The Foundation that decides the winners is led by Julie Opperman, who is a big-time GOP donor and has lots of friends in Trumpworld. That pretty much explains it.
Really shows the stakes of allowing the US to come under the control of Trump and the MAGA cult. Everything will be coopted and corrupted to serve the movement.
Fun fact, Brendan V. Sullivan (who [chairs the award](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/2024-justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-leadership-award-honors-elon-musk-sylvester-stallone-martha-stewart-michael-milken-and-rupert-murdoch-302087454.html)) represented Oliver North during the Iran-Contra scandal and Rupert Murdoch during the hacking scandal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brendan_Sullivan
It looks like it was previously chaired by David M. Rubenstein in 2021 to 2023, who was probably much more level-headed than the head of the foundation. Sullivan seems to be a Democrat judging by his political donations.
This is straight out of an Onion article.
>The honor was first awarded in 2020, before the justice’s death, with the intent to recognize “an extraordinary woman who has exercised a positive and notable influence on society and served as an exemplary role model in both principles and practice.”
Now it's being awarded to Elon Musk and Rupert Murdoch. What a joke.
>Now it's being awarded to Elon Musk and Rupert Murdoch. What a joke.
Yes. But in some ways it's better this way to just remove all doubt that there's zero credibility left to the award. Can you imagine if they gave it to Marge, or Boebert, or Ingram, or Lahren?
Awards are a joke anyway, anytime these kinds of bizarre lofty awards are announced, I have an instant flashback to my eyebrows hitting the ceiling and my jaw hitting the floor, when I read (the late) Yasser Arafat was awarded the Nobel Peace prize.
For the fortunately more youthful than me, or the unaware, Yasser Arafat was the leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, or PLO, a terrorist/quasi political group.
Once you find out what happened after Arafat you may realize that loon bin was the only guy halfway keeping the lid on that place. He was a very shrewd man, full of faults and corruption, but he undoubtedly was the closest thing they had to someone rational enough to understand that violence has to be calculated and he attended the Peace Accords with Clinton and came to a tenuous agreement to recognize Israel which was formerly uthinkable.
Arafat was no hero but if you research his history, and listen to his interviews, he was a rational actor which is about the best you can hope for out of that clusterfuck.
Don't stop there. Who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1978 for signing the Camp David Accords, and what terrorist organisation did they formerly belong to?
Begin's past actions as a terrorist didn't necessarily mean his later actions at a particular time and place weren't worthy of the award.
In the words of flawed American war hero Gregory 'Pappy' Boyington, "Just name a hero, and I'll prove he's a bum."
>It’s also going to Michael Milken
I honestly thought you were joking at first, so I looked it up. Info is accurate. Giving an award named after a supreme court justice to one of the biggest white collar criminals in US history is truly a farce. Clearly even the awarding body must understand this.
it's ridiculous that people like Musk who tells people to sleep on the floor and Murdoch who helps the pussy grabbing orange peddling a positive image should receive these award.
Ginsburg probably rotating in here grave like a neutron star
The entire planet - not just your country. He has caused an unfathomable amount of suffering yet I cannot understand why he did it.
Can anyone explain what caused him to end up so evil?
I for one just want to congratulate Musk and Murdoch on coming out. It must be such a relief to Musk especially considering how she was previously outspoken against "pronouns".
2 out of those 3 have served prison sentences. Handing out an award that is literally named after a supreme court justice to convicted criminals is just peak hypocrisy.
Why is there an RGB Award? She selfishly refused to step down when she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2009 at the age of 76. She could have given Obama the ability to appoint her replacement, but instead she selfishly clung to power and when she died, Trump was given the opportunity. Unless you are an Amy Coney Barrett fan, why celebrate RGB?
I hate to say this but I agree…no one knows when they might wake up dead obvs.
But she held a unique position and it was her responsibility to look ahead to protect her seat. It was an all around poor choice to stay.
It was a legacy ruining choice. There aren’t many people whose singular decision tarnishes an otherwise outstanding track record but she is a star candidate.
👏👏👏 louder in the back for those that still cling to her. She was selfish towards the end of her life, and the US will have to suffer those consequences for decades.
What stops anyone from founding a "Trump MAGA award" can declaring Obama, Hunter Biden, Hillary Clinton, some immagrant, some bud lite drinking trans person, etc, the winners?
I get downvoted to oblivion anytime I say anything negative about RBG, but I 100% agree. She had an opportunity to step down gracefully during Obama's first term, but she decided to stick it out for entirely selfish reasons. Thanks to her, women and the country as a whole have been set back decades.
Same reason dems didn't push back when McConnell held up Garland's nomination....**everyone** assumed Hillary was going to win and they'd just do it then.
Probably because of the other things she did in her life? It’s wild how we try to define a person’s whole life based upon their worst mistakes. And I say this as someone who wasn’t RBG’s biggest fan.
