Get Well Soon Justice Ruth!

Ruth Bader Ginsburg is not only a trailblazing jurist, a brilliant legal thinker, a true American icon, a role model for women worldwide and a lookalike of Opera Chic's dearest aunt; our favorite Supreme Court Justice is also -- together with Justice Scalia -- a great opera lover. They also appeared together as supers at a memorable 1994 Ariadne. (And Big Tony, regardless of his many sins, gets at least some credit for being by all accounts a dear, sincere friend of RBG).

(Ariadne photo via The Oyez Project)

Justice Ruth (you can call her that only if she looks like your favorite aunt, mind you) just underwent surgery, and she has already warned those slacker dudes up at the Supreme Court that she'll show up for work on Feb 23 as planned. She is "progressing", the WSJ reports. And this is the perfect time to wish her a speedy recovery, send her a big opera-loving hug and a virtual teddy bear.

Comments

[Victor]

Refuah Shleimah.

[Steven Raines]

Wonderful lady. She was a regular at Salzburg, too. Not just a world class jurist but VERY knowledgeable about the arts, what a splendid mind. Her son started a classical record label in Chicago, music love runs in the family. May she recover quickly and fully with the Lord's help.

[furst]

Now is not perhaps the best opportunity to discuss our preferances among the various SCOTUS members but we would add that Tony Kennedy - a frequent visitor to Salzburg - is also a big opera fan. He spoke at our Law School 11 years ago - yikes!!! - and told how he wrote his opinions - he actually claims to write them himself - listening to opera on his walkman (yes this was a very very long time ago). He said that he categorized opinions based on their length as 1-, 2- or 3- opera opinions.

The speech contained an extensive discource on history and was filled with exactly the sort of pompous incoherance so many of us have come to expect from Justice Kennedy. One wanders what sorts of operas inspire this kind of ... um ... thinking.

The previous week we had ventured uptown, past the Met, to that slipshod excuse of a law school in Morningside Heights to hear Justice Scalia speak and must say that, whatever one may think of his jurisprudence, the lecture was filled with quite the abundance of entertaining bon mots .

[Hal]

She might share a love of opera with Scalia, but she is fortunate not to share his socio-political beliefs. And one has to face the fact that her cancer is a very dangerous one without a good prognosis. We can be thankful that if she does have to leave the Court, Obama and not Bush will be nominating her replacement.

[Kevin Edmund Youkilis 4 MVP]

Jesse Helms voted against her. Case closed.

[CrewMantle]

Justice Ruth is an individual with a mind of steel, an intellect as sage as Delphi, and owns class that one can only be born with.

I reckon however the gods will not smile kindly on this honourable woman regardless of how much we would want otherwise.

[Coloratura Tempura]

Definitely a role model for all of us. I read somewhere that at the opera she's the conservative and Scalia is the progressive, she hates Regietheater and he likes it. Life is weird. Best wishes of a good recovery.

[El Cajon]

She also appeared in a WNO production of Fledermaus. I remember going to what I thought was a terrible production of "A Little Night Music" at a community theatre in Bethesda, Maryland, just north of Washington, D.C. We left at intermission. Justice Ginsberg, however, stayed. She truly loves the arts and epitomizes class, style, and intellect. So a quick recovery, Justice Ruth.