Statue to Honor United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O'connor and Statue to Honor United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Floor Speech

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Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 3294) to obtain and direct the placement in the Capitol or on the Capitol Grounds of a statue to honor Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Sandra Day O'Connor and a statue to honor Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: S. 3294

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

(a) Sandra Day O'Connor.--Congress finds the following:

(1) Sandra Day O'Connor was born in 1930 in El Paso, Texas, and spent her childhood on her family's isolated Arizona cattle ranch. She lived with her grandmother in El Paso during the school year, away from her home and parents.

(2) O'Connor matriculated to Stanford University at the age of 16, and combined her undergraduate and law school curricula, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics and a law degree in just 6 years. She was third in her law school class, behind William Rehnquist, her future colleague on the Supreme Court of the United States (in this section referred to as the ``Supreme Court'').

(3) Despite her qualifications, O'Connor could not find work as an attorney because of bias against women in the law. She ended up negotiating for an unpaid position in the San Mateo County District Attorney's office at a shared desk, while her husband, John, finished at Stanford Law School 1 year later.

(4) O'Connor traveled to Frankfurt, Germany, in 1954 with her husband John, who had joined the United States Army Judge Advocate General's Corps, where she was able to find work as a civilian attorney with the United States Army Quartermaster Corps. In 1957, O'Connor returned to Arizona and still could not find work with a traditional law firm due to her gender, so she ``hung out a shingle'' as a sole practitioner.

(5) In 1965, O'Connor was hired as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Arizona.

(6) Active in Republican Party politics and well-received for her work at the Arizona State Capitol, O'Connor was appointed to an Arizona State Senate seat in 1969 when the incumbent, also a woman, was appointed to a Federal position and vacated the office.

(7) In 1970, O'Connor was elected to the Arizona State Senate and served 2 consecutive terms. In 1972, she was selected as Majority Leader of the Arizona State Senate, the first time a woman held such a position in any State.

(8) In 1974, O'Connor ran for office as a trial court judge. She won and was later appointed to the Arizona Court of Appeals in 1979.

(9) On August 19, 1981, President Ronald Reagan nominated O'Connor to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, to fill the seat vacated by Associate Justice Potter Stewart. On September 21, 1981, the Senate confirmed O'Connor's nomination by a unanimous vote, making her the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court.

(10) O'Connor established herself as a pragmatic, independent voice on the Supreme Court, casting decisive votes during a time when the Court was being asked to resolve politically charged issues.

(11) In the 1982 case of Mississippi University for Women v. Hogan, O'Connor wrote the majority opinion holding that the State could not prevent men from enrolling in an all- women's nursing school, writing that laws discriminating on the basis of sex would be allowed only if there was an ``exceedingly persuasive justification'' for them.

(12) O'Connor sought, when possible, to find the middle ground between her often-divided colleagues, frequently joining the majority decision but presenting her views in concurring opinions that eschewed broad constitutional doctrine in favor of resolving the cases before the Court.

(13) O'Connor put a very public face on the role of the Supreme Court, domestically and around the world. She became the Court's most prolific public speaker, traveling to all 50 States and to countless law schools, libraries, and public events to describe how the Court works and its role in our constitutional form of government. She traveled worldwide as an ambassador for the Rule of Law and the independence of judiciaries everywhere.

(14) After 24 years on the Supreme Court, O'Connor announced her retirement to care for her ailing husband, who had Alzheimer's disease. President George W. Bush nominated John Roberts, Jr., for the vacancy, but before Roberts was confirmed, Chief Justice Rehnquist passed away, creating a second vacancy. President Bush personally appealed to O'Connor to remain on the Court so he could nominate Roberts for the Chief Justice vacancy and have more time to make a second nomination to the Court. In yet another act of public service, O'Connor agreed to serve until Samuel Alito was confirmed to fill her seat on January 31, 2006.

(15) O'Connor began her retirement with 2 goals. One was to convince more States to adopt merit selection of judges for filling vacancies in State courts. The second was to educate the public on the importance of an independent judiciary. Her judicial independence work led to her awareness of a national civics education deficit.

