CHAPTER 1
SPEAKING THE RUTH TO AMERICA
There's just something about the notorious RBG, a.k.a. Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She's tough as nails in her dissents and in the gym [at 85 years old!]. She rocks the Supreme Court and social media memes. While attending law school, she cared for a newborn and saw her husband through intensive cancer treatments. She's beaten cancer twice and wears a jabot like none other.
As a US Supreme Court Justice [the second woman to be appointed], Ginsburg has been outspoken and instrumental in advancing reproductive rights, gender equality, healthcare access, and same-sex marriage. But RBG began crashing ceilings and barriers well before her Supreme Court confirmation.
At a time when only a handful of women went to law school, RBG graduated first in her class at Columbia in 1959. Yet she still faced gender discrimination from firm after firm when seeking employment. Instead of letting the experience bring her down, she used it to steel herself and seek places where she could make a difference throughout her distinguished career. One of those trailblazing moments: Ginsburg cofounded the Women's Rights Project at the ACLU, for which she argued landmark cases on gender equality before the US Supreme Court. Her appointment to the US Court of Appeals in 1980 was a springboard to her appointment to the Supreme Court in 1993 — and her infamous dissents.
Ginsburg proves that disagreeing does not make one disagreeable. She's respected and beloved by many — including her ideological opposition. RBG was easily confirmed by the Senate [96–3], and former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was her dear friend. Ginsburg's wisdom has never been more relevant or more important to American democracy. Let RBG's words on law and life give you courage to stand up and say, "I dissent."
CHAPTER 2
WOMEN BELONG IN ALL PLACES
When I'm sometimes asked when will there be enough [women on the Supreme Court]? And I say when there are nine, people are shocked. But there'd been nine men, and nobody's ever raised a question about that.
Tenth Circuit Bench & Bar Conference, October 2012
My objective was to take the Court step by step to the realization, in Justice Brennan's words, THAT THE PEDESTAL ON WHICH SOME THOUGHT WOMEN WERE STANDING ALL TOO OFTEN TURNED OUT TO BE A CAGE.
Interview with the New Republic, September 2014
It takes people, MEN AS WELL AS WOMEN, who appreciate that there is a family life as well as a home life to be lived, and press for change.
Symposium at Columbia Law School, February 10, 2012
As a litigator ... I would try to get men on the bench to think not so much about what good husbands and fathers they were, but about how they wanted the world to be FOR THEIR DAUGHTERS AND GRANDDAUGHTERS.
Gruber Distinguished Lecture in Women's Rights, hosted by Yale Law School, October 19, 2012
Women will have achieved true equality when men share with them the responsibility of bringing up the next generation.
Interview with ABC News correspondent Lynn Sherr, November 15, 2000
PERHAPS THE LARGEST CHALLENGE IS TO MAKE IT POSSIBLE FOR PEOPLE TO THRIVE IN BOTH A WORK LIFE AND A FAMILY LIFE. THERE'S VERY LITTLE A COURT CAN DO TO SOLVE THAT PROBLEM. LEGISLATION LIKE THE FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT CAN ADVANCE CHANCES FOR PEOPLE TO HAVE A SATISFYING WORK LIFE AND, AT THE SAME TIME, A FULFILLING FAMILY LIFE.
Gruber Distinguished Lecture in Women's Rights, hosted by Yale Law School, October 19, 2012
I passed a door this morning that said "Lactation Room." How the world has changed.
Symposium at Columbia Law School, February 10, 2012
I remain an advocate of the Equal Rights Amendment for this reason. I have a daughter and a granddaughter.
US Supreme Court Justice Confirmation Hearings, July 20–23, 1993
WOMEN'S RIGHTS ARE AN ESSENTIAL PART OF THE OVERALL HUMAN RIGHTS AGENDA, trained on the equal dignity and ability to live in freedom all people should enjoy.
Via the American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU]
Every modern human rights document has a statement that men and women are equal before the law. Our Constitution doesn't.
US Supreme Court Justice Confirmation Hearings, July 20–23, 1993
THE ANNOUNCEMENT THE PRESIDENT JUST MADE IS SIGNIFICANT, I BELIEVE, because it contributes to the end of the days when women, at least half the talent pool in our society, appear in high places only as one-at-a-time performers.
US Supreme Court Justice Nomination Acceptance Address, June 14, 1993
It is certainly a fundamental human right that men and women should have the chance to pursue whatever is their God-given talent, and not be held back simply because they're male or female.
Interview with ABC News correspondent Lynn Sherr, November 15, 2000
I do believe that Thomas Jefferson, were he alive today, would say that WOMEN ARE EQUAL CITIZENS.
US Supreme Court Justice Confirmation Hearings, July 20–23, 1993
Growing up, I never saw a woman in a symphony orchestra. Someone came up with the bright idea — let's drop a curtain between the people who are auditioning and the judges. ... Almost overnight, women were making their way into symphony orchestras. Now, I wish we could duplicate the dropped curtain in every area. ... How you get past that kind of unconscious bias ... even today remains a difficulty.
