Now that time has passed, the dark truth is that a large part of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's legacy will be allowing Donald Trump to nominate a strenuously pro-life Supreme Court justice. It's an unfair system we have but Ginsburg knew this. She chose not to retire.
It is not an exaggeration to say Ginsburg paved the way to allow a right-wing Republican president to pick her replacement. In 2014, it was clear Democrats were losing the Senate. And in 2016, after two terms of Obama, it was very possible a Republican would replace him.
It is difficult for me to be overly celebratory of anyone's legacy when their direct decision to not retire is tied to their replacement, who will hold views diametrically opposed to that very legacy. The Supreme Court is the institution we are stuck with. Ginsburg knew it.
Rather than step aside in 2014, Ginsburg became a hero and a cult figure, which was nice but obscured the very clear reality Republicans would hold the Senate and time was not on her side. For the pro-choice, pro-LGBTQ Americans living in a post-Ginsburg world, it's a dark era.
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