The family of the late Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg intends to withdraw her name from an award after SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and conservative media tycoon Rupert Murdoch were named two of this year’s awardees. The Ginsburg family’s decision is purportedly based on its disagreement with the recipients’ political beliefs.
“This year, the Opperman Foundation has strayed far from the original mission of the award and from what Justice Ginsburg stood for,” Jane Ginsburg, daughter of the Supreme Court justice, said in a statement.
The family is demanding Opperman remove Justice Ginsburg’s name from the award “unless the original award criteria, as accepted by Justice Ginsburg, are restored,” wrote Trevor Morrison, Ginsburg’s former law clerk, in a letter to the foundation’s chair on behalf of the Ginsburg family.
“Each of this year’s awardees has achieved notable success in their careers, and each may well deserve accolades of one form or another. But the decision to bestow upon them the particular honor of the RBG Award is a striking betrayal of the Justice’s legacy,” Morrison wrote.
“I think she’d be appalled,” said Ginsburg’s son, James Ginsburg, in an interview with CNN. “I think these are people who pretty much… stand against all the things that she stood for,” he said. “It so violates the purpose of what was intended here, and this is not what my mother signed on to when the award was first created,” he continued. “When you think about trying to create a more just society, which, of course, was mom’s ultimate goal, those are probably about the last names that would come to mind.”