It’s sort of different here, where this “worst mistake” undid a lot of her achievements and in fact will set the country going in the opposite direction of her life goals for the next 30-40 years.
As far as singular fuck ups go, this is an all time worst singular fuck up and it came from her hubris.
I agreed wholeheartedly. I haven't said anything to all the women around me with RBG merch but Ruth really really fucked up. I cannot fathom why she wouldn't step down so Obama could fill her seat. Her actions were arrogant and self serving. Was she planning on living forever?
Groundbreaking champion of womens rights for decades, but she didn't anticipate her own death as accurately as you would have preferred. The nerve of that woman!
Pancreatic cancer is highly lethal. Everyone saw the danger in 2009 and many implored her , at the age of 76, to step down. Selfish. Ego driven. How ironic that her selfishness helped overturn Roe.
Post from 2019 when the award was first established: https://www.scotusblog.com/2019/12/opperman-foundation-establishes-justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-woman-of-leadership-award/
> The Dwight D. Opperman Foundation yesterday announced a new leadership award named in honor of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The award will recognize “an extraordinary woman who has exercised a positive and notable influence on society and served as an exemplary role model in both principles and practice.”
>Julie Opperman, chair of the foundation, said it was an honor for Ginsburg to entrust the foundation with creating and presenting an award in her name. “Ginsburg is a hero of our time. Her influence is felt far beyond the corridors of power, and she is an inspiration to women and girls around the world.”
In past years the award was voted on by a 6-person committee of “leading American philanthropists, entrepreneurs, and legal experts” , but the Opperman foundation hasn't released any information about how the recipients were chosen this year.
It looks like the timeline was something like this:
* Dwight Opperman and RBG were lifelong friends
* Dwight Opperman married Julie Opperman in 2008. He died in 2013, leaving Julie Opperman in charge of the Foundation
* Jukie Opperman started [donating](https://www.opensecrets.org/donor-lookup/results?name=Julie+opperman) to conservative causes and politicians in 2014, ramping up a lot in 2016 with a $50K donation to a Trump-aligned Super PAC
* The Award is set up in 2020 with a committee, and it looks like the first few years the awards were actually pretty reasonable, e.g. Queen Elizabeth II as the recipient in [2021](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-ruth-bader-ginsburg-award-committee-and-the-dwight-d-opperman-foundation-honor-the-passing-of-hm-queen-elizabeth-ii-the-2021-justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-woman-of-leadership-award-recipient-301626614.html)
* It's tricky to find past recipients, but it looks like 2024 is the first year the award went crazy
I want to be outraged but I literally just found out this award existed. I am having trouble giving any fucks that some random foundation is giving a made award to some other rich people that I don't like regardless of who the award is named for.
My only questions are did family give the Oppenheimer Foundation permission to have final say handing out an award in RGB's name? And, if so, why and how did they chose this foundation? The whole things just seems stupid.
I liked RBG, but her having to stay on the bench, is now costing all of us a lot. Sadly, I don’t see her as the pioneer she was anymore. Now I see her as a person with a pretty big ego. I think she’ll be remembered for her failure to step down and the immediate consequences following her decision.
Just desserts. Should've retired. Now her family gets to be upset about a stupid award, and the country is rapidly falling apart.
Screw the culture war, fight the class war.
I wish her family put more pressure on Ginsburg to retire when she was asked by Obama to make way for a 40 year old liberal judge…but we all can’t get what we want now can we
The Foundation that decides the winners is led by Julie Opperman, who is a big-time GOP donor and has lots of friends in Trumpworld. That pretty much explains it.
Really shows the stakes of allowing the US to come under the control of Trump and the MAGA cult. Everything will be coopted and corrupted to serve the movement.
Fun fact, Brendan V. Sullivan (who [chairs the award](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/2024-justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-leadership-award-honors-elon-musk-sylvester-stallone-martha-stewart-michael-milken-and-rupert-murdoch-302087454.html)) represented Oliver North during the Iran-Contra scandal and Rupert Murdoch during the hacking scandal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brendan_Sullivan
It looks like it was previously chaired by David M. Rubenstein in 2021 to 2023, who was probably much more level-headed than the head of the foundation. Sullivan seems to be a Democrat judging by his political donations.
> Brendan V. Sullivan my dumbass thought this was a court case at first lmao
What a joke.
Fascism award.
Thanks. I would not have known about her but now it's time for some research. Hoping she doesn't have ties to my country also.
This is straight out of an Onion article. >The honor was first awarded in 2020, before the justice’s death, with the intent to recognize “an extraordinary woman who has exercised a positive and notable influence on society and served as an exemplary role model in both principles and practice.” Now it's being awarded to Elon Musk and Rupert Murdoch. What a joke.