(16) In 2009, O'Connor created iCivics.org to educate young Americans about civics and what it means to be a citizen. That endeavor grew to become the largest civics education platform in the country, with over 7,000,000 students annually enrolling in the programs. Its popularity was due to a captivating online, interactive gaming approach. The program was free to all and had no advertising. iCivics played a crucial role in Educating for American Democracy, a federally funded initiative to improve civics and history education, which released its reports in March 2021.

(b) Ruth Bader Ginsburg.--Congress finds the following:

(1) Ruth Bader Ginsburg was born in 1933 in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in a low-income, working-class neighborhood.

(2) Ginsburg graduated from Cornell University in 1954, finishing first in her class. Following her graduation, Ginsburg enrolled at Harvard Law School in 1956, entering into a class of 552 men and only 8 other women.

(3) As a law student, Ginsburg became the first female member of the Harvard Law Review, a prestigious legal journal. She also cared for her husband, Martin Ginsburg, who had been diagnosed with cancer, and their young daughter. Ginsburg finished her legal education at Columbia Law School, where she graduated first in her class in 1959.

(4) Ginsburg taught at Rutgers University Law School from 1963 to 1972 and at Columbia Law School from 1972 to 1980, where she became the school's first female tenured professor.

(5) During the 1970s, Ginsburg served as the director of the Women's Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. In this position, she led the fight against gender discrimination and successfully argued 6 landmark cases before the Supreme Court.

(6) Ginsburg won 5 cases on gender discrimination before the Supreme Court, including the case Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld, which involved a portion of the Social Security Act that favored women over men, because the Act granted certain benefits to widows, but not widowers.

(7) In 1980, President Jimmy Carter nominated Ginsburg to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

(8) On June 22, 1993, President Bill Clinton nominated Ginsburg to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, to fill the seat vacated by Associate Justice Byron White. On August 3, 1993, the Senate confirmed Ginsburg's nomination to the Supreme Court by a 96 to 3 vote.

(9) Ginsburg became the second female justice to serve on the Supreme Court, as well as the first Jewish female justice to serve on the Supreme Court.

(10) As a justice, Ginsburg presented a strong voice in favor of gender equality, voting rights, the rights of workers, and the separation of church and state.

(11) In 1996, Ginsburg wrote the Supreme Court's landmark decision in United States v. Virginia, which held that the State-supported Virginia Military Institute could not refuse to admit women.

(12) Ginsburg famously dissented in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., where the plaintiff, a female worker being paid significantly less than males with her same qualifications, sued under title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.), but was denied relief under a statute of limitation issue. Ginsburg broke with tradition and wrote a high colloquial version of her dissent to read from the bench. In her dissent, she also called for Congress to undo this interpretation of the law.

(13) Ginsburg's impactful dissent in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. led to the successful passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-2; 123 Stat. 5), which was the first piece of legislation signed by President Barack Obama.

(14) Until the 2018 term, Ginsburg had not missed a day of oral arguments, not even when she was undergoing chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer, after surgery for colon cancer, or the day after her husband passed away in 2010.

(15) Ginsburg passed away on September 18, 2020. SEC. 2. STATUES HONORING JUSTICE SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR AND JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG.

(a) Obtaining of Statues.--

(1) In general.--Not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, in consultation with the Committee on House Administration of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Rules and Administration of the Senate, and under such terms and conditions as the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library considers appropriate, consistent with applicable law, the Joint Committee shall--

(A) enter into an agreement to obtain a statue honoring Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Sandra Day O'Connor; and

(B) enter into an agreement to obtain a statue honoring Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

(2) Consideration.--In selecting one or more artists to make the statues obtained under paragraph (1), the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library shall make the announcement available to, and consider, artists from a variety of backgrounds, including artists from underrepresented demographic groups.

(b) Installation.--

(1) In general.--The Architect of the Capitol, under the direction of the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library, shall permanently install each statue obtained under subsection (a) in a prominent location in the Capitol or on the Capitol Grounds, as described in section 5102 of title 40, United States Code.

(2) Priority for location.--In determining the location for the permanent installation of each statue obtained under subsection (a), the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library shall give priority to identifying an appropriate location near the Old Supreme Court Chamber of the United States Capitol.

