Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a Supreme court justice who served on the United States Supreme Court. She has been an advocate for gender equality and equal rights for all over the course of her life and has served as an inspiration to millions.

To begin, Ruth was born on March 15, 1933 in Brooklyn, New York. Her parents were Nathan and Celia Bader and she was their second child. She grew up in a low- income working class neighborhood in Brooklyn.

Ruth's mother was a big inspiration and influence in her life. She made sure to teach Ruth the importance of independence and a proper education. Celia Bader never did attend college, but instead she worked in a garment factory, to help pay for her brother's college education. Ruth's mother's selflessness really influenced her.

Ruth studied hard at James Madison High School and excelled at her studies. Tragically, her mother died after a long battle with cancer and passed away the day before Ruth graduated from high school. This was obviously very difficult for Ruth because her mother played such a key role in her life.

In 1954, Ginsburg earned her bachelor's degree in government from Cornell University. She even graduated at the top of her class in an Ivy League school! Ruth married her husband, Martin D. Ginsburg, the same year, who was also a law student. They also had their first child, Jane. The beginning of their marriage was tough due to the fact that her husband was drafted into the military in 1945. After he served two years, he was discharged and the couple returned to Harvard, where Ruth enrolled.

While attending Harvard, Ruth learned how to balance life as a mother as well as her role as a student. She also had to be able to succeed in a hostile, male dominated environment. She was one of only eight women in her class of more than five-hundred.

After graduating, Ruth's beloved husband was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1956. This required him to have intensive treatment and rehabilitation. When her husband was recovering, she took notes for him in class and took care of their child.

Then, Ruth's husband graduated and got a job in New York. Ruth decided to transfer to Columbia University so she could stay with her family and finish her degree. Ginsburg graduated at the top of her class in 1959.

Later, Ginsburg taught at Rutgers Law School and founded a women's rights law journal there. It became the first legal periodical in the United States to be focused solely on women's rights law. She went on to join the Columbia Law School faculty and co-founded the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) Women's Rights Project and argued six successful landmark gender discrimination cases with the ACLU before the Supreme Court. Ginsburg also oversaw more than 300 sex discrimination cases for the ACLU. Her step-by-step legal approach became to be viewed as a blueprint for prosecuting gender based discrimination.

Later on, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was appointed to the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (Washington, DC) by President Jimmy Carter. After serving on the Court of Appeals for several years, Ginsburg was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Bill Clinton. RBG was voted into the Supreme Court by the Senate with 96 Senators for her appointment and 3 who opposed it.

Ruth began to become a household name after she wrote the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in United States v. Virginia in 1996. The United States v. Virginia case struck down the male only admissions policy at the Virginia Military Institute.

Four years later, RBG gained more attention after her dissent in the case of the presidential election (Bush v. Gore) in 2000. Another one of Ruth's important decisions was on June 25, 2010, when she was one of six Justices who upheld a critical part of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

One of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's most memorable and impactful decisions came when she helped legalize same-sex marriage in all 50 states, with a 5-4 vote in the Obergefell v. Hodges case. The Court ruled that the right to marry is guaranteed to same sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Sadly, Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away on September 18, 2020. After all of her service to the United States and the world, she will not be forgotten.

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