For the second time this year, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg addressed a naturalization ceremony, where the “daughter and granddaughter of immigrants” told dozens of new U.S. citizens that “we are a nation made strong by people like you, people who traveled long distances, overcame great obstacles and made tremendous sacrifices, all to provide a better life for themselves and their families.”
The justice addressed 31 immigrants from 26 different countries in the darkened rotunda of the National Archives in Washington, “which is dimly lit to protect the fragile documents including the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.” There she shared her family’s own immigration story.
My own father arrived in this land at age 13 with no fortune and speaking no English. My mother was born four months after her parents—with several children in tow—came by ship to Ellis Island. My father and my grandparents reached, as you do, for the American dream. What is the difference between a bookkeeper in New York City's Garment District and a Supreme Court Justice? One generation.
In April, she presided over a naturalization ceremony for more than 200 immigrants from nearly 60 countries—and it was all her idea. The justice had read an article about the New-York Historical Society’s Citizenship Project, which “offers free classes to green card holders who are studying for the naturalization test, involving art, documents and artifacts at the museum.”
It was already a special day for the dozens of new Americans, and Ginsburg’s appearance made it all the more special. “Yusif Abubakari, 42, born in Ghana, was struck by Justice Ginsburg’s ‘humbleness,’ he said,” the New York Times reported. “‘She is supposed to be at home but she came because of me, because of us, and that made me feel so special today,’ Mr. Abubakari said, adding, ‘May God bless her and give her more life and prosperity.’”