In this day and age, it seems that politicians reaching across the aisle in friendship is impossible. However, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her moving tribute to her “best buddy,” Justice Antonin Scalia, proves that friendship is always possible, no matter the difference of opinions.
The sudden death of Justice Scalia on Saturday spurred much talk and debate about whether or not Obama should nominate a new justice this election year. With her tribute, Ginsburg managed to draw the focus instead to remembering a man she calls “a treasured friend.”
“He was a jurist of captivating brilliance and wit, with a rare talent to make even the most sober judge laugh. The press referred to his ‘energetic fervor,’ ‘astringent intellect,’ ‘peppery prose,’ ‘acumen,’ and ‘affability,’ all apt descriptions. He was eminently quotable, his pungent opinions so clearly stated that his words never slipped from the reader’s grasp,” she said in a statement Sunday.
In an interview last year Ginsburg summed up quite nicely how she can still maintain the highest respect for the conservative Scalia despite her liberal lean. “I disagreed with most of what he said, but I loved the way he said it.”
While the two disagreed on most things politically, they had plenty of other mutual interests. They bonded over their love of opera, ate together often and celebrated New Year’s Eve together.
They even had some wild adventures. The two rode an elephant together in India.
According to Scalia, “Her feminist friends gave me a hard time because she rode behind me on the elephant.”
Although Ginsburg clarified that it was actually, “a matter of weight distribution,” further drawing focus to the fact that the odd couple friends couldn’t have been more physically different.
It’s these differences that made their friendship so enchanting for us to watch. The fact that two people who disagreed so thoroughly could be such close friends is something that all of us should try to emulate in our lives. Regardless of your political opinion, Scalia’s is a legacy worth celebrating and his friendship with Ginsburg is something we can all agree was a beautiful thing.