Last year, [Flaunt sat down with Nicolas Berggruen](https://www.flaunt.com/content/people/the-berggruen-institute), the billionaire philanthropist and founder of the Berggruen Institute, an establishment set to develop foundational ideas about how to reshape political and social institutions. He spoke about the [upcoming Berggruen Institute campus](https://www.berggruen.org/berggruen-in-california/), a Blade Runner-esque science fiction based architectural oddity, which is set in the Santa Monica mountains and scheduled to open in 2023. Today, they announced the Supreme Court Queen Ruth Bader Ginsburg as the recipient for their 2019 Berggruen Prize for Philosophy and Culture.
The Berggruen Institue gives out this award annually to thinkers and move-makers whose ideas are pushing forward human self-understanding in this increasingly changing world. Ruth Bader Ginsburg won out from a field consisting of more than 500 nominees, which included leaders in fields such as social science, global justice, animal rights, and bioethics.
“I am delighted the Jury has chosen to honor such a prolific leader in the field of jurisprudence,” said Institue Founder and Chairman Nicolas Berggruen. “Throughout her career, Ginsburg has used the law to advance ethical and philosophical principles of equality and human rights as basic tenets of the USA. Her contributions have shaped our way of life and way of thinking and have demonstrated to the world the importance of the rule of law in disabling discrimination.”
As you should know by now, Ginsburg is an absolute legend. She’s served on the U.S Supreme Court for more than 26 years (a Court mostly populated by men), and has authored ground-shaking opinions such as _United States v. Virginia, Olmstead v. L.C._, and _Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services._ As this year’s winner, she finds herself in elite company. Since its foundation in 2016, the Berggruen Prize has been awarded to Charles Taylor, a Canadian philosopher, Baroness O’Neill of Bengarve, a citizen philosopher who has elevated the quality of public life and improved the vocabulary of public discourse, and moral philosopher Martha C. Nussbaum.
Ginsburg, the saint that she is, will redirect the monetary prize to a charitable or non-profit organization of her choice.
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