Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the second woman to be appointed to
the United States Supreme Court.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg graduated from Columbia Law School and
went on to become a vocal courtroom advocate for women's rights while also
working with the ACLU's Women's Rights Project. President Jimmy Carter
appointed her to the United States Court of Appeals in 1980, and President Bill
Clinton appointed her to the Supreme Court in 1993.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Early Life and Education
Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg was born on March 15, 1933, in
Brooklyn, New York. She grew up in a low-income, working-class neighbourhood of
Brooklyn as the second daughter of Nathan and Celia Bader. Ginsburg's mother,
who was a significant influence in her life, instilled in her the importance of
independence and a good education.
Celia did not attend college herself, instead working in a
garment factory to help pay for her brother's college education, an act of
selflessness that impressed Ginsburg. Ginsburg worked hard and excelled in her
studies at James Madison High School in Brooklyn. Unfortunately, Ginsburg's
mother battled cancer throughout her high school years and died the day before
her graduation.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Personal Life and Husband
Ginsburg graduated first in her class with a bachelor's
degree in government from Cornell University in 1954. That same year, she
married law student Martin D. Ginsburg. Their first child, Jane, was born
shortly after Martin was drafted into the military in 1954, making the early
years of their marriage difficult. He served for two years before being
discharged, and the couple returned to Harvard, where Ginsburg was also
enrolled.
Ginsburg learned to balance her life as a mother and her new
role as a law student at Harvard. She also encountered a hostile,
male-dominated environment, with only eight other females in her class of over
500 students. The dean of the law school chastised the women for taking the
places of qualified males. Ginsburg, on the other hand, persevered and excelled
academically, eventually becoming the first female member of the prestigious
Harvard Law Review.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Arguing for Gender Equality
Then came another challenge: Martin was diagnosed with
testicular cancer in 1956, which necessitated extensive treatment and rehabilitation.
Ginsburg cared for her young daughter and ailing husband, taking notes in class
for him while continuing her own legal studies. Martin recovered, finished law
school, and accepted a job at a New York law firm.
Ginsburg transferred to Columbia Law School to join her
husband in New York City, where she was elected to the school's law review. In
1959, she graduated first in her class. Despite her outstanding academic
record, Ginsburg faced gender discrimination while looking for work after graduation.
Ginsburg taught at Rutgers University Law School (1963-72)
and Columbia University (1972-80), where she became the school's first female
tenured professor after clerking for U.S. District Judge Edmund L. Palmieri
(1959-61). During the 1970s, she was also the director of the American Civil
Liberties Union's Women's Rights Project, for which she argued six landmark
cases on gender equality before the United States Supreme Court.
Ginsburg, on the other hand, believed that the law was
gender-blind and that all groups were entitled to equal rights. One of the five
Supreme Court cases she won involved a section of the Social Security Act that
favoured women over men because it provided certain benefits to widows but not
widowers.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg On the Supreme Court
Ginsburg was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals
for the District of Columbia by President Jimmy Carter in 1980. She was
appointed to the United States Supreme Court by President Bill Clinton in 1993
to fill the seat vacated by Justice Byron White. President Clinton desired a
replacement who possessed the intellect and political skills to deal with the
Court's more conservative members.
Despite some senators' frustration with Ginsburg's evasive
answers to hypothetical situations, the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings
were unusually cordial. Several people expressed concern about her ability to
transition from social advocate to Supreme Court Justice. In the end, the
Senate easily confirmed her, 96-3.
Ginsburg favoured caution, moderation, and restraint as a
judge. She was regarded as a member of the Supreme Court's moderate-liberal
bloc, providing a strong voice in support of gender equality, worker rights,
and the separation of church and state. Ginsburg wrote the landmark decision in
United States v. Virginia in 1996, which held that the state-supported Virginia
Military Institute could not refuse admission to women. She received the
Thurgood Marshall Award from the American Bar Association in 1999 for her
contributions to gender equality and civil rights.
'Bush v. Gore'
Despite her reputation for restrained writing, her
dissenting opinion in Bush v. Gore, which effectively decided the 2000
presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore, drew considerable
attention. In objecting to the court's majority opinion in favour of Bush, Ginsburg
concluded her decision with the words "I dissent" ” a significant
departure from the traditional use of the adverb "respectfully."
Ginsburg's husband died of cancer on June 27, 2010. Martin
was her biggest supporter and "the only young man I dated who cared that I
had a brain," she said. Ginsburg and Martin's relationship was said to be
out of the ordinary: Martin was gregarious, loved to entertain and tell jokes,
whereas Ginsburg was serious, soft-spoken, and shy.
Martin explained their happy marriage: "My wife doesn't
give me any cooking advice, and I don't give her any legal advice." She
was working on the Court on the last day of the 2010 term, a day after her
husband's death.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Historic Rulings
Ginsburg sided with the majority in two landmark Supreme
Court decisions in 2015. In King v. Burwell, she was one of six justices who
upheld a key component of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, also known as
Obamacare. The decision allows the federal government to continue providing
subsidies to Americans who purchase health care through "exchanges,"
whether they are run by states or the federal government. The majority ruling,
read by Chief Justice John Roberts, was a massive victory for President Barack
Obama and made it difficult to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Conservative
justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Antonin Scalia dissent, with Scalia
delivering a stinging dissent to the Court.
On June 26, the Supreme Court issued its second landmark
decision in as many days, a 5-4 majority ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which
legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states. Ginsburg is thought to have
played a role in the decision, having shown public support for the idea in
previous years by officiating same-sex marriages and challenging arguments
against it during the case's early proceedings. Justices Anthony Kennedy,
Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan joined her in the majority,
with Roberts reading the dissenting opinion this time.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Recent Years
Ginsburg famously opposed the possibility of a Donald Trump
presidency in 2016, calling him a "faker" at one point before
apologizing for publicly commenting on the campaign. After the president
released a list of Supreme Court candidates in preparation for the looming
retirement of elderly justices, the 84-year-old Ginsburg signaled her commitment
to the bench by hiring a full slate of clerks through 2020.
Later in the year, Justice Kennedy, who frequently sided
with the court's liberal bloc, announced his retirement at the end of July,
though Ginsburg revealed at the time that she hoped to stay for at least
another five years.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Book and 'RBG' Movie
Ginsburg published My Own Words in 2016, a memoir containing
writings dating back to her junior high school years. The book went on to
become a New York Times Best Seller.
Ginsburg attended the Sundance Film Festival in January 2018
to attend the premiere of the documentary RBG. In reference to the #MeToo
movement, she recalled having to put up with the advances of a Cornell
University professor. She also endorsed Kate McKinnon's sassy portrayal of her
on Saturday Night Live, saying, "I'd like to say 'Ginsburned' to my
colleagues sometimes."
Ginsburg expanded on her thoughts on the #MeToo movement in
an interview with Poppy Harlow at Columbia University in February, saying its
"staying power" would allow it to survive a backlash. She also
defended the value of a free press and an independent judiciary, both of which
have been questioned during Trump's presidency.
Ginsburg achieved another career milestone in April 2018
when she assigned a majority opinion for the first time in her 25 years on the
bench. The decision in Sessions v. Dimaya, which drew attention due to
conservative Neil Gorsuch's decision to vote with his liberal colleagues,
invalidated a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act that allowed the
deportation of any foreign national convicted of a "crime of
violence." Ginsburg eventually delegated the task of writing the opinion
to Elena Kagan, who held seniority among the majority.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Health
Ginsburg had several health scares after being appointed to
the bench, including colon cancer, pancreatic cancer, and lung cancer surgery.
She was admitted to the hospital in November 2018 after falling in her office
and breaking three ribs.
In May 2020, one day after the Court heard arguments via
teleconference for the first time due to the coronavirus pandemic, it was
announced that the senior justice had been hospitalized for the second time to
undergo nonsurgical treatment for a gallbladder infection.
Ginsburg revealed in July 2020 that she was undergoing
chemotherapy for a "recurrence of cancer" on her liver, which was
"yielding positive results."
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Death
Ginsburg died of complications from metastatic pancreatic
cancer on September 18, 2020, at her home in Washington, D.C.
"Our country has lost a historic jurist," Roberts
said in a statement. "The Supreme Court has lost a dear colleague."
Today, we mourn, but we are confident that future generations will remember
Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we did ” as a tireless and tenacious champion of
justice."
Ginsburg was laid to rest in the Capitol Rotunda on
September 25. She will be the first female Supreme Court Justice and the second
in history to receive this honor. On September 23 and 24, Ginsburg was also
laid to rest at the Supreme Court.