Roy Gutterman, director of the Tully Center for Free Speech and an expert in First Amendment issues, comments on the legacy of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Sept. 18.
“Justice Ginsburg’s judicial legacy rests in her defense of equal rights and civil rights. In First Amendment cases touching on free speech rights, she supported free speech rights, joining opinions in several recent cases including rights for internet users, video games, even offensive protesters. She also sided with the vociferous dissent in Citizens United.
I met Justice Ginsburg twice and observed her in oral arguments in about a dozen cases. In cases on broadcast indecency, intellectual property and the regulation of video games, she asked probing questions that showed a firm grasp of the issues and the technology, and the impact on contemporary speech. I keep a photo of myself with Justice Ginsburg in my office.”