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Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Brief Overview
SOURCE: © https://www.oyez.org/justices/ruth_bader_ginsburg FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY
OYEZ: Cornell Law School, Legal Information Institute (an independent project of the Cornell Law School), Chicago-Kent College of Law, Justia (Justia is an American website specializing in legal information retrieval. It was founded in 2003 by Tim Stanley, formerly of FindLaw, and is one of the largest online databases of legal cases. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California.)
Ruth Bader Ginsburg spent a lifetime flourishing in the face of adversity before being appointed a Supreme Court justice, where she successfully fought against gender discrimination and unified the liberal block of the court. She was born Joan Ruth Bader on March 15, 1933, in Brooklyn, New York. Her father was a furrier in the height of the Great Depression, and her mother worked in a garment factory. Ginsburg’s mother instilled a love of education in Ginsburg through her dedication to her brother; foregoing her own education to finance her brother’s college expenses. Her mother heavily influenced her early life and watched Ginsburg excel at James Madison High School, but was diagnosed with cancer and died the day before Ginsburg’s high school graduation. Ginsburg’s success in academia continued throughout her years at Cornell University, where she graduated at the top of her class in 1954. That same year, Ruth Bader became Ruth Bader Ginsburg after marrying her husband Martin. After graduation, she put her education on hold to start a family. She had her first child in 1955, shortly after her husband was drafted for two years of military service. Upon her husband’s return from his service, Ginsburg enrolled at Harvard Law.
Ginsburg’s personal struggles neither decreased in intensity nor deterred her in any way from reaching and exceeding her academic goals, even when her husband was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1956, during her first year of law school. Ginsburg took on the challenge of keeping her sick husband up-to-date with his studies while maintaining her own position at the top of the class. At Harvard, Ginsburg tackled the challenges of motherhood and of a male-dominated school where she was one of nine females in a 500-person class. She faced gender-based discrimination from even the highest authorities there, who chastised her for taking a man’s spot at Harvard Law. She served as the first female member of the Harvard Law Review. Her husband recovered from cancer, graduated from Harvard, and moved to New York City to accept a position at a law firm there. Ruth Bader Ginsburg had one more year of law school left, so she transferred to Columbia Law School and served on their law review as well. She graduated first in her class at Columbia Law in 1959.
Even her exceptional academic record was not enough to shield her from the gender-based discrimination women faced in the workplace in the 1960s. She had difficulties finding a job until a favorite Columbia professor explicitly refused to recommend any other graduates before U.S. District Judge Edmund L. Palmieri hired Ginsburg as a clerk. Ginsburg clerked under Judge Palmieri for two years. After this, she was offered some jobs at law firms, but always at a much lower salary than her male counterparts. She instead took some time to pursue her other legal passion, civil procedure, choosing to join the Columbia Project on International Civil Procedure. This project fully immersed her in Swedish culture, where she lived abroad to do research for her book on Swedish Civil Procedure practices. Upon her return to the States, she accepted a job as a professor at Rutgers University Law School in 1963, a position she held until accepting an offer to teach at Columbia in 1972. There, she became the first female professor at Columbia to earn tenure. Ginsburg also directed the influential Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union during the 1970s. In this position, she led the fight against gender discrimination and successfully argued six landmark cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Ginsburg took a broad look at gender discrimination, fighting not just for the women left behind, but for the men who were discriminated against as well. Ginsburg experienced her share of gender discrimination, even going so far as to hide her pregnancy from her Rutgers colleagues. Ginsburg accepted Jimmy Carter’s appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in 1980. She served on the court for thirteen years until 1993, when Bill Clinton nominated her to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg began her career as a justice where she left off as an advocate, fighting for women’s rights. In 1996, Ginsburg wrote the majority opinion in United States v. Virginia, holding that qualified women could not be denied admission to Virginia Military Institute. Her style in advocating from the bench matches her style from her time at the ACLU: slow but steady, and calculated. Instead of creating sweeping limitations on gender discrimination, she attacked specific areas of discrimination and violations of women’s rights one at a time, so as to send a message to the legislatures on what they can and cannot do. Her attitude is that major social change should not come from the courts, but from Congress and other legislatures. This method allows for social change to remain in Congress’ power while also receiving guidance from the court. Ginsburg does not shy away from giving pointed guidance when she feels the need. She dissented in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. where the plaintiff, a female worker being paid significantly less than males with her same qualifications, sued under Title VII but was denied relief under a statute of limitations issue. The facts of this case mixed her passion of federal procedure and gender discrimination. She broke with tradition and wrote a highly colloquial version of her dissent to read from the bench. She also called for Congress to undo this improper interpretation of the law in her dissent, and then worked with President Obama to pass the very first piece of legislation he signed, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, a copy of which hangs proudly in her office.
