Interest in Ginsburg waxes and wanes during Barrett confirmation hearings; Columbus trends during Indigenous Peoples Day.
According to data from Google Search, interest in former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg spiked several times recently following her death due to complications from pancreatic cancer. Ginsburg, who served on the Supreme Court from August 1993 until her death on September 18th, was only the second woman to serve in this position, after Sandra Day O’Connor.
While, according to Google Trends, searches spiked on the day of Ginsburg’s death, they also spiked in the days following amidst speculation about a possible replacement to the court. Following the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett by President Trump, there were again searches about Ginsburg, particularly in the last week.
Data from Google Search indicates that in since the confirmation hearings for Barrett began, interest in Ginsburg has again seen an uptick as Americans seek to compare what they are reading about Barrett with the legacy that Ginsburg leaves behind. While Barrett is still trending more strongly, Ginsburg has seen recent spikes in the last week.
Ginsburg was known as a voice for the rights of women and is viewed as a role model by many American women. She was known for her views on abortion, gender discrimination, voting rights, and affirmative action among others. Her life and early cases were explored in the 2018 film On The Basis of Sex, which starred Felicity Jones as Ginsburg. A documentary about Ginsburg was released the same year.
Barrett, a former law professor at Notre Dame, is also a circuit judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Comparisons between Barrett and Ginsburg have focused on Barrett’s religion — she is Catholic as opposed to Ginsburg, who was Jewish — and on her conservativism, which also distances her from Ginsburg, who was seen as a pillar of the liberal wing of the Supreme Court.
Current concern that the Supreme Court will tip even further conservative may have helped to fuel recent interest in Ginsburg.
Columbus trends during Indigenous Peoples Day.
Searches about Christopher Columbus spiked in October on Indigenous Peoples Day, despite recent attempts to focus less on the explorer and more on those who lived in the Americas prior to his arrival.
Columbus has long been a controversial figure in American history. Regarded highly for many years as one of the explorers who discovered the Americas, subsequent research revealed that the methods used by Columbus and his party were often barbaric, including rape and genocide of native people whom they discovered living in the lands they explored.
The grade school rhyme, part of a longer poem, says “In fourteen hundred ninety-two Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” This date refers to Columbus’s first voyage, intended as a search for a sea route to India, but ultimately destined for the Americas. He was not the first explorer to the Americas, with such notable explorers as Leif Erikson having visited North America approximately 500 years earlier. However, Columbus has long been considered one of the most important explorers for this region.
In recent years, amidst the trend of tearing down Confederate Statues, other controversial statues have also been under scrutiny, including statues of Christopher Columbus. In July of this year, two Columbus statues were removed from public parks in Chicago. According to Google search data, Columbus trended in Illinois during that week. However, the term has begun to trend again in the last week during the holiday period.
Monday was Indigenous Peoples Day, still celebrated as Columbus Day in some parts of the country, and Google search data revealed an even larger spike in search interest in Columbus this week. Indigenous Peoples Day was introduced in 2014 and has become popular in many cities in the United States. Search trends for Columbus in October seem likely to remain, both as long as Columbus Day is still celebrated in some parts of the country, and as people look to better understand the history surrounding Indigenous Peoples Day.
