Ruth Bader Ginsburg

If you might be in search of a concise overview of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's life, career, and legal legacy, you have come to the right place.

Early Life and Education

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was born Joan Ruth Bader on March 15, 1933, in Brooklyn, New York. She attended Cornell University, where she met her husband, Martin D. Ginsburg. She later entered Harvard Law School, one of the few women in her class, and transferred to Columbia Law School, where she graduated tied for first in her class.

Legal Career and Advocacy

Ginsburg began her legal career as a law clerk and later became a professor at Rutgers School of Law and Columbia Law School. She co-founded the Women's Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). During the 1970s, she argued six landmark gender equality cases before the Supreme Court, winning five of them. Her strategic approach was to demonstrate that gender discrimination was harmful to both women and men.

Supreme Court Appointment

President Bill Clinton nominated Ginsburg to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1993, succeeding Justice Byron White. She was confirmed by the Senate and became the second woman to serve on the Court, after Sandra Day O'Connor. She was known for her careful, methodical approach to jurisprudence and her powerful dissents in later years.

Landmark Opinions and Dissents

Among her notable majority opinions was United States v. Virginia, which struck down the Virginia Military Institute's male-only admissions policy. Her dissents in Shelby County v. Holder, which weakened the Voting Rights Act, and Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. brought public attention to issues of equality and led directly to the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

Cultural Legacy and Impact

In her final years, Ginsburg became a cultural icon widely known as "Notorious RBG." Her legacy as a steadfast advocate for gender equality, civil rights, and equal justice under the law continues to resonate in American society. She passed away on September 18, 2020, at the age of 87.