One of the endearing story lines after the recent death of
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has been his close friendship with his colleague, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In a philosophically divided court, Scalia
and Ginsburg represented the most conservative and the most liberal wings of
that split. That they were close friends in spite of their political
differences should give hope to us all.
Each of their soaring intellects was nurtured in the outer
boroughs of New York City. Scalia grew up in Elmhurst, Queens, and Ginsburg is
from Flatbush, Brooklyn. They were close in age. Ginsburg is almost exactly
three years older than Scalia. And both went on to graduate with high honors
from top law schools, Harvard for Scalia, Columbia for Ginsburg who started at
Harvard but transferred when her husband took a job in New York.
Apparently, they laughed at many of the same jokes, enjoyed
good eating, and their families celebrated New Years’ Eves together. So if two of
the brightest legal minds in our country, that disagree on almost every
substantive matter, can nurture a great friendship over decades, shouldn’t our
political leaders do better?
Perhaps their similar upbringing, the Italian Catholic kid
from Queens and the Jewish girl from Brooklyn, gave them a head start at
friendship. But in terms of political philosophy, they went in opposite
directions. Still, when they joined the high court, they found common ground
and mutual respect in spite of their vast political differences. We could use
much more of that.
In my mind, that’s how we make America great again.
