A simple question put to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and her simple reply to Joseph Flueckiger, director of dining services at Amherst, became the takeaway quote in much of the press coverage of Justice Ginsburg’s recent visit to our campus.
Many news outlets —including CNN, The Boston Globe, New England Public Radio, and The Washington Times, as well as outlets in the Amherst region— covered the recent historic visit to campus by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and reported her comments made in “A Conversation with President Biddy Martin.”
While the coverage dipped into much of the discussion, including Justice Ginsburg’s love for opera, her friendship with the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and her role as a trailblazer for equal rights for women, many stories chose to lead with her simple response to Flueckiger’s query, "How do you think people will characterize this period in American history?"
To considerable applause, Justice Ginsberg replied, "As an aberration.”