Dahlia Lithwick addresses the crowd at the NCJW/Essex opening event.
LIVINGSTON, NJ — NCJW/Essex enjoyed a full house at the 2016 opening event on Nov. 3 at Brooklake Country Club featuring award-winning journalist and legal commentator Dahlia Lithwick as keynote speaker. In a timely address, Lithwick, a contributing editor at Newsweek and a senior editor at Slate, spoke about the Supreme Court and why it matters to an audience of several hundred people.
“The Supreme Court tries to be faithful to our Constitution while at the same time strives for justice,” Lithwick said, adding that paradoxically it is also partisan and political. She referred to the Supreme Court as a precious institution and the “crown jewel of our democracy.” But, she explained, with the Senate blocking the appointment of nominee Merrick Garland for the seat previously held by the late Justice Antonin Scalia, the court is stymied in a 4-4 tie. The vacancy on the bench is among the longest vacancies on the Supreme Court in U.S. history.
“The Supreme Court is boring and wonky, but also magical and mystifying, and it matters so very much,” said Lithwick, who cautioned that we are getting perilously close to a constitutional crisis and warned that the court is too important an institution to be delegitimized. “It is heartbreaking that we are breaking it.”
Also speaking at the program was Janine Garubo Austin, managing partner at the Anthony Garubo Salon in Maplewood, which has donated its time and talent to help empower clients of the Linda & Rudy Slucker NCJW/Essex Center for Women clients for the past three years.
“We have the ability to transform someone with a pair of scissors and hair dye,” Garubo said, “but we are just polishing the shell to let inner light shine a little brighter. These women are on a brave path of reinventing themselves and rebuilding confidence. Our staff has found that to give is to receive, and they are humbled and gratified to help.”
“The heartfelt and powerful messages from both of these women resonated at our opening event,” NCJW/Essex President Shari Harrison said. “Our hope is that attendees recognize that whether it concerns the Supreme Court, a small business or an individual client from our Center for Women, what we do matters. We encourage everyone to channel their interests and talents and get involved.”