Honoring Ruth Bader Ginsburg

“When I’m sometimes asked ‘When will there be enough (women on the Supreme Court)?’ and my answer is: ‘When there are nine.’ People are shocked. But there’d been nine men, and nobody’s ever raised a question about that.” – Ruth Bader Ginsburg 

I am angry. I am angry that an 87 year old woman worked until her dying moments to hold together some semblance of democracy. I am angry that her death dictates fear for every woman and minority in this nation. I am angry that the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg immediately turned into a political conversation, and this country and its leaders did not take one moment to pause and respect what a luminary Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was before releasing statements about their plans to fill her seat on the Supreme Court. 

Here, I will take the time to do what Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, and Senate Republicans neglected to consider. Justice Ginsburg led a groundbreaking life, and her legacy deserves to be remembered for all she changed in America. 

Ruth Bader Ginsburg conducted her undergraduate studies at Cornell on a full scholarship. At Cornell, she met her husband Martin Ginsburg, who supported Ruth’s intellectual and professional pursuits. After graduating, Ginsburg attended Harvard Law, where she studied and served as the first woman to serve on the editorial staff of the Harvard Law Review. She completed her legal studies at Columbia Law School, and graduated tied for first place in the Class of 1959. However, Ginsburg had a difficult time finding employment due to her gender and status as a mother. Throughout the 1970s, Ginsburg worked with the ACLU on various issues related to gender equality. 

Before her career in the US Courts, Ruth Bader Ginsburg won five cases before the Supreme Court using the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to end blatant discrimination agaisnt women. 

In 1980, President Carter appointed Ginsburg to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. In 1993, President Clinton nominated Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the Supreme Court. Her confirmation hearings were quick and uncontroversial. She was confirmed by the full Senate by a vote of 96-3. 

Serving as the second woman on the United States Supreme Court, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, fought against gender discimination and unified the gender block of the Court. 

Throughout her career, whether working with the ACLU or presenting decisions from the bench, Justice Ginsburg continuously fought for women’s rights. 

“Women will have achieved true equality when men share with them the responsibility of bringing up the next generation.” – Ruth Bader Ginsburg 

Here is a list of some of the changes Ginsburg made to help achieve gender equality in the U.S.

• Employers cannot discriminate against employers based on gender or reproductive choices. 

  • Working with the ACLU, Ginsburg advocated for pregnancy discrimination to be recognized as a form of sex discrimination. Ginsburg and her colleague, Susan Deller Ross, helped pass the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, as an amendment to Title VII, which declares pregnancy discrimination as unlawful. Women now have increased protections against getting fired, or not considered for a position, because of their pregnancy history or plans. 

• State-funded schools must admit women. 

  • In 1996, Justice Ginsburg led the decision in U.S. vs. Virginia. Up until this ruling, women had been prohibited from attending the Virginia Military Institute. . 

• Women have financial independence and equal benefits. 

  • Before in 1974, women could not apply for bank accounts, credit cards, or mortgages without a male co-signer. Ginsburg changed this. Her work paved the way for the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which allowed women financial independence. 

  • Ginsburg also ensured that women would receive equal military housing allowances and that women would not have to pay more for pension plans. 

• Women are allowed to serve on Juries. 

  • Prior to 1979, many US States argued that women should be exempt from participating due to family and household obligations. Ginsburg fought for women to serve on juries on the basis that their civic duty should be valued exactly as mens. 

• Defended Abortion Rights in Gonzalez v. Carhart (2007) 

  • In her dissent, Ginsburg wrote, “”the court deprives women of the right to make an autonomous choice, even at the expense of their safety. This way of thinking reflects ancient notions about women’s place in the family and under the Constitution — ideas that have long since been discredited.”

To say that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg changed America is a stark understatement. RBG inspired generations of women and girls to enter the legal field. She fought her entire career to secure and protect basic rights for women. Ruth fought until her last day to defend what she believed in. Her death, and its immediate politicization, highlights the failures and hypocrisy of today’s American democracy. 

“I would like to be remembered as someone who used whatever talent she had to do her work to the very best of her ability.” – Ruth Bader Ginsburg 

Ruth Bader Ginsburg earned her rest, and it is our responsibility to honor her legacy. 

“We are at last beginning to relegate to the history books the idea of the token woman.” – Ruth Bader Ginsburg 

• america
• justice
• RBG
• Supreme Court
• women
• womensrights