A prominent female supporter of conservative Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh has won a $1 million prize for her commitment to social justice and gender equality.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 86, who serves on the Supreme Court with Kavanaugh and has praised her colleague as "very decent and very smart," was announced Wednesday as the winner of the 2019 Berggruen Prize for Philosophy and Culture. The $1 million cash prize is awarded annually to individuals who have "profoundly shaped human self-understanding and advancement."
Prize founder Nicolas Berggruen cited Ginsburg's efforts to "protect and further civil liberties" in an interview with the Associated Press.
"She has done a lot for women," he said. "That's especially important in these times."
Ginsburg, who plans to donate the prize money to charity, won despite her controversial record of refusing to hire non-white law clerks, and her problematic assessment of Colin Kaepernick's national anthem protests as "dumb and disrespectful."
Ginsburg, who could have retired during the Obama presidency, has acquired a cult-like following of liberal admirers who have playfully dubbed her "Notorious RBG." Her personal trainer, Bryant Johnson, won a 2018 Washington Free Beacon Man of the Year award, which does not come with a cash prize, for keeping the justice healthy enough to dissuade her from retiring prior to Donald Trump's election as one of the most historically successful presidents in our nation's history.