Greece’s President on death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A personal loss

The President of the Hellenic Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou said on Saturday, that she mourned US Supreme Court associate justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, “as if for a member of my own family.” Legendary RBG – as she was known – died from complications of pancreatic cancer on September 18 at the age of 87.

RBG “was a guarantee of balance, justice and truth,” and an “ethical force of nature,” Sakellaropoulou posted on her Facebook account.

Sakellaropoulou, a lawyer by training and former president of the Greek Council of State, said that Ginsburg “was the strongest model I had when I served justice.”

She recalled Ginsberg’s justice’s spirit, courage and faith with which she defended the rights of women, minorities, liberal values, and democracy from the Supreme Court bench “are legendary.”

In her tribute to RBG, Sakellaropoulou  recalled “the succinctness of her legal briefs, the clarity and correctness of her her opinion, whether belonging to the majority or – as is often usual – in the minority of decisions. Fight for the things you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.”

Sakellaropoulou wrote “I mourn for RBG as if she were a member of my own family,” and added that “the US Supreme Court may have lost its most valuable member.”