Justice leaves legacy, known for strong stance on equality
by Rebekah Roth, GHS Blue Ink
On September 18, 2020, this last Friday, Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG) passed away at the age of 87 due to complications with pancreatic cancer. Ginsburg was located in Washington D.C. inside of her home at the time of her death. As she was a member of the Supreme Court, it is crucial to acknowledge her accomplishments and what she did for the country.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg was born as Joan Ruth Bader on March 15, 1933, in the bureau of Brooklyn in New York. Her parents were Nathan and Celia Bader. Early on in her life, she was exposed to the many inequalities women had faced prevalently during that time.
Ruth Joan Bader was advised to work while attending high school, in hopes to acquire some more money for her younger brother who would eventually use it for his college education. Evidently, Ruth was much more qualified for college than her younger brother, yet because she was a woman many colleges would not accept her, despite her capabilities.
Celia Bader was diagnosed with cancer, and died the day before Ruth’s graduation from James Madison High School in Brooklyn. Her mother was a huge influence on her life, teaching her the importance of education and independence. “My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent,” quoted RBG, much later in life.
Ruth Joan Bader enrolled in Cornell university, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in government. In 1954, she graduated at the top of her class. That same year, she married Martin D. Ginsburg, another law student, who admired Ruth’s intelligence and motivation. She put a pause to her education advancements to start a family, and had her first child in 1955.
Nearly two years later, Ginsburg attended Harvard Law. Even though her husband, Martin, was diagnosed with cancer during her first year, requiring her to assist him with his studies, this did not prevent her from staying at the top of her class.
Unfortunately, RBG still battled with several more challenges. While focusing on her studies, she also managed the various responsibilities of motherhood. RBG was one of nine women in her 500-person class, and she withstood the ruthless gender-based discrimination from even the highest authorities at Harvard Law.
Martin recovered from cancer and graduated from Harvard, and moved to New York City to work at a law firm. Ruth, on the other hand, finished her last year of law school by transferring to Columbia Law, and graduating in 1959.
Even with RBG’s unprecedented academic record, gender-based discrimination was her worst enemy when it came to finding work in the 1960s. Eventually, U.S. District Judge Edmund L. Palmieri hired Ginsburg as a clerk, and she worked under him for two years. Law firms began to offer her jobs, but only at significantly lower salaries than her male counterparts.
In 1963, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was employed as a professor at Rutgers University Law School, until 1972 where she became Columbia Law’s first female tenured professor. During the 1970s she also directed the Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to fight against gender discrimination. She argued six landmark cases on gender equality before the U.S. Supreme Court, including one case that involved the Social Security Act which favored women over men.
President Carter elected RBG to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in 1980. 13 years later, in 1993, President Clinton appointed her to the U.S. Supreme Court, as he wanted someone with the political expertise to contrast the more conservative members.
Beginning her career as a justice, Ginsburg continued to advocate for women’s rights. In United States v. Virginia, in1996, she wrote most of the opinion, informing that qualified women should not be denied the right of admission to Virginia Military Institute. RGB targeted specific areas of gender-based discrimination one at a time. She believed huge social change should come from Congress and other legislatures, but still using the court for guidance.
In Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., where a female employee was being paid substantially less than her male coworkers of the same position, RGB and President Obama worked together to pass his first piece of legislation he signed, which was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009.
Even when Ginsburg was undergoing chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer, surgery for colon cancer, and the tragic loss of her husband Martin D. Ginsburg in 2010, she did not miss a day of oral arguments until 2018. RBG proved that she was not to have her judicial capabilities doubted, as she was one of the most devoted questioners on the bench.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg largely impacted this country, not only by being a member of the Supreme Court, but by progressing women’s rights and attacking gender-based discrimination Many are left to speculate who will replace the honorable justice, when such procedures will take place, and if the new member will be just as qualified. Regardless, Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s memory will go down in history.
