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."

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...