Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg may be a “super diva” but she can’t live forever. And six years after she suggested that Egyptian revolutionaries use the constitution of South Africa as a model, those two countries are making plans to honor her postmortem.
“I have the RBG Workout book,” said South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, “and our country could not have made transition to democracy without her influence. We will fly our national flag at half mast after she dies. For how long we’re not sure.”
Julius Malema, leader of the radical Marxist Economic Freedom Fighters convicted of hate speech in 2011, praised the decision.
“Now that our constitution has been amended, we’re very busy seizing farmland without compensation,” said Malema. “But we’re not too busy to honor the Notorious RBG.”
Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said he also learned a lot from RBG, and will be proud to unilaterally order the flag flown at half mast.
“When she said in Cairo that she ‘would not look to the U.S. Constitution’ as a model, that struck me like cyclonic,” said el-Sissi. “I just signed law imposing Internet controls, and I am certainly aided by all the constitution-writing that has gone on since the end of World War II.”
Polls in both countries find a majority of residents agree with Justice Ginsburg’s assessment that “if the people don’t care, the best constitution in the world won’t make any difference.”
