The news tends to be devastating. One shining moment of joy? Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg recently received a jersey from professional soccer player Becky Sauerbrunn. This jersey isn’t special just because it came from a member of the U.S. women’s national team, though that alone is pretty cool.
Sauerbrunn wore this jersey after playing a SheBelives Cup match in England in early March. The match was in honor of Women’s History Month. Each player wore a jersey that commemorated a woman who inspired her.
Is it any surprise someone chose RBG?
Sauermann explained why she chose to celebrate Ginsburg with her jersey in a U.S. Soccer Federation news release, saying, “She’s a complete rock star. Dissenting opinion, battling cancer and then showing up to vote … what can’t she do?”
Ginsburg replied with this thoughtful and charming letter, which Sauerbrunn shared on Twitter:
The closing line of her letter, “The jersey will be my favorite for the biweekly workouts that keep me in shape,” is possibly the most heartwarming sentence written in 2019.
In addition to all that she does for the U.S., Ginsburg is exceptionally active and health-minded. At 86, she regularly exercises. She’s even joked that her personal trainer, Bryant Johnson, is one of the most important people in her life. Monitoring Ginsburg’s health has become a strange sort of cultural obsession, especially on social media, as many people fear who Trump may nominate to replace her if she does step down.
But back to the jersey. This is what they looked like:
Other women celebrated include Audre Lorde, Beyoncé, Mother Teresa, and Tina Fey.
If you want to celebrate the much-loved Justice Ginsburg yourself but don't feel like making your own jersey, fret not. Perhaps you can plank on the Supreme Court next year instead?