On the evening of September 18th, the world received word of the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG), who passed away in her Washington, D.C. home, due to complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer. A few days prior, in conversation with her granddaughter Clara Spera, Ginsburg expressed, “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.”And while, in these troubling times, it is far too easy to consider her passing only in terms of power, policy, and political strife, we must also pause to reflect upon her strength, character, and life. As we anxiously look towards the future and remember her with heavy hearts, her enduring legacy of achievement, advocacy, and perseverance should also be given attention:
Born Joan Ruth Bader on March 15th, 1933 to Celia and Nathan Bader, she grew up in the Flatbush area of Brooklyn, New York. She was raised in the Jewish faith, and attended James Madison High School before matriculating at Cornell University, where she graduated near the top of her class. During her time at Cornell, she met Martin Ginsburg, who she married in 1954 and spent fifty six years with until his death in 2010. Together, the pair attended Harvard Law School where Ruth was one of just nine women in a class of 500. When “Marty” got a job in New York, RBG transferred to Columbia Law, where she became the first woman to write for two major law reviews (Harvard Law Review and Columbia Law Review) and graduated tied for #1 in her class. Despite all her accolades, Ginsburg described her job hunting process as extremely difficult. As a woman, a mother, and a jew, she encountered gender discrimination and antisemisitim, firsthand, in the corporate world. In 1963, RBG became a professor of law at Rutgers University in New Jersey. At the time, this was revolutionary, as fewer than twenty women were employed as law professors in the entire nation.
After Rutgers, Ginsburg began her long and successful career in litigation by founding the Women’s Rights Project at the ACLU in 1972. From then on, she argued and won various landmark cases that succeeded in extending women’s rights and established statues for years to come to guard women from gender-based discrimination. Notably, in 1971, RBG authored the brief for Reed v. Reed, which extended the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause to women. Additionally, she led counsel and presented oral arguments during Craig v. Boren, that ultimately led the court to strike down Oklahoma’s attempt to set different drinking ages for men and women. Eventually, Ruth’s winning track record and reputation on Capitol Hill led to her appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals in D.C. under the Carter Administration. After earning immense respect and recognition from this position, Ginsburg was nominated for the U.S. Supreme Court by President Bill Clinton. In 1993, she was sworn in as the second female justice to ever have a seat on this bench and twenty seven years later, only two women have joined these ranks.Soon after, she would earn the privilege to author the “liberal wing’s” majority and dissenting opinions in landmark cases such as Ledbetter v. Goodyear and U.S. v. Virginia. Ruth’s voice on the Supreme Court can be credited for making great strides in the areas of women’s rights, abortion and privacy, and racial or ethnic discrimination.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg lived one of the most inspiring lives of any woman in American history. Despite her small stature, her presence was colossal, and she fought valiantly against injustice. Her political prowess was only matched by her status as pop-culture icon “The Notorious RBG,” a name which she whole-heartedly embraced in the later years of her life. She leaves behind two children, Jane and James, and four grandchildren, along with millions of grateful citizens, colleagues, and admirers. This week, Ginsburg has become not only the first woman but also the first person of Jewish identity to lie in state at the Capitol, where a formal service took place, before she is laid to rest next to her husband at Arlington National Cemetery. As women and American citizens alike, we must recognize how greatly our lives would differ without Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s influence, and remember her with enormous gratitude and reverence, every day.