedding with Ginsburg in an essay for the New York Times, told CNN that he and the justice had exchanged personal emails during the summer and that she had sent him an upbeat note and photograph of the two of them, speaking with a maestro during an opera reception, pre-coronavirus. Ginsburg and Motley, who came to Washington as a special assistant to President George W. Bush, first met in 2002 at a dinner party and realized they shared a love of music.
Ginsburg had planned to marry Motley and his fiancée in a quiet ceremony on a patio at her apartment. She had officiated at a similar outdoor ceremony last month, after which the newlyweds posted a photo on Twitter. Ginsburg, clad in her black judicial robe and one of her distinctive decorative collars, was sitting at a lectern between them.
Motley, executive vice president of the Aspen Institute, said of Ginsburg's spirits in recent communications: "They were always good, always strong. This was a woman who was made to live. And she will live on."
Read the full story here.
Justice Ginsburg will be honored at the US Capitol today. Here's a look at the schedule.
CNNJustice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will become the first woman in history to lie in state in the US Capitol today.
Here is an outline of today's events to honor her:
A private interment will be held next week at Arlington National Cemetery.
Nearly 1,000 people sent CNN notes on what RBG meant to them. Read some of them here.
From CNN's David Williams
When Kalina Newman heard that Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died last Friday night, she and her boyfriend immediately left the restaurant where they were having dinner, bought some flowers and went to the US Supreme Court to join the crowd of people honoring the 87-year-old associate justice.
"As soon as I saw the candles and felt how peaceful it was, I began to cry," Newman told CNN.
Ginsburg, who embraced the nickname "The Notorious RBG" late in life, became a role model to generations because of her sharp wit, her legal knowledge and her fierce dissents.
CNN asked people to share what Ginsburg meant to them and tributes have come in from all over the world.
Many saw her as a real-life super hero — complete with her own action figures — who stood up for the rights of women, minorities and the LGBTQ+ community.
Some said they didn't agree with the liberal justice's positions, but admired her for maintaining a long friendship with late Justice Antonin Scalia, despite their ideological difference.
Read some of the stories you shared with us below:
Pelosi: Ginsburg "embodied justice, brilliance and goodness"
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced earlier this week plans for the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to lie in state at the US Capitol.
"As an Associate Justice for more than 27 years, Ginsburg was a leading voice for equality on the Court and across the country," the statement announcing the plans read.
Pelosi said the justice "embodied justice, brilliance and goodness."
"Every family in America benefited from her brilliant legacy and courage. Her opinions have unequivocally cemented the precedent that all men and women are created equal," Pelosi added.
Ginsburg will make history as she lies in state at the US Capitol today
From CNN's Ariane de Vogue
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will become the first woman in history to lie in state in the US Capitol when her casket is placed in National Statuary Hall today, according to congressional historians.
The historic event, which was announced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi earlier this week, will feature a formal ceremony for invited guests only because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Lying in state is a tribute reserved for the most distinguished government officials and military officers, while lying in honor is a distinction given to private citizens.
