Ginsburg’s Death Is A Major Cultural Moment That’s About To Upend Politics Again

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Mourners gather during a vigil for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg outside of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Friday.

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People lit candles and left flowers and notes on the steps of the court.

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Death Of Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Trump’s Nominee To Succeed Ginsburg Would Cap A GOP Judicial Wave

It’s also not clear how — or if — this reshapes the calculus in any way for the 2020 election. It could fire up the GOP base, which cares a great deal about the court. And it could fire up Democrats, especially women, to go to the polls for Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

But little has moved the needle in this election one way or the other, and those groups were already enthusiastic about voting.

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A woman, mourning the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, holds a sign at the Supreme Court that reads, «when there are nine, something Ginsburg said to describe when there’d be enough women on the court.

Alex Edelman/AFP via Getty Images

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A woman, mourning the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, holds a sign at the Supreme Court that reads, «when there are nine, something Ginsburg said to describe when there’d be enough women on the court.

Alex Edelman/AFP via Getty Images

So no one really knows how any of this is going to play out except to say that there is going to be some kind of fight over this seat.