HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolutions - 2020.10.21 - 33774MISCELLANEOUS RESOLUTION #20441_
BY: Commissioners Kristen Nelson, District #5; Helaine Zack, District #18; Penny Luebs, District #16;
Angela Powell, District #10; Janet Jackson, District #21
IN RE: BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS — HONORING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF SUPREME COURT
JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG AND HER `MOST FERVENT WISH'
To the Oakland County Board of Commissioners
Chairperson, Ladies and Gentlemen:
WHEREAS Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the longest serving woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, has died
on Friday September 18, 2020 due to complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer; and
WHEREAS she became the second female justice ever to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court; and
WHEREAS for more than a decade, until her firstjudicial appointment in 1980, she led the fight in the courts
for gender equality; and
WHEREAS she acted as general counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), where she co-
founded the ACLU Women's Rights Project and argued over 300 gender discrimination cases, winning five
of six, before the Supreme Court; and
WHEREAS she built upon that legacy as a judge, serving 13 years as a U.S. Court of Appeals judge and
then during 27 years as a Supreme Court Justice; and
WHEREAS after being appointed Associate Justice to the Supreme Court by President Bill Clinton in 1993.
Ginsburg authored some 200 opinions, and broke new ground for gender equality in the United States, and
WHEREAS during her tenure; she led the Supreme Court in landmark decisions that expanded the rights
of women; and
WHEREAS Ginsburg wrote some of the Supreme Court's most notable opinions on gender discrimination,
including the majority opinion in United States v. Virginia, a 1996 case which opened the Virginia Military
Institute to women; and
WHEREAS in her minority opinion for Ledbetter v. Goodyear in 2007, she wrote: "The Court does not
comprehend, or is indifferent to, the insidious way in which women can be victims of pay discrimination";
and
WHEREAS there was a framed copy of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 on the wall of her chambers,
a law which she counted among her proudest achievements, even as it illustrated her limited power; and
WHEREAS her influence went far beyond gender cases. In 2012, for instance, Ginsburg authored a vital
concurrence/dissent in the split decision for National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, a
case that upheld aspects of the Affordable Care Act; and
WHEREAS in more than four decades as a lawyer, professor, appellate judge, and associate justice of the
U.S. Supreme Court, Ruth Bader Ginsburg has influenced the law and society in real and permanent ways.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Oakland County Board of Commissioners hereby honors
the life and legacy of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Oakland County Board of Commissioners urges the President of the
United States to honor Justice Ginsburg's final wish: "My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until
a new president is installed" as her granddaughter revealed.
Chairperson, 1 move the adoption of the foregoing resolution.
Commissioner Kristen Nelson
District #5
Lt,saner Penny Luebs
Disciss6
micCo nerJanet Jackson District #21
A4G&� 1h, ;'ad
Commissioner Hela a Zack
D' trict #1 //
PoCommissioner Ahgela Poweff--
District #10
Resolution #20441
September 23, 2020
The Chairperson referred the resolution to the Health, Safety and Human Services Committee. There were
no objections.
Resolution #20441 October 21, 2020
Moved by Nelson seconded by Luebs the resolution be adopted.
Discussion followed.
Moved by Spisz seconded by Hoffman the resolution be amended as follows:
Delete the following language in the resolution title:
IN RE: BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS — HONORING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF
SUPREME COURT JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG nN—D HER Anrl ST FERVENT
WISH,
Delete the following BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED clause:
@F IT F'JRTHGIR I-;FQ^L`.'ED that the Oakland Ge ty ❑eard of Commissioners urges
the Presmelpnt Gf the United States to hORor justiee G nsbLlFg's fiRal wish: "My most fewent
w��yin thit I , , u not be re. laced Lintil , e pFesidint i-i ac re. s a,ldQaught`r
rued.
Discussion followed.
Vote on amendment:
AYES: Long, Spisz, Taub, Weipert, Gingell, Hoffman, Kochenderfer, Kowall, Kuhn. (9)
NAYS: Luebs, Markham, McGillivray, Miller, Nelson, Powell, Quarles, Woodward, Zack,
Gershenson, Jackson. (11)
A sufficient majority not having voted in favor, the amendment failed.
Discussion followed.
Moved by Taub seconded by Zack the resolution be amen ed ak follows:
Insert the following language after the 2nd WHE S: l/`-�1,
WHEREAS Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg be rst emaie Je justice ever to
serve on the U.S. Supreme Court; and I HEREBY APPFIOVE THIS RESOLUTION
ION
Discussion followed. CHIEF DEPUTY COUNTY EXECUTIVF.
A sufficient majority having voted in favor, the amend mef&VM
URSUAPdT TO MCL 45.659A (7)
Vote on resolution, as amended:
AYES: Luebs, Markham, McGillivray, Miller, Nelson, Powell, Quarles, Taub, Woodward, Zack,
Gershenson, Jackson. (12)
NAYS: Spisz, Weipert, Gingell, Hoffman, Kochenderfer, Kowall, Kuhn, Long. (8)
A sufficient majority having voted in favor, the resolution, as amended, was adopted.
STATE OF MICHIGAN)
COUNTY OF OAKLAND)
I, Lisa Brown, Clerk of the County of Oakland, do hereby certify that the foregoing resolution is a true and
accurate copy of a resolution adopted by the Oakland County Board of Commissioners on October 21,
2020, with the original record thereof now remaining in my office.
In Testimony Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of the Circuit Court at Pontiac,
Michigan this 21st day of October, 2020.
i
Lisa Brown, Oakland County