(c) Funding.--Amounts available in the Capitol Preservation Fund established under section 803 of the Arizona-Idaho Conservation Act of 1988 (2 U.S.C. 2083) may be used by the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library for payments for the costs of creating and installing the statues obtained under subsection (a), without regard to subsections (b) and (d) of such section, provided that not more than $500,000 of such amounts may be used for each statue obtained under subsection (a).

This bill, by creating statues in the Capitol, honors former Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, two women who made groundbreaking contributions to American history and jurisprudence.

The United States Capitol is a global symbol of democracy. This iconic building, where we debate and craft law, is also a museum of American art and history, with a rich collection of portraits, paintings, and statues.

Among the hundreds of sculptures, just 14 honor women leaders. By adding statues of these two pioneering Supreme Court Justices, we will honor their legacy and inspire all who pass through these Halls.

In 1869, Arabella Mansfield became the first woman admitted to practice law in the United States when she was admitted to the Iowa bar.

Ten years later, Belva Lockwood became the first woman admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States. One hundred years would pass before Sandra Day O'Connor became the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States.

Born in the early 1930s, Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg both achieved extraordinary academic success. One of only five women in her class at Stanford Law, O'Connor served on the Board of Editors of the Stanford Law Review and graduated near the top of her class.

Ginsburg first attended Harvard Law School, one of nine women in her class. She became the first female member of the Harvard Law Review, while also caring for her husband, who had been diagnosed with cancer, and their young daughter. When her husband took a job in New York City, Ginsburg transferred to Columbia Law School and graduated first in her class.

Despite their outstanding academic qualifications, O'Connor and Ginsburg faced barriers to employment after graduation, as law firms were unwilling to hire women lawyers. Each persevered and rose to prominence.

O'Connor obtained a position as a deputy county attorney in California. Then, when her husband was stationed in Germany, she served as a civilian attorney with the United States Army Quartermaster Corps.

In 1957, the O'Connors settled in Arizona, where they raised their three sons. O'Connor started a law practice, became involved in local politics and community service, and served as an assistant state attorney general.

In 1969, O'Connor was appointed to the Arizona State Senate, where she was twice reelected and became the first woman majority leader in any State. In 1974, she was elected as a trial judge, a position she held until 1979, when she was appointed to the Arizona Court of Appeals.

In 1981, President Ronald Reagan fulfilled his campaign promise to appoint a woman to the Supreme Court by nominating O'Connor. The Senate unanimously confirmed her appointment. In her nearly 25 years on the Court, Justice O'Connor established herself as a pragmatic, independent voice.

In a 1982 case, O'Connor wrote the majority opinion, holding that the State could not prevent men from enrolling in an all-women's nursing school. She wrote that laws discriminating on the basis of sex are allowed only if there is an ``exceedingly persuasive justification'' free of archaic and stereotypic notions of the roles and abilities of males and females.

Justice O'Connor retired from the Supreme Court in 2006. In retirement, she remained active as a tireless advocate for judicial independence and civics education.

Following law school, Ginsburg served as a law clerk to Judge Edmund L. Palmieri of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. She then became associate director of a comparative law project sponsored by Columbia University before joining the faculty of Rutgers Law School in 1963. From 1972 to 1980, she taught at Columbia Law School, where she became the first female tenured professor.

In the 1970s, Ginsburg also served as a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in Stanford, California, and as the director of the Women's Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. In this position, she led the fight against gender discrimination and won five landmark cases before the Supreme Court.

In 1980, President Carter appointed Ginsburg to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In 1993, President Clinton nominated Ginsburg as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. The Senate confirmed her nomination by a vote of 96-3, and she became the second female and the first Jewish female to serve on the Court.

Justice Ginsburg was a strong voice for gender equality and voting rights. She authored the landmark majority opinion in United States v. Virginia, which held that the State-supported Virginia Military Institute could not refuse to admit women. Justice Ginsburg served on the Supreme Court for 27 years, until her death in September 2020.

It is difficult to overstate the importance of these two Justices as role models and inspiration for generations of American girls, women, and women lawyers.

Justice O'Connor was sworn in as the first female Supreme Court Justice the same month that I started law school, and I had the privilege of working with both Justices on issues of civic education and access to justice. Both women were brilliant and funny. They were stars on the bench and in our national firmament.