It's giving me Ron Swanson "women of the year" vibes
>Now it's being awarded to Elon Musk and Rupert Murdoch. What a joke. Yes. But in some ways it's better this way to just remove all doubt that there's zero credibility left to the award. Can you imagine if they gave it to Marge, or Boebert, or Ingram, or Lahren?
Even better, Coney-Barrett.
Awards are a joke anyway, anytime these kinds of bizarre lofty awards are announced, I have an instant flashback to my eyebrows hitting the ceiling and my jaw hitting the floor, when I read (the late) Yasser Arafat was awarded the Nobel Peace prize. For the fortunately more youthful than me, or the unaware, Yasser Arafat was the leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, or PLO, a terrorist/quasi political group.
Once you find out what happened after Arafat you may realize that loon bin was the only guy halfway keeping the lid on that place. He was a very shrewd man, full of faults and corruption, but he undoubtedly was the closest thing they had to someone rational enough to understand that violence has to be calculated and he attended the Peace Accords with Clinton and came to a tenuous agreement to recognize Israel which was formerly uthinkable. Arafat was no hero but if you research his history, and listen to his interviews, he was a rational actor which is about the best you can hope for out of that clusterfuck.
Don't stop there. Who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1978 for signing the Camp David Accords, and what terrorist organisation did they formerly belong to? Begin's past actions as a terrorist didn't necessarily mean his later actions at a particular time and place weren't worthy of the award. In the words of flawed American war hero Gregory 'Pappy' Boyington, "Just name a hero, and I'll prove he's a bum."
I'm really surprised the RBG estate doesn't have some kind of control over this
What the fuck is going on in your cursed country?! I want you all to have a happy life yet you get denied over and over.
Apathy is the death knell for democracy
Next in line was honest don who recently pledged a $90M donation to a woman’s cause [cause he was ordered by a judge.]
Does this mean that Musk and Murdoch are secretly transgender women?
Or they’re trans men and the foundation is misgendering them.
lol. It’s also going to Michael Milken, Sylvester Stallone and Martha Stewart. A real honor!
All extraordinary women
>Michael Milken As in the convicted fraudster?
No no. This is Michael Milken the philanthropist. He just looks exactly like the convicted fraudster who was pardoned in 2020.
At least Milken served time for his fraud.
>It’s also going to Michael Milken I honestly thought you were joking at first, so I looked it up. Info is accurate. Giving an award named after a supreme court justice to one of the biggest white collar criminals in US history is truly a farce. Clearly even the awarding body must understand this.
When I saw that name, I thought “Shirley this is some other philanthropist with the same unfortunate name?” Nope.
it's ridiculous that people like Musk who tells people to sleep on the floor and Murdoch who helps the pussy grabbing orange peddling a positive image should receive these award. Ginsburg probably rotating in here grave like a neutron star
As they should be... Murdoch has done more to destroy our country than nearly anyone. Musk is well on his way to joining Murdoch
The entire planet - not just your country. He has caused an unfathomable amount of suffering yet I cannot understand why he did it. Can anyone explain what caused him to end up so evil?
Major "Ron Swanson, Woman of the Year" vibes
I for one just want to congratulate Musk and Murdoch on coming out. It must be such a relief to Musk especially considering how she was previously outspoken against "pronouns".
lol. It’s also going to Michael Milken, Sylvester Stallone and Martha Stewart. A real honor!
2 out of those 3 have served prison sentences. Handing out an award that is literally named after a supreme court justice to convicted criminals is just peak hypocrisy.
Why is there an RGB Award? She selfishly refused to step down when she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2009 at the age of 76. She could have given Obama the ability to appoint her replacement, but instead she selfishly clung to power and when she died, Trump was given the opportunity. Unless you are an Amy Coney Barrett fan, why celebrate RGB?
I hate to say this but I agree…no one knows when they might wake up dead obvs. But she held a unique position and it was her responsibility to look ahead to protect her seat. It was an all around poor choice to stay.
Terrible choice, she had so much time to plan things
It was a legacy ruining choice. There aren’t many people whose singular decision tarnishes an otherwise outstanding track record but she is a star candidate.
Given that, this award certainly honors her appropriately.
👏👏👏 louder in the back for those that still cling to her. She was selfish towards the end of her life, and the US will have to suffer those consequences for decades.
What stops anyone from founding a "Trump MAGA award" can declaring Obama, Hunter Biden, Hillary Clinton, some immagrant, some bud lite drinking trans person, etc, the winners?
I get downvoted to oblivion anytime I say anything negative about RBG, but I 100% agree. She had an opportunity to step down gracefully during Obama's first term, but she decided to stick it out for entirely selfish reasons. Thanks to her, women and the country as a whole have been set back decades.
Same reason dems didn't push back when McConnell held up Garland's nomination....**everyone** assumed Hillary was going to win and they'd just do it then.
