The second woman to ever serve on the US Supreme Court died last Friday, after decades of service to our nation.

This week, we mourn the death of a great jurist, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. When President Clinton nominated Justice Ginsburg in 1993 to fill the seat of the retiring Justice Byron R. White, she became only the second woman in history to be tapped to serve on the United States’ highest court. On Friday she will become the first woman — and only the second Supreme Court Justice — to lie in state at the Capitol in Washington, DC. The crowds coming to honor the late Justice are expected to be so large that she will lie in repose at the Supreme Court for two days — on Wednesday and Thursday — rather than the traditional one day, in order to accommodate the many mourners.

Justice Ginsburg spent her long legal career advocating for women’s rights, and she worked tirelessly toward the goal of ending discrimination on the basis of sex. She also famously fostered a close friendship with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia — an ideological conservative whom she often opposed in court decisions. The two razor-sharp legal minds both respected and learned from one another, setting an example of civility and a genuine respect for differing perspectives that we are happy to be reminded of today.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s legacy will be enduring, in matters of law and in the broader public discourse on ideas surrounding equality and fairness. All of us here at Burnett & Williams wish her godspeed, and thank her and her family for sharing her brilliant legal mind with the citizens of the United States for so many years.