Until her death on September 18, 2020, Ginsburg worked with a personal trainer in the Supreme Court’s exercise room, and for many years could lift more than both Justices Breyer and Kagan. Until the 2018 term, Ginsburg had not missed a day of oral arguments, not even when she was undergoing chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer, after surgery for colon cancer, or the day after her husband passed away in 2010. Justice Ginsburg proved time and again that she was a force to be reckoned with, and those who doubted her capacity to effectively complete her judicial duties needed only to look at her record in oral arguments, where she was, until her death, among the most avid questioners on the bench.
Ginsburg’s personal struggles neither decreased in intensity nor deterred her in any way from reaching and exceeding her academic goals, even when her husband was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1956, during her first year of law school. Ginsburg took on the challenge of keeping her sick husband up-to-date with his studies while maintaining her own position at the top of the class. At Harvard, Ginsburg tackled the challenges of motherhood and of a male-dominated school where she was one of nine females in a 500-person class. She faced gender-based discrimination from even the highest authorities there, who chastised her for taking a man’s spot at Harvard Law. She served as the first female member of the Harvard Law Review. Her husband recovered from cancer, graduated from Harvard, and moved to New York City to accept a position at a law firm there. Ruth Bader Ginsburg had one more year of law school left, so she transferred to Columbia Law School and served on their law review as well. She graduated first in her class at Columbia Law in 1959.
Even her exceptional academic record was not enough to shield her from the gender-based discrimination women faced in the workplace in the 1960s. She had difficulties finding a job until a favorite Columbia professor explicitly refused to recommend any other graduates before U.S. District Judge Edmund L. Palmieri hired Ginsburg as a clerk. Ginsburg clerked under Judge Palmieri for two years. After this, she was offered some jobs at law firms, but always at a much lower salary than her male counterparts. She instead took some time to pursue her other legal passion, civil procedure, choosing to join the Columbia Project on International Civil Procedure. This project fully immersed her in Swedish culture, where she lived abroad to do research for her book on Swedish Civil Procedure practices. Upon her return to the States, she accepted a job as a professor at Rutgers University Law School in 1963, a position she held until accepting an offer to teach at Columbia in 1972. There, she became the first female professor at Columbia to earn tenure. Ginsburg also directed the influential Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union during the 1970s. In this position, she led the fight against gender discrimination and successfully argued six landmark cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Ginsburg took a broad look at gender discrimination, fighting not just for the women left behind, but for the men who were discriminated against as well. Ginsburg experienced her share of gender discrimination, even going so far as to hide her pregnancy from her Rutgers colleagues. Ginsburg accepted Jimmy Carter’s appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in 1980. She served on the court for thirteen years until 1993, when Bill Clinton nominated her to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg began her career as a justice where she left off as an advocate, fighting for women’s rights. In 1996, Ginsburg wrote the majority opinion in United States v. Virginia, holding that qualified women could not be denied admission to Virginia Military Institute. Her style in advocating from the bench matches her style from her time at the ACLU: slow but steady, and calculated. Instead of creating sweeping limitations on gender discrimination, she attacked specific areas of discrimination and violations of women’s rights one at a time, so as to send a message to the legislatures on what they can and cannot do. Her attitude is that major social change should not come from the courts, but from Congress and other legislatures. This method allows for social change to remain in Congress’ power while also receiving guidance from the court. Ginsburg does not shy away from giving pointed guidance when she feels the need. She dissented in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. where the plaintiff, a female worker being paid significantly less than males with her same qualifications, sued under Title VII but was denied relief under a statute of limitations issue. The facts of this case mixed her passion of federal procedure and gender discrimination. She broke with tradition and wrote a highly colloquial version of her dissent to read from the bench. She also called for Congress to undo this improper interpretation of the law in her dissent, and then worked with President Obama to pass the very first piece of legislation he signed, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, a copy of which hangs proudly in her office.
