Death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Overview

The Death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg occurred on September 18th, 2020, when the 87-year-old died in Washington D.C. due to complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer, which the Supreme Court Justice had been battling for years. Following the news of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death, the event trended on social media platforms and media outlets reported on the story around the world. Heated debates also erupted surrounding the discussion of filling her seat in the Supreme Court leading up to the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

Background

On September 18th, 2020, 87-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away in her home in Washington D.C. from complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer.^[1] Shortly after her death was announced, crowds gathered at the Supreme Court Building in Washington to pay tribute to her, as well as on social media, and controversies began erupting online over the debate of nominating a successor to fill her seat. According to Ginsburg’s granddaughter, Clara Spera, days before her death the Justice stated, “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed,” which was widely shared online.^[2]

Developments

Online Reactions

After her death in mid-September 2020, social media users began flooding various platforms with tributes, criticisms and debates over filling her vacant seat on the Supreme Court. On September 18th, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo posted a screenshot of his tweet to his Facebook^[3] page commemorating RBG (seen below, left), receiving over 69,000 likes, 4,400 shares and 2,600 comments in roughly three days. Other users posted about the controversy surrounding the nomination of a new justice. One such example was posted by Facebook^[4] user Ryan Fournier the next day who said, “Nominate a new Justice, Mr. President” (seen below, right), receiving over 20,000 likes, 16,000 shares and 1,100 comments in roughly two days.

On September 19th, President Barack Obama posted a tribute to RBG on his Instagram^[5] account (shown below) and said, “Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg fought to the end, through her cancer, with unwavering faith in our democracy and its ideals,” receiving over 3.7 million likes in 48 hours.

On September 18th, an article shared to Reddit’s^[6] /r/news sub under the title “Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Champion Of Gender Equality, Dies At 87” received over 152,000 upvotes, 26,700 comments and numerous Reddit awards in 48 hours. On the /r/politics subreddit,^[7] a megathread for the announcement accumulated more than 74,300 upvotes and 38,100 comments in roughly 50 hours.

In addition to the many tributes and takes on Twitter,^[8] where the hashtag #RBG also trended, two particular tweets received notable attention. On September 18th, Twitter user alexandrawlee tweeted, “Just told my 10yo daughter about #RBG. She had tears in her eyes. And then she did the Wakanda pose and said ‘#Ruthkanda forever’ -- which is the sort of pop culture cross-over that I can celebrate,” which has since been deleted and her account made private. Shortly after the tweet went viral, Twitter^[9] user broderick uploaded a screenshot of the original alongside another tweet (seen below), receiving nearly 1,000 likes and 150 retweets in three days.

On Septermber 19th, Twitter^[10] user stillgray tweeted the “#Ruthkanda” post along with another viral RBG tweet from Twitter user BadBunnyTwitch (shown below), receiving 760 likes and 211 retweets in 48 hours.

Tributes

Several tributes to RBG were also widely shared online, including various viral artwork. One such example was posted by Instagram^[11] user bijoukarman (seen below, left) on September 18th, 2020, receiving over 17,000 likes in three days. On September 19th, Instagram^[12] user bynainah also shared their art tribute (seen below, right), receiving nearly 1,500 likes in 48 hours.

On September 20th, AdAge^[13] reported that the Fearless Girl statue in NYC was adorned with a lace collar in tribute to RBG, which was also widely shared online. One such example was tweeted by Twitter^[14] user JulieMcCrossin on September 21st, which accumulated over 1,700 likes and 300 retweets in eight hours (shown below).

Search Interest

External References