The Notorious RBG: Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Legacy

Empowered Women Empower Women Series:

All about the women who inspire us!

You probably recognize Ruth Bader Ginsburg (“RBG”) from all the stickers and merch decorated with her trademark glasses and “dissenting” collar that have been in high demand since a few films premiered about her life and career. Most people know her for her famous dissents on the Supreme Court bench, but it’s important to know where she came from.

RBG grew up in a low-income, working class neighborhood in Brooklyn. Her mother was not college educated and worked at a garment factory to feed her family, yet she took an active role in her daughter’s education and taught her the value of independence. Sadly, her mother passed away from cancer the day before RBG graduated high school. Still, she graduated from Cornell University as the highest-ranking student in her class and married her partner (Martin D Ginsburg) from Cornell soon after graduation. In 1956, she attended Harvard Law School, where she was 1 of only 9 women in a class of 500. Yet, Ginsburg excelled in academics and became the first member of a prestigious academic journal, the Harvard Law Review.

RBG had to work her way up to the Supreme Court, and in the beginning, had a difficult time finding work. It wasn’t until one of her Columbia professors insisted that she be given a job (by refusing to recommend any other students) that she was able to find work clerking for U.S. District Judge Edmund L. Palmieri. Ginsburg then worked at Rutgers as a law professor in 1963 and held this position until she was invited to teach at Columbia in 1972 (where she became the first female professor to earn tenure). She then moved on to directing the Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union during the 1970s where she “led the fight against gender discrimination and successfully argued six landmark cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.” In 1980, Ginsburg was nominated by Jimmy Carter to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. She served in this position until 1993 when she was nominated by Bill Clinton to the Supreme Court.

As the second ever female supreme court justice, RBG has earned numerous titles, including “leading women’s rights litigator” and “a force for consensus building.” During her 2006 term, she issued many dissents from the bench (a dissent is a tactic employed to signal more intense disagreement with the majority opinion-- they are usually announced in writing). RBG wore a decorative “dissenting collar” with her judicial robes on days when she would be announcing a dissent. Some of her most notable cases included US vs Virginia, when she persuaded the all-male Supreme Court to start recognizing the constitutional barrier against discrimination on the basis of sex. In the Ledbetter v. Goodyear case, RBG called on Congress to amend Title VII to undo the Court’s decision (a very public call to arms) and inspired the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which made it easier for employees to win pay discrimination claims.

RBG fought for many rights on the Supreme Court, but some values that she emphasized the most were gender discrimination, abortion rights, and voting rights. A few of her other memorable cases included: Gonzales v. Carhart, where the court upheld a federal law criminalizing a procedure that doctors used to terminate pregnancies during the second trimester. In Whole Women’s Health v Hellerstedt, she asserted that the legislation wasn’t aimed at protecting women’s health, but inhibited women’s access to abortions.

After learning more about RBG’s life and legacy, you may be wondering about how to uphold & support it. There are several things we can do!

1. Watch RBG & On the Basis of Sex films !! (on multiple streaming platforms)

2. Sign petitions to support RBG’s legacy! (the petition to hold off on ACB’s Supreme Court confirmation is now outdated :(( )

3. As always, the most important thing is to VOTE in your eligible elections!

And finally, some questions I will leave you with are:

• What struggles have you been through as a woman?

• How has your life been impacted by the rulings RBG helped to make?

• What else can we do to uphold RBG’s legacy?