That was Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Dick Durbin’s tribute to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the end of today’s hearing, as he attributed these words to Ginsburg:
Judicial independence in the U.S. strengthens ordered liberty, domestic tranquility, the rule of law, and democratic ideals. It would be folly to squander this priceless constitutional gift to placate the clamors of benighted political partisans.
Alas, the words that Durbin praised weren’t Ginsburg’s. She was instead quoting an essay by Bruce Fein and Burt Neuborne in a chapter that she contributed to a book titled The Rule of Law.
Ginsburg’s chapter evidently appears as one of the entries (“Judicial Independence,” I gather) in her 2016 book My Own Words. I don’t seem to have that book on my shelves, but I’d be very surprised if Ginsburg failed to continue to attribute the passage to Fein and Neuborne. Perhaps a reader who has the book can confirm the point. [Update: A reader has confirmed that Ginsburg quoted Fein and Neuborne in her book.]