Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Supreme Court of the United States, Photographer: Steve Petteway [1] · Public domain · source
Name	Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Caption	Ginsburg in 2016
Office	Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Nominator	Bill Clinton
Term start	August 10, 1993
Term end	September 18, 2020
Predecessor	Byron White
Successor	Amy Coney Barrett
Office1	Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
Nominator1	Jimmy Carter
Term start1	June 30, 1980
Term end1	August 9, 1993
Predecessor1	Harold Leventhal
Successor1	David Tatel
Birth name	Joan Ruth Bader
Birth date	15 March 1933
Birth place	Brooklyn, New York City, U.S.
Death date	18 September 2020
Death place	Washington, D.C., U.S.
Party	Democratic
Spouse	Martin D. Ginsburg, 1954, 2010
Children	2, including Jane C. Ginsburg
Education	Cornell University (BA), Harvard University, Columbia University (LLB)

Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death in 2020. Appointed by President Bill Clinton, she was the second woman to serve on the nation's highest court and became a pivotal, though often controversial, figure in the advancement of gender equality and civil rights law. Her jurisprudence, blending a commitment to formal legal equality with a progressive vision, significantly shaped the Court's approach to the Fourteenth Amendment and the expansion of constitutional protections.

Early Life and Education

Joan Ruth Bader was born in 1933 in Brooklyn, New York City, to a working-class family. Her mother, Celia Bader, who died the day before Ginsburg's high school graduation, instilled in her a deep value for education and independence. She excelled academically, graduating from James Madison High School before attending Cornell University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in government and graduated first in her class in 1954. That same year, she married Martin D. Ginsburg, a fellow law student. She began her legal studies at Harvard Law School, where she was one of only nine women in a class of over 500. She faced significant gender discrimination but served on the prestigious Harvard Law Review. After her husband took a job in New York City, she transferred to Columbia Law School, where she graduated tied for first in her class in 1959.

Legal Career and Advocacy

Despite her academic excellence, Ginsburg faced difficulty securing a position at a major law firm due to her gender. She eventually became a law clerk for Judge Edmund L. Palmieri of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. She then embarked on an academic career, teaching at Rutgers Law School and later at Columbia Law School, where she became the first tenured woman on its faculty. In the 1970s, as the founding director of the ACLU's Women's Rights Project, she developed a strategic litigation campaign to challenge laws that discriminated on the basis of sex. She argued six landmark cases before the Supreme Court, winning five, and established the principle that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment applies to gender discrimination. Her advocacy targeted laws that harmed both men and women, arguing for a more stable and cohesive society built on equal citizenship.

Supreme Court Appointment

In 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed Ginsburg to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, often considered the nation's second-highest court. She served as a moderate and careful judge for thirteen years, earning a reputation for collegiality and intellectual rigor. In 1993, President Bill Clinton nominated her to the Supreme Court to fill the seat vacated by retiring Justice Byron White. Her confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee were notable for her detailed, non-ideological explanations of her judicial philosophy. She was confirmed by a bipartisan vote of 96–3 and was sworn in as the 107th justice, cementing a long-term liberal presence on the bench.

Jurisprudence and Key Opinions

Justice Ginsburg's judicial philosophy was characterized by a belief in incremental change through the careful application of legal precedent. She was a strong proponent of judicial restraint in certain areas, often cautioning against decisions that moved too far ahead of public consensus. On the Court, she authored significant majority opinions, including the 1996 ruling in United States v. Virginia, which struck down the male-only admissions policy at the Virginia Military Institute as a violation of the Equal Protection Clause. She is perhaps best known for her powerful dissents in cases where she believed the Court's conservative majority was eroding established rights. Notable dissents include her opinion in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (2007) on pay discrimination, which later prompted congressional action via the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, and in Shelby County v. Holder (2013), where she argued against gutting key provisions of the Shelby County v. v. She also wrote a strong proponent of the Court's 1965 Voting Rights Act, the Court's 1965. She also wrote a 1965. She wrote the Court's 1965. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. wrote a. She was a. She wrote a. She. She. G. She wrote a. She wrote a. She. The Court's. She. She. She. She wrote a. She. She wrote a. She. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She. She was a. She wrote a. She wrote the. She wrote a. Ginsburg wrote a. She wrote aces. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. Ginsburg wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. Ginsburg wrote a. Ginsburg. She wrote a. Ginsburg. She wrote a. She wrote a. Ginsburg wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She was a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. Ginsburg wrote a. She a. She a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a| She wrote a. She wrote a. She is a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She was a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote ack. She wrote a. She wrote a. The Court. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote the. She wrote a. She wrote aces She wrote a. She wrote a. She wrote a.