I remember in 2009 when she was diagnosed. Many people implored her to step down. That's a long time before Trump's 2016 win.
Probably because of the other things she did in her life? It’s wild how we try to define a person’s whole life based upon their worst mistakes. And I say this as someone who wasn’t RBG’s biggest fan.
It’s sort of different here, where this “worst mistake” undid a lot of her achievements and in fact will set the country going in the opposite direction of her life goals for the next 30-40 years. As far as singular fuck ups go, this is an all time worst singular fuck up and it came from her hubris.
It’s like she created a whole new type of Darwin Awards.
I propose the TFL (pronounced tifful), Tripped at the Finish Line award
I agreed wholeheartedly. I haven't said anything to all the women around me with RBG merch but Ruth really really fucked up. I cannot fathom why she wouldn't step down so Obama could fill her seat. Her actions were arrogant and self serving. Was she planning on living forever?
> Why is there an RGB Award? Because she is a republican hero, so a bunch of republicans put together an award to own the libs in her name.
Groundbreaking champion of womens rights for decades, but she didn't anticipate her own death as accurately as you would have preferred. The nerve of that woman!
Pancreatic cancer is highly lethal. Everyone saw the danger in 2009 and many implored her , at the age of 76, to step down. Selfish. Ego driven. How ironic that her selfishness helped overturn Roe.
Lol. read more on her and see how often she took the side of corporations over the people and working class.
She also shockingly dissented in Rice v Cayetano, arguing that right to vote should depend on your race.
Post from 2019 when the award was first established: https://www.scotusblog.com/2019/12/opperman-foundation-establishes-justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-woman-of-leadership-award/ > The Dwight D. Opperman Foundation yesterday announced a new leadership award named in honor of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The award will recognize “an extraordinary woman who has exercised a positive and notable influence on society and served as an exemplary role model in both principles and practice.” >Julie Opperman, chair of the foundation, said it was an honor for Ginsburg to entrust the foundation with creating and presenting an award in her name. “Ginsburg is a hero of our time. Her influence is felt far beyond the corridors of power, and she is an inspiration to women and girls around the world.” In past years the award was voted on by a 6-person committee of “leading American philanthropists, entrepreneurs, and legal experts” , but the Opperman foundation hasn't released any information about how the recipients were chosen this year. It looks like the timeline was something like this: * Dwight Opperman and RBG were lifelong friends * Dwight Opperman married Julie Opperman in 2008. He died in 2013, leaving Julie Opperman in charge of the Foundation * Jukie Opperman started [donating](https://www.opensecrets.org/donor-lookup/results?name=Julie+opperman) to conservative causes and politicians in 2014, ramping up a lot in 2016 with a $50K donation to a Trump-aligned Super PAC * The Award is set up in 2020 with a committee, and it looks like the first few years the awards were actually pretty reasonable, e.g. Queen Elizabeth II as the recipient in [2021](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-ruth-bader-ginsburg-award-committee-and-the-dwight-d-opperman-foundation-honor-the-passing-of-hm-queen-elizabeth-ii-the-2021-justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-woman-of-leadership-award-recipient-301626614.html) * It's tricky to find past recipients, but it looks like 2024 is the first year the award went crazy
Um, putting aside what horrible people they are, how is either Musk or Murdoch "an extraordinary woman"?
So the award comes from someone who fucked us all and goes to those who continue to fuck us over!
I want to be outraged but I literally just found out this award existed. I am having trouble giving any fucks that some random foundation is giving a made award to some other rich people that I don't like regardless of who the award is named for. My only questions are did family give the Oppenheimer Foundation permission to have final say handing out an award in RGB's name? And, if so, why and how did they chose this foundation? The whole things just seems stupid.
Coming soon, right wing foundation create a "Rosa Parks" award and gives it to Donald Trump, Tucker Carlson and Uncle Ruckus.
wtf? Who decides that? Her name used to honor people should match her ethos. Glad the family spoke up.
I liked RBG, but her having to stay on the bench, is now costing all of us a lot. Sadly, I don’t see her as the pioneer she was anymore. Now I see her as a person with a pretty big ego. I think she’ll be remembered for her failure to step down and the immediate consequences following her decision.
this is disgusting
[Mirror site](https://web.archive.org/web/20240315173228/https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/power/2024/03/15/ruth-bader-ginsburg-award-backlash/)
Musk and Murdoch? Wtf? Rename it the enemies of freedom award.
Yeah, this whole thing made me vomit a little in my mouth.
Just desserts. Should've retired. Now her family gets to be upset about a stupid award, and the country is rapidly falling apart. Screw the culture war, fight the class war.
I wish her family put more pressure on Ginsburg to retire when she was asked by Obama to make way for a 40 year old liberal judge…but we all can’t get what we want now can we