But there were some moments of hope. Zendaya's moving speech at the Emmys made us proud. Plus, recommendations: Rolling Stone's new list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" and, on Netflix, "Atlantique."
CNN legal analyst Joan Biskupic joins this week's culture conversation as we discuss Ginsburg's legacy on race and criminal justice.
Q: Often, we hear about Ruth Bader Ginsburg as a feminist icon. Could you tell us a bit about some of the highlights from her career on race? We're thinking of cases like Jackson v. Hobbs and Shelby County v. Holder.
Biskupic: Ruth Bader Ginsburg was known for her women's rights emphasis, but in recent years she became the voice of broader civil rights, particularly after she became the senior justice on the left in 2010 and took control in assigning opinions for the liberal wing. Liberals were often in dissent on racial civil rights, and no decision demonstrates that more, or RBG's sentiment more, than the 2013 Shelby County v. Holder.
In that case, the conservative Roberts majority invalidated a section of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that required states with a history of discrimination, mostly in the South, to pre-clear any proposed change in their election rules with federal officials. The majority said that the requirement was outdated and that things had changed in the South.
"Throwing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes," Ginsburg responded, joined by her liberal colleagues, "is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet."
She cited several examples of contemporary voter discrimination. In the case from Shelby County, Alabama, she highlighted "Alabama's sorry history" of voting rights violations and reminded readers that that the state "is home to Selma, site of the 'Bloody Sunday' beatings of civil-rights demonstrators that served as the catalyst for the VRA's enactment." She then quoted Martin Luther King Jr., who had said, "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." And Ginsburg concluded: "History has proven King right. The sad irony of today's decision lies in its utter failure to grasp why the Voting Rights Act has proven effective."
Q: Where did Ginsburg stand on criminal justice?
Biskupic: On criminal cases, Ginsburg's record is mixed. She was not a liberal in the mold of Justices William Brennan (1956-1990) or Thurgood Marshall (1967-1991), who were more inclined to side with criminal defendants against law enforcement and who opposed capital punishment. On today's court, Justice Sonia Sotomayor is more reliably in favor of defendants' rights.
Yet Ginsburg led the left as it voted against some of the Roberts Court's strongest decisions cutting back on criminal-rights milestones of the 1960s and 1970s.
One recent case I will mention, in which RBG wrote alone, relates to concerns about police conduct. The 2018 case, District of Columbia v. Wesby, required the court to revisit its decision in Whren v. United States, which enhanced police power fo
