Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg left a profound mark on countless areas of law: gender equality, discrimination law, and voting rights, to name just a few. These weighty subjects have rightfully occupied the many scholars and journalists who have analyzed her legacy. These same subjects have animated vigorous conversations around former President Donald Trump’s selection of Justice Amy Coney Barrett—previously of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit—to replace her.

When Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died unexpectedly on February 13, 2016, Republicans in the U.S. Senate immediately made clear that they would not consider any nominee proposed by President Barack Obama. Because 2016 was a presidential election year, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declared within hours of Scalia’s passing: “The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice.”

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a unique figure in American history: as Chief Justice Roberts put it, she was “a jurist of historic stature.” She was that, of course, but she was so much more. If she had never served on the Supreme Court, Ruth Bader Ginsburg would still have been a person of historic stature. She was a leading legal scholar who wrote major works about procedure, jurisdiction, comparative law, and constitutional law.