Until her death on September 18, 2020, Ginsburg worked with a personal trainer in the Supreme Court’s exercise room, and for many years could lift more than both Justices Breyer and Kagan. Until the 2018 term, Ginsburg had not missed a day of oral arguments, not even when she was undergoing chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer, after surgery for colon cancer, or the day after her husband passed away in 2010. Justice Ginsburg proved time and again that she was a force to be reckoned with, and those who doubted her capacity to effectively complete her judicial duties needed only to look at her record in oral arguments, where she was, until her death, among the most avid questioners on the bench.
SOURCE: © https://www.oyez.org/justices/ruth_bader_ginsburg FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY
Recommended Media
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Web Resources: Print
Biography (Biography.com): https://www.biography.com/law-figure/ruth-bader-ginsburgBiography (Oyez.com): https://www.oyez.org/justices/ruth_bader_ginsburgBiography (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Bader_GinsburgBiography (History.com): https://www.history.com/topics/womens-history/ruth-bader-ginsburgQuick Overview (Supreme Court): https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/biographyginsburg.aspxEIGHT BIGGEST CASES: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/ruth-bader-ginsburg-supreme-court-rulings-to-know-aboutBIGGEST CASES: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/18/ruth-bader-ginsburg-biggest-cases.htmlLIST OF CASES AND VOTES: https://ballotpedia.org/Ruth_Bader_GinsburgFIVE BIG CASES: https://fortune.com/2020/09/18/ruth-bader-ginsburg-legacy-supreme-court-cases/IMPORTANT CASES: https://www.newsweek.com/ruth-bader-ginsburg-rbg-most-famous-supreme-court-cases-1471596BIGGEST DECISIONS AND DISSENTS: https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/18/politics/rbg-supreme-court-decisions-dissents/index.html
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Web Resources: Video
NBC OVERVIEW (6 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CpUIc-HH3wPBS NEWS HOUR OVERVIEW (7 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOuA2_dauGcNEW YORK TIMES OVERVIEW (11 ½ minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRlEFT-44IkCBS SUNDAY MORNING OVERVIEW (10 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUlhXbRgBG4CNN INTERVIEW (Live audience; 1 hour, 15 Minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuB4vr6ElokCBS INTERVIEW (4 ½ minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUlhXbRgBG4BBC INTERVIEW (7 ¼ minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQzClRA2QLMUNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO INTERVIEW (Live audience; 1 hour): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8L4peUuDU8BLOOMBERG INTERVIEW (30 ½ minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPict1a-xQ8NATIONAL BOOK FESTIVAL INTERVIEW (Live audience; 56 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRQM4NJJx-sUC BERKELEY SCHOOL OF LAW (Live audience; 1 hour, 38 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBWJK_DlNTo
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CNN Timeline
For Educational Use Only
- 1959-1961 - Law clerk to a judge in the US District Court, Southern District of New York.
- 1961-1963 - Research associate and associate director, Project of International Procedure at Columbia Law School.
- 1963-1972 - Professor at Rutgers University School of Law.
- 1972-1980 - Professor at Columbia University School of Law. She is the first woman to be hired with tenure at Columbia University School of Law.
- 1973-1980 - General counsel for the ACLU.
- 1977-1978 - Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, California.
- 1980-1993 - Judge of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
- August 10, 1993 - Is sworn in as Supreme Court justice filling the seat held by Justice Byron White.
- September 1999 - Has successful surgery for colon cancer.
- October 1999-June 2000 - Undergoes chemotherapy for colon cancer following the surgery.
- December 12, 2000 - Is one of the four dissenting votes in Bush v. Gore which resolves the disputed 2000 presidential election in favor of Texas Governor George W. Bush.
- October 5, 2002 - Is inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.
