Local politicos unveiled a new statue of the late United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at Downtown Brooklyn’s City Point shopping mall Friday to honor the Brooklyn-born pioneer.
“Justice Ginsburg is a product of this borough and we are so proud of that,” said Brooklyn Democratic Party boss and Flatbush Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn at the March 12 ceremony. “Ruth Bader Ginsburg played an absolutely essential role in establishing modern law on equal protection as it relates to equality between the sexes. She is a role model to me and to everyone.”
The 6-foot bronze statue lives at the Flatbush Avenue Ext. entrance to the shopping campus and was designed by international husband-and-wife artist duo Gillie and Marc as part of their 2019 installation “Statues for Equality” which set up 10 memorials in Manhattan of notable women like Oprah Winfrey, P!nk, and Nicole Kidman.
After Ginsburg died last September, leaders of the City Point complex worked with the sculptors to bring the effigy of the legal eagle to the development in America’s Downtown, unveiling it just three days ahead of what would have been her 88th birthday on March 15.
Her likeness stands atop a base of two steps representing her ascent to the highest court in the land, according to the artists.
“With the two steps on its large base representing the Supreme Court and the climb she made to get there, the work is designed to provide the public with an opportunity to stand at her side, and gain inspiration from her journey fighting for equal rights,” Gillie and Marc said in a joint statement.
The pioneering judge was born in Brooklyn in 1933. She grew up in Midwood and was in the class of 1950 at nearby James Madison High School.
Borough President Eric Adams said he hoped the statue — which is only the seventh in the city of a nonfictional woman — would inspire Kings Countians to learn more about one of the borough’s proudest daughters and push officials to install more tributes to great female figures.
“To see that this is just the seventh statue depicting a woman from history when women have played such a major role in this city, that is something that is unacceptable and we’re going to continue to roll out more and more statues throughout this entire city,” said Adams, who is also running to be the city’s next mayor. “We want young girls and boys to walk through these doors and ask their parents, ‘Who is this woman, what does she represent?’”
The beep’s office has pushed for honoring Ginsburg since 2018 when Borough Hall floated the proposal to rename the Municipal Building on Joralemon and Court streets after her, which Mayor Bill de Blasio endorsed after her death last year.
Adams also said he will declare her upcoming birthday Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Day in the borough.
Meanwhile, another statue of Ginsburg was planned by Gov. Andrew Cuomo for Brooklyn Bridge Park, but the state’s chief executive — mired in mounting twin scandals of sexual harassment and covering up nursing home deaths — has not publicly indicated any progress on those plans since establishing a commission last fall.
The new Ruth Bader Ginsburg statue will be open to visitors daily at City Point’s Flatbush Avenue Ext. entrance near Fleet Street from 10 am–8 pm daily. Free.
