Friend,

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was what so many of us aspire to be. She was a woman who challenged and overcame the sexist expectations of her times, and she spent her life powerfully and effectively advocating for America to make good on its promise of equality and opportunity for all.

She was a mother and also enjoyed a loving and supportive relationship with her husband. She was the type of person who was capable of forming close human relationships even with those with whom she often disagreed, as was evidenced by her friendship with her adversary on the Supreme Court, Justice Antonin Scalia. I mourn not only the loss of one of my personal idols, but the loss of an American hero.

We at Americans United esteem and honor Justice Ginsburg’s lifelong dedication to real religious freedom, and her influence on many key Supreme Court decisions on this issue in her long service to the court and the American people.

Justice Ginsburg understood that the Constitution established religious freedom as a shield to protect us, not a sword to harm others. Or, as she quoted in one opinion, “[y]our right to swing your arms ends just where the other man’s nose begins.”

Time and again, she defended every American’s right to practice any faith, or no faith at all, without harming others. As she explained while quoting Thomas Jefferson, the framers of the First Amendment sought to “buil[d] a wall of separation between church and state" because, she explained, "while the union of government and religion tends to destroy government and to degrade religion, separating the two preserves the legitimacy of each.”

On a Court that in recent years has chipped away at religious freedom, granting religious privilege to those who would use their faith to discriminate, to exclude or to deny equality, Justice Ginsburg’s voice on behalf of one of America’s most important founding principles – and the vulnerable people it protects – was stalwart and clear. She consistently joined the opinion most protective of the separation of religion and government in virtually every case during her long tenure. If she is replaced by a Trump-nominated justice with opposing views, we will face an even more disastrous erosion of the separation of religion and government.

It is particularly sad that a Jewish justice who stood for religious freedom for everyone, including religious minorities, died on the eve of the Jewish New Year.

As is said in the faith she and I share, may her memory be for a blessing.

With grief and solidarity,

Rachel K. Laser
President and CEO