- January 26, 2007 - In a speech at Suffolk Law School, Ginsburg says she dislikes being the only woman on the Supreme Court. Ginsburg says she has disagreed with former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor "on a lot of important questions, but we have had the experience of growing up women and we have certain sensitivities that our male colleagues lack."
- February 5-13, 2009 - Has surgery and treatment for early stages of pancreatic cancer.
- March 17, 2009 - It is announced that Ginsburg will be undergoing chemotherapy to treat her pancreatic cancer.
- August 9, 2010 - Receives the American Bar Association's highest honor, the ABA medal.
- August 31, 2013 - Becomes the first Supreme Court justice to officiate at a same-sex marriage ceremony.
- November 26, 2014 - Undergoes a heart procedure to have a stent placed in her right coronary artery.
- February 20, 2016 - Attends the funeral of her High Court colleague, Justice Antonin Scalia at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. Ginsburg was a longtime family friend of Justice Scalia. He once said they were an "odd couple" and he counted her as his "best buddy" on the bench.
- July 11, 2016 - Criticizes Donald Trump, calling the presumptive Republican presidential nominee a "faker." A few days later, she issues an apology and says the remarks were inappropriate for a judge to make.
- January 2018 - Indicates, by the hiring of law clerks for at least two more terms, the intention to stay on the Supreme Court bench at least until 2020.
- July 29, 2018 - During a speaking appearance, Ginsburg says she plans to stay on the Supreme Court for "at least five more years."
- November 8, 2018 - Ginsburg is admitted to George Washington University for observation following a fall in her Supreme Court office that fractured three ribs. She is released from the hospital the following day.
- December 21, 2018 - The Supreme Court announces Ginsburg had two cancerous nodules removed from her left lung at a New York hospital. There is no evidence of any remaining disease, says a court spokesperson, nor is there evidence of disease elsewhere in the body.
- August 23, 2019 - The Supreme Court announces Ginsburg has been treated for pancreatic cancer in New York. "The tumor was treated definitively, and there is no evidence of disease elsewhere in the body," the court says.
- October 23, 2019 - Ginsburg wins the Berggruen Prize for Philosophy & Culture for her contributions to social justice and general equality. The $1 million award for championing human rights will go to a nonprofit of her choosing.
- November 22, 2019 - Ginsburg is admitted to The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore after experiencing chills and a fever. She is released on November 24.
- January 7, 2020 - Ginsburg tells CNN that she is "cancer free."
- February 10, 2020 - Ginsburg suggests that the deadline to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment as a constitutional amendment has expired and that the decades long effort must start anew. "I would like to see a new beginning," Ginsburg told an audience at Georgetown University Law Center.
- May 5, 2020 - Undergoes nonsurgical treatment for a benign gallbladder condition at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, a court spokeswoman says in a statement. On May 6, Ginsburg participates in the Supreme Court's teleconference hearing from the hospital, and is discharged from the hospital later in the day.
- July 14, 2020 - Is treated at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore for a possible infection, according to a court spokeswoman. Ginsburg is discharged from the hospital the next day.
- July 17, 2020 - Ginsburg announces that her cancer has reemerged and she has been undergoing chemotherapy since May. She says she is "fully able" to remain a member of the Court.
- July 29, 2020 - A statement from the court says Ginsburg is resting comfortably in a New York City hospital after undergoing a "minimally invasive non-surgical procedure" to replace a bile duct stent that was originally placed last year. She is expected to be discharged from the hospital by the end of the week.
- August 26, 2020 - Ginsburg is selected as this year's recipient of the National Constitution Center's Liberty Medal "for her efforts to advance liberty and equality for all."
- September 18, 2020 - Ginsburg dies due to complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer, according to the court.
- September 29, 2020 - Ginsburg is laid to rest in a private ceremony after being the first woman to lie in state in the US Capitol.
- April 13, 2022 - President Joe Biden signs a bipartisan bill into law to erect statues of Ginsburg and Sandra Day O’Connor on the grounds of the US Capitol. The legislation stipulates that the statues should be placed within two years of its enactment.
- October 2, 2023 - The United States Postal Service releases a stamp honoring Ginsburg.
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