Stanford Rathbun Lecture, February 6, 2017
Restrictions we now see as discriminatory, keeping women in a confined space, were regarded as designed to protect and care for the weaker sex. So, we had to be clear in showing, concretely, how these classifications harm everyone:men, women, and children.
Gruber Distinguished Lecture in Women's Rights, hosted by Yale Law School, October 19, 2012
I count as the most significant legal activities I have pursued my work in comparative law and toward THE ADVANCEMENT OF EQUAL OPPORTUNITY AND RESPONSIBILITY FOR WOMEN and men in all fields of human endeavor.
Senate Judiciary Committee Initial Questionnaire [Supreme Court], 1993
I think daughters can change the perception of their fathers.
Yahoo! interview with Katie Couric, July 30, 2014
What is the difference between a New York City garment district bookkeeper and a Supreme Court Justice? One generation my life bears witness, the difference between opportunities open to my mother, a bookkeeper, and those open to me.
Remarks presented to the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, September 13, 2009
The decision whether or not to bear a child is central to a woman's life, to her well-being and dignity. It is a decision she must make for herself.
US Supreme Court Justice Confirmation Hearings, July 20–23, 1993
Reproductive choice has to be straightened out. THERE WILL NEVER BE A WOMAN OF MEANS WITHOUT CHOICE ANYMORE. ... SO WE HAVE A POLICY THAT AFFECTS ONLY POOR WOMEN, and it can never be otherwise, and I don't know why this hasn't been said more often.
Interview with the New York Times, July 7, 2009
Many of today's young women think the day has come for genuinely protective laws and regulations. Were the legislature filled with women, I might have more faith in that proposition.
US Supreme Court Justice Confirmation Hearings, July 20–23, 1993
CHAPTER 3
FREE TO BE
HOW CAN I DESCRIBE THE AMERICAN DREAM? Maybe it's captured by the first ride I took on a New York subway, after returning from several months in Sweden, where everybody looked the same, and here I was on the subway, and the amazing diversity of the people of the United States. You know the motto is E pluribus unum —"Of many, one"— and that's the idea that, more than just tolerating, we can appreciate our differences and yet pull together for the long haul.
Interview with the American Academy of Achievement, July 14, 2016
LIKE SO MANY OTHERS, I OWE SO MUCH TO THE ENTRY THIS NATION AFFORDED TO PEOPLE "YEARNING TO BREATHE FREE."
US Supreme Court Justice Confirmation Hearings, July 20–23, 1993
I TRY TO TEACH THROUGH MY OPINIONS, through my speeches, how wrong it is to judge people on the basis of what they look like, color of their skin, whether they're men or women.
Interview with Irin Carmon on The Rachel Maddow Show, February 16, 2015
This is a very trying issue for our time: the individual's right to be free and the individual's respect for others. One hopes that we can reason together and get the message of mutual respect across to our young people.
US Supreme Court Justice Confirmation Hearings, July 20–23, 1993
A PERSON'S BIRTH STATUS should not enter into the way that person is treated.
US Supreme Court Justice Confirmation Hearings, July 20–23, 1993
I SEE MY ADVOCACY AS PART OF AN EFFORT TO MAKE THE EQUALITY PRINCIPLE EVERYTHING the founders would have wanted it to be if they weren't held back by the society in which they lived and particularly the shame of slavery.
Interview with The Takeaway, September 12, 2013
Since the start of the 1970s, it has been my consistent policy to refuse to attend professional or social functions at clubs that do not have nondiscriminatory admission policies.
Senate Judiciary Committee Initial Questionnaire [Supreme Court], 1993
I APPRECIATE THAT THE UNITED STATES IS A COUNTRY OF MANY RELIGIONS.
US Supreme Court Justice Confirmation Hearings, July 20–23, 1993
THIS COUNTRY IS GREAT BECAUSE OF ITS ACCOMMODATION OF DIVERSITY.
US Supreme Court Justice Confirmation Hearings, July 20–23, 1993
There can be a HAPPY WORLD and there will be once again, when men create a strong bond towards one another, A BOND UNBREAKABLE by a studied prejudice or a passing circumstance.
Bulletin of the East Midwood Jewish Center, June 21, 1946
I am alert to discrimination. I grew up during World War II in a Jewish family. I have memories as a child, even before the war, of being in a car with my parents and passing ... a resort with a sign out in front that read: "No dogs or Jews allowed."
US Supreme Court Justice Confirmation Hearings, July 20–23, 1993
We live in a democracy that has, through the years, BEEN OPENED PROGRESSIVELY TO MORE AND MORE PEOPLE.
US Supreme Court Justice Confirmation Hearings, July 20–23, 1993
The most dangerous thing the government can do is to try to censor speech on the basis of the viewpoint that is being expressed.
US Supreme Court Justice Confirmation Hearings, July 20–23, 1993
The message of the first amendment is tolerance of speech, not the speech we agree with, but the speech we hate.
US Supreme Court Justice Confirmation Hearings, July 20–23, 1993
Freedom to THINK, SPEAK, and WRITE are so precious but also vulnerable.
