A bill to obtain and direct the placement in the Capitol or on the Capitol Grounds of a monument to honor Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 514 To obtain and direct the placement in the Capitol or on the Capitol Grounds of a monument to honor Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Ruth Bader Ginsburg. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 1, 2021 Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself, Ms. SMITH, Mr. MERKLEY, Ms. WARREN, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. HEINRICH, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Ms. HIRONO, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. MENENDEZ, and Ms. ROSEN) in- troduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com- mittee on Rules and Administration A BILL To obtain and direct the placement in the Capitol or on the Capitol Grounds of a monument to honor Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 3 Congress finds the following: 4 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:37 Apr 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S514.IS S514 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 514 IS (1) Ruth Bader Ginsburg was born in 1933 in 1 Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in a low-income, 2 working-class neighborhood. 3 (2) Ginsburg graduated from Cornell University 4 in 1954, finishing first in her class. 5 (3) Ginsburg enrolled at Harvard Law School 6 in 1956, entering into a class of 552 men and only 7 8 other women. 8 (4) As a law student, Ginsburg became the first 9 female member of the prestigious legal journal, the 10 Harvard Law Review. She also cared for her hus- 11 band, Martin Ginsburg, who had been diagnosed 12 with cancer, and their young daughter. 13 (5) Ginsburg finished her legal education at Co- 14 lumbia Law School, where she graduated first in her 15 class in 1959. 16 (6) Ginsburg taught at Rutgers University Law 17 School from 1963 to 1972 and at Columbia Law 18 School from 1972 to 1980, where she became the 19 school’s first female tenured professor. 20 (7) During the 1970s, Ginsburg served as the 21 director of the Women’s Rights Project of the Amer- 22 ican Civil Liberties Union. In this position, she led 23 the fight against gender discrimination and success- 24 fully argued 6 landmark cases before the Supreme 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:37 Apr 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S514.IS S514 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 514 IS Court of the United States (in this section referred 1 to as the ‘‘Supreme Court’’). 2 (8) Ginsburg won 5 cases on gender discrimina- 3 tion before the Supreme Court, including the case 4 Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld, which involved a portion 5 of the Social Security Act that favored women over 6 men, because the Act granted certain benefits to 7 widows, but not widowers. 8 (9) In 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed 9 Ginsburg to the United States Court of Appeals for 10 the District of Columbia Circuit. 11 (10) In 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed 12 Ginsburg to the Supreme Court to fill the seat va- 13 cated by Associate Justice Byron White. 14 (11) On August 3, 1993, the Senate confirmed 15 Ginsburg’s nomination to the Supreme Court by a 16 96 to 3 vote. 17 (12) Ginsburg became the second female justice 18 to serve on the Supreme Court as well as the first 19 Jewish female justice to serve on the Supreme 20 Court. 21 (13) As a justice, Ginsburg presented a strong 22 voice in favor of gender equality, voting rights, the 23 rights of workers, and the separation of church and 24 state. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:37 Apr 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S514.IS S514 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 514 IS (14) In 1996, Ginsburg wrote the Supreme 1 Court’s landmark decision in United States v. Vir- 2 ginia, which held that the State-supported Virginia 3 Military Institute could not refuse to admit women. 4 (15) Despite her reputation for restrained writ- 5 ing, Ginsburg gathered considerable attention for 6 her dissenting opinion in Bush v. Gore by subtly 7 concluding her decision with the words, ‘‘I dissent’’, 8 a significant departure from the traditional ‘‘respect- 9 fully dissent’’. 10 (16) Ginsburg famously dissented in Ledbetter 11 v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., where the plaintiff, 12 a female worker being paid significantly less than 13 males with her same qualifications, sued under title 14 VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 15 2000e et seq.), but was denied relief under a statute 16 of limitation issue. Ginsburg broke with tradition 17 and wrote a highly colloquial version of her dissent 18 to read from the bench. In her dissent, she also 19 called for Congress to undo this improper interpreta- 20 tion of the law. 21 (17) Ginsburg’s impactful dissent in Ledbetter 22 v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. led to the successful 23 passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 24 (Public Law 111–2; 123 Stat. 5), which was the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:37 Apr 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S514.IS S514 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 514 IS first piece of legislation signed by President Barack 1 Obama. 2 (18) In 2013, when the Supreme Court ruled in 3 a 5–4 decision in Shelby County v. Holder to gut the 4 Voting Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10301 et 5 seq.), Ginsburg wrote, ‘‘Throwing out preclearance 6 when it has worked and is continuing to work to 7 stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away 8 your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not 9 getting wet.’’. 10 (19) Until the 2018 term, Ginsburg had not 11 missed a day of oral arguments, not even when she 12 was undergoing chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer, 13 after surgery for colon cancer, or the day after her 14 husband passed away in 2010. 15 SEC. 2. MONUMENT HONORING JUSTICE RUTH BADER 16 GINSBURG. 17 (a) OBTAINING OF MONUMENT.— 18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after 19 the date of the enactment of this Act, and in con- 20 sultation with the Committee on House Administra- 21 tion of the House of Representatives and the Com- 22 mittee on Rules and Administration of the Senate, 23 the Joint Committee on the Library shall enter into 24 an agreement to obtain a monument honoring Asso- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:37 Apr 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S514.IS S514 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 514 IS ciate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United 1 States Ruth Bader Ginsburg under such terms and 2 conditions as the Joint Committee considers appro- 3 priate, consistent with applicable law. 4 (2) CONSIDERATION.—In selecting an artist to 5 make the monument obtained under paragraph (1), 6 the Joint Committee on the Library shall make the 7 announcement available to and consider artists from 8 underrepresented demographic groups. 9 (b) INSTALLATION.—The Architect of the Capitol, 10 under the direction of the Joint Committee on the Library, 11 shall permanently install the monument obtained under 12 subsection (a) in a prominent location in the Capitol or 13 on the Capitol Grounds, as described in section 5102 of 14 title 40, United States Code. 15 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 16 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are nec- 17 essary to carry out this Act. Amounts appropriated pursu- 18 ant to this subsection shall remain available until ex- 19 pended. 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:37 Apr 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S514.IS S514 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS