Tribute to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG)’s death has caused a political firestorm. I’m going to hold off on that and look into who she was as a person in a tribute.
Ginsburg was born in 1933 in Brooklyn, New York. She grew up in a working-class neighborhood and did very well in high school. Her mother, Celia, died of cancer the day before her high school graduation.
Ginsburg received a BA in government from Cornell University, graduating at the top of her class. She got married to Martin D. Ginsburg. They had two children.
Ginsburg graduated from Columbia Law School at the top of her class again in 1959. She became a law professor at Rutgers and Columbia.
She co-founded and was the director of the Women’s Rights Project of the ACLU. She worked on gender equality cases, arguing six times before the U.S. Supreme Court, and won five of the cases.
One of her five victories included changing the Supreme Court’s view that the 14th amendment, which granted equal rights to people who were free from slavery, also meant women couldn’t be discriminated against based on their gender. Ginsburg used the 14th amendment and successfully changed the Supreme Court’s view.
In 1980, former President Jimmy Carter appointed Ginsburg to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C.
In 1993, she was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court by former President Bill Clinton. She was the second female to serve on the court, after Sandra Day O’Connor.
Three years later, the Supreme Court ruled 7-1 to declare that the Virginia Military Institute’s male-only enrollment policy violated the 14th amendment’s equal rights requirement. Ginsburg wrote the majority opinion, explaining that it was unconstitutional to deny a woman equal opportunity simply because they were women.
You can see that Ginsburg reached full circle from arguing before the Supreme Court on the 14th amendment and gender equality to referring to the 14th amendment on the Supreme Court on a gender equality case.
The 14th amendment was used to provide equal protection for LGBTQ individuals by striking down laws that made gay sex a crime. The 14th amendment was also used to require all states to recognize same-sex marriage.
In 2010, Ginsburg’s husband died of cancer.
Ginsburg herself was diagnosed with cancer multiple times, beginning in 1999. She didn’t let that stop her from working on the Supreme Court.
Some people called for Ginsburg to retire during the middle of Barack Obama’s presidency, so there could be a younger liberal justice appointed to replace her. However, Ginsburg vowed in 2013 to stay on the court as long as her health and intellect remained strong. In 2018, Ginsburg said she had at least five more years on the bench.
On Friday, September 18, Ginsburg died at the age of 87 while surrounded by her family at her home in Washington D.C.
On September 19, the Supreme Court honored Ginsburg by placing a black drape over her seat. She will lie in state at the Capitol on Friday, becoming the first female and Jewish person to be honored in this way. She will be buried next week at the Arlington National Cemetery.
So, that’s the remarkable life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She will always be remembered as a force for gender equality.
https://www.biography.com/law-figure/ruth-bader-ginsburg