World Justice Forum V, July 10, 2017
We have constitutional rights and one can't be punished for exercising a constitutional right. Otherwise, the right is not real.
US Supreme Court Justice Confirmation Hearings, July 20–23, 1993
The richness of the diversity of this country is a treasure, and it is a constant challenge, too, a challenge to remain tolerant and respectful of one another.
US Supreme Court Justice Confirmation Hearings, July 20–23, 1993
CHAPTER 4
ON THE STAGE OF WORLD CHANGE
Yes, there are miles in front, but what a distance we have traveled.
US Supreme Court Justice Senate Confirmation Hearings, July 20–23, 1993
DON'T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER, BUT ALSO DON'T REACT IN ANGER. ... Regard every opportunity, every encounter, as an opportunity to teach someone.
Symposium at Columbia Law School, February 10, 2012
ALL PERSONS should care about the next generation.
US Supreme Court Justice Confirmation Hearings, July 20–23, 1993
I GOT THE IDEA THAT BEING A LAWYER IS A PRETTY GOOD THING because in addition to practicing a profession, you could do some good for your society, make things a little better for other people.
Remarks at Georgetown University Law Center, February 4, 2015
WORK FOR THE THINGS THAT YOU CARE ABOUT.
Interview with the New Republic, September 2014
People elect Members of Congress to make laws for them, AND IF PEOPLE DON'T LIKE THOSE LAWS, they can vote out the people who made them.
US Supreme Court Justice Confirmation Hearings, July 20–23, 1993
I WISH THERE WERE A WAY I COULD WAVE A MAGIC WAND AND PUT IT BACK WHEN PEOPLE WERE RESPECTFUL OF EACH OTHER AND THE CONGRESS WAS WORKING FOR THE GOOD OF THE COUNTRY AND NOT JUST ALONG PARTY LINES.
Stanford Rathbun Lecture, February 6, 2017
TIME is on the side of CHANGE.
Interview with the New York Times, July 7, 2009
Starting that Notorious RBG] Tumblr is a good example of how young people should react to things they don't like.
Stanford Rathbun Lecture, February 6, 2017
I think the Framers were intending to create a more perfect union that would become EVER MORE PERFECT OVER TIME.
US Supreme Court Justice Confirmation Hearings, July 20–23, 1993
The great thing about our Constitution is that, like our society, IT CAN EVOLVE.
Stanford Rathbun Lecture, February 6, 2017
When we no longer need people to keep muskets in their home, then the Second Amendment has no function.
Interview with The Takeaway, September 12, 2013
IF YOU'RE GOING TO CHANGE THINGS, you have to be with the people who hold the levers.
Interview with the New York Times, July 7, 2009
One of the things that I have done every other year with my law clerks ... is to visit the local jail and Lorton Penitentiary. ... We visited St. Elizabeth's, the facility for the criminally insane, when it was a Federal facility. ... I do that to expose myself to those conditions, and also for my law clerks. Most of them will go on to practice in large law firms specializing in corporate business, and won't see the law as it affects most people. THAT IS ONE OF THE THINGS I DO TO STAY IN TOUCH.
US Supreme Court Justice Confirmation Hearings, July 20–23, 1993
ONE CAN HOPETHAT WE WILL LEARN FROM THE HISTORYOF THE PAST.
Interview on NOW with Bill Moyers, May 3, 2002
Generally, change in our society is incremental, I think. REAL CHANGE, ENDURING CHANGE, happens one step at a time.
US Supreme Court Justice Confirmation Hearings, July 20–23, 1993
DO SOMETHING OUTSIDE YOURSELF —something to repair tears in your community, something to make life a little better for people less fortunate than you. That's what I think a meaningful life is.
Stanford Rathbun Lecture, February 6, 2017
CHAPTER 5
ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING
I APPRECIATE THAT I AM NEVER GOING TO PLEASE ALL OF THE PEOPLE ALL OF THE TIME ...
US Supreme Court Justice Confirmation Hearings, July 20–23, 1993
I'm dejected, but only momentarily, when I can't get the fifth vote for something I think is very important. But then you go on to the next challenge and you give it your all. You know that these important issues are not going to go away. They are going to come back again and again. There'll be another time, another day.
Interview with ABC News correspondent Lynn Sherr, November 15, 2000
Some terrible things have happened in the United States, but one can only hope that we learn from those bad things.
Interview with BBC Newsnight, February 23, 2017
I wondered whether I could manage Harvard Law School with an infant. My father-in-law's advice: "You know, Ruth, if you don't want to go to law school, no one will think the less of you. You have the best reason in the world. But if that's what you want to do, if you want to be a lawyer, you will pick yourself up, you will stop feeling sorry for yourself, and you will find a way." And that attitude is one that I have tried to maintain ever since.
Symposium at Columbia Law School, February 10, 2012
IF I LOSE TODAY, THERE'S HOPE THAT TOMORROW WILL BE BETTER.
Symposium at Columbia Law School, February 10, 2012
