Ruth Bader Ginsburg (15 March 1933 - ) is an Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. She was named to the court on 10 August 1993 after the retirement of Byron White, the second woman to sit on the high court. She is one of the Court's most prominent liberal members, particularly well-known as a staunch feminist.

Biography

Ruth Joan Bader was born in Brooklyn, New York, the younger of two sisters, though her older sister died when she was quite young. Her mother was active in her education, taking her to the library when she was young and helping her apply for scholarships to pay for college. Ruth was popular in high school and hard-working; she was salutatorian of her graduating class, but she ended up not giving a speech at graduation because her mother died of cancer the day before.

She attended Cornell, graduating in 1954, the same year she married Martin D. Ginsburg, with whom she has two children. They went on to Harvard Law, during a time when it was still unusual for women to study law — she was one of only nine women in her class, and little was done to welcome them. Her husband developed testicular cancer and during his treatment, she attended his classes as well, taking notes for him. After his graduation, he found a job in New York City, so she transferred to Columbia. Despite her excellent academic credentials, after she graduated she received no job offers from firms in New York, nor could she find a position as a law clerk for the Supreme Court. She recalls that her status as "a Jew, a woman, and a mother to boot" made her unwelcome among potential employers. She finally got a job as a law clerk for a District Court judge from 1959 to 1961. She worked as a research associate at Columbia between 1961 and 1963, before becoming a professor at the Rutgers University School of Law, and then at Columbia between 1972 and 1980.

During this time, Ginsburg became active in women's rights, helping found the ACLU's Women's Rights Project and serving as General Counsel for the ACLU between 1973 and 1980, and on its Board of Directors from 1974 to 1980. She ended up arguing before the Supreme Court several times, including the 1973 case Frontiero v. Richardson, which established that benefits given by the military to families couldn't be given out differently on the basis of sex. The case specifically determined that women could claim their husbands as dependents, just as men could their wives. She won the case on equal protection grounds, and touched off argument on the Court over whether sex discrimination claims merit strict scrutiny.

Benchwise

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was named to the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in 1980 by Jimmy Carter. In 1993, she got a big ol' promotion: Bill Clinton nominated her for Byron White's old Associate Justice seat. During confirmation hearings, she carefully refused to give hypothetical answers regarding how she might rule on cases before the Court, saying, "Were I to rehearse here what I would say and how I would reason on such questions, I would act injudiciously." She was willing to discuss her belief in a constitutional right to privacy, though, and her feelings on gender equality. She was confirmed 96-3.

Ginsburg has a history as liberal but measured; she believes that judicial power ought to be used judiciously — despite her longstanding support of the right to abortion, for instance, she has regretfully suggested that the Court's decision in Roe v. Wade to legalize abortion ended a grassroots movement to accomplish the same thing through legislative means and thus establish stronger support.

Her role in advancing women's rights has remained prominent in her tenure on the Court. She wrote the Court's opinion in United States v. Virginia, the 1996 case that struck down the Virginia Military Institute's male-only admissions policy (which it justified by establishing a separate but equal program called the "Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership"). The Court's decision held that Virginia violated the equal protection clause.

Ginsburg has been one of the strongest supporters on the Court of the idea of comparativism, the examination of other countries' laws in order to understand more fully what are taken to be essential rights or fundamental cultural convictions. A key case involving comparativism was 2005's Roper v. Simmons, in which a precarious 5-4 margin determined executing minors to be unconstitutional. Anthony Kennedy wrote the case's opinion, and compared the practices of the United States with those of other countries, noting that execution of minors is, by world standards, rare. Antonin Scalia in particular took issue with this line of reasoning, stating that the opinions of foreigners have no bearing on the interpretation of the Constitution. Soon after the decision, Justice Ginsburg gave a speech in which she declared, "Judges in the United States are free to consult all manner of commentary." She went on to defend the "experience and good thinking foreign sources may convey." Many legislators — mostly Republicans — have vociferously condemned comparativism.

Sources

Supreme Court official bio
"What Would Zimbabwe Do?" The Atlantic. November 2005.
"Problems With 'Privacy,' and What to Do About Roe". The Atlantic. October 2005.
"Ruth Bader Ginsburg". The Supreme Court Historical Society.