Now we are presented with another moment of equal significance, with the nomination of Judge Jackson under consideration in the Senate. One more barrier has fallen, and soon young women of color will be able to see themselves in future Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Ketanji Brown Jackson, as I once saw myself in Justices O'Connor and Ginsburg.

Today I ask my colleagues to honor these incredible women, Justice O'Connor and Justice Ginsburg, and help inspire our next generation of leaders by voting to create these statues for the Capitol of the United States.

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 3294. As all Members of Congress and every American who has visited the United States Capitol when it was completely open know, the Halls of this foothold of democracy are lined with statues to honor and commemorate the lives of great Americans from all corners of this country, all walks of life, and different political leanings.

The National Statuary Hall collection includes two statues donated from each State, and in addition to the base collection, Congress has been able to accept donations or authorize the commission of statues of other individuals who have shaped our Nation and contributed to the excellence of this country.

Such additions have included the statue of Abraham Lincoln, commissioned by Congress in 1866, the portrait monument to Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony in 1920, and most recently, the statue of Rosa Parks, which was officially unveiled in 2013. It is among these giants that today we consider the addition of the first two women confirmed to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States.

It took nearly 200 years after the creation of the Supreme Court for the first woman to sit on America's highest bench. Appointed by President Reagan and confirmed by the Senate in 1981, with a vote of 99-0, a record for the most votes in support of a Supreme Court Justice that stands to this day, Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor blazed a trail that has forever changed the Court for the better.

In the years that have followed, the Senate has confirmed Associate Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whom this bill also honors, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and, most recently, Justice Amy Coney Barrett. I have no doubt that the legacy of women on the Court will continue.

The art collections throughout the Capitol Grounds play a very important role. The pieces honor the ingenuity, courage, creativity, and patriotism of so many who came before us. They inspire us and remind us of the extreme weight and honor of our duties as elected representatives. Congress rarely commissions the addition of statues to its collections, a practice that signifies a rare and high honor. The addition of the first two female Justices to serve on the Supreme Court is welcomed, and I look forward to their presence in these great Halls.

Mr. Speaker, I support this legislation and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Ms. SCANLON. Lois Frankel).

Ms. LOIS FRANKEL of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I am very excited to be supporting this bill today. The gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Scanlon) did a great job with the biographies of these two incredible women, Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, our first two women on the United States Supreme Court.

I am thinking back to my childhood. It is not that easy to think back to my childhood, but I am thinking back to my childhood, and probably one of the most exciting things that I did was a family trip with my parents and my brother to the Capitol. Now when I think back, and coming through the Capitol and seeing all those statues, I must have wondered as a child, did women do anything? It is just amazing, of the 266 statues here in the Capitol, only 14 are women. To me that is crazy. It is just crazy.

We are honoring these two Supreme Court Justices not just because they are women. I am not going to go through their biographies again, but think about it. They went through their careers at a time when there was no Title IX, there was no equal pay, there were limitations on how many women could actually get into law school, and then if you did get into law school--because I was in law school back in the day when there weren't a lot of us--you were bullied. I mean, you were bullied in the classroom. Their achievement is absolutely remarkable.

I am very proud that future generations are going to come through these Halls, and they are going to see representations of these two women. Millions of children from all over the country and all over the world--because we are opening up, I hope soon, as we pass COVID--can be inspired, and I cannot wait. I cannot wait to bring my two little grandsons so they can see that the girls can do it, too.

Just to add, this is a bipartisan bill. I am proud to be one of the sponsors here in the House. Women did this together, but we thank the gentlemen for being on board.

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

I am so proud to rise in support of this bill to recognize the brilliant and groundbreaking legal careers of Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but I am also so proud to recognize them because of their unrelenting focus on our young people.

We have heard a couple of times about Justice O'Connor's interest in civics education. She founded her civics nonprofit when she found that more Americans knew the names of the judges on ``American Idol'' than they did the Justices of the Supreme Court. She was really committed to helping our next generation understand the importance of our civics.

I had the opportunity to meet Justice Ginsburg with my daughter when my daughter was about 10. My daughter was very anxious to ask a question of her. She asked her: ``When will we have a female President?'' Justice Ginsburg turned to her and said: ``Probably not in my lifetime, but certainly in yours.''

My daughter graduated from law school this year. We look forward to the fulfillment of Justice Ginsburg's prophecy.

I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill and support these statues.

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