We look back on the life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a Supreme Court judge of the United States who was one of the leading figures in the fight for gender equality. She passed away on 18 September 2020.
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Join MemoriesMary Carr Born Joan Ruth Bader in Brooklyn, New York on 15 March 1933, she began to go by the name Ruth in kindergarten to distinguish herself from the other students named Joan.
Mary Carr She met her husband, Martin Ginsburg in Cornell where they were both students. They were married shortly after she graduated from university in 1954.
Mary Carr “When I was growing up as a girl I was jealous that there were no Bat Mitzvahs for us at the time. The hardest thing for me was when my mother died and in order for there to be a Minyan we needed to have 10 men — even though there were many women [mourning]. Recently, I went to a Bar Mitzvah at an Orthodox synagogue that seats women in a different section. It was very claustrophobic. I felt very hemmed in.” -Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Mary Carr Ruth Bader has always excelled in academics. She excelled throughout her school career and attended Cornell University on a full scholarship. She met her husband, Martin Ginsburg in Cornell where they were both students. They were married shortly after she graduated from university in 1954.
Mary Carr Ruth Bader Ginsburg gave birth to her first daughter in 1955 while living in Oklahoma where her husband was stationed as an officer in the US Army Reserve. She worked for the Social Security Administration office and was demoted when she became pregnant.
Mary Carr The family moved to Massachusets in 1956 and Ruth Bader Ginsburg enrolled at Harvard Law School. She was one of only 9 women enrolled for the class.
Mary Carr
Mary Carr
Mary Carr She transferred to Columbia Law School in 1959 when her husband accepted a job in New York City. She graduated in 1959 and tied for first place in her class.
Mary Carr Ruth Bader Ginsburg had a hard time finding work because she was a woman. She finally started her law career as a clerk in the office of Judge Edmund Palmieri of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Mary Carr Ruth Bader Ginsburg co-wrote a book with Anders Bruzelius on the civil procedure in Sweden. This work entailed her learning the Swedish language and extensive research at the Lund University in Sweden. Her time in Sweden greatly influenced her thoughts on gender equality. In Sweden, she observed that there is a larger percentage of women in law school compared to the United States and female judges were working even while eight months pregnant.
Mary Carr Ruth Bader Ginsburg co-founded the first law journal in the United States that focuses exclusively on women’s rights in 1970. She was the faculty advisor of the “Women’s Rights Law Reporter” during her time at Rutgers School of Law in 1972.
Mary Carr She also co-founded the Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in 1972 and served as its general counsel in 1973. Her vision for the project was to remove barriers and open up opportunities for both men and women based on their merit.
Mary Carr Then President Jimmy Carter nominated Ruth Bader Ginsburg to a seat in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1980.
Mary Carr Her previous work has been recognised by law scholars as the proponent to advancing women’s rights. It embodies her advocacy of treating men and women equally in the court of law.
Mary Carr She was nomintated as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court on June 14, 1993 by President Bill Clinton. She was the first Jewish Justice since 1969 and the second female Justice of the Supreme Court.
Mary Carr A major milestone for the women’s rights movement came with Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s majority opinion in the United States v. Virginia case in 1996. She questioned the merit of the state of Virginia opening a separate educational program for women instead of letting them join the Virginia Military Institute. She wrote, “women seeking and fit for a VMI-quality education cannot be offered anything less, under the Commonwealth’s obligation to afford them genuinely equal protection.” “Neither federal nor state government acts compatibly with equal protection when a law or official policy denies to women, simply because they are women, full citizenship stature-equal opportunity to aspire, achieve, participate in and contribute to society based on their individual talents and capacities.”
Mary Carr Another landmark case was Olmstead v. L.C. in 1999, which was a huge victory for people with disabilities. In the Supreme Court’s ruling, Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote, "states are required to place persons with mental disabilities in community settings rather than in institutions, when the State’s treatment by professionals have determined that community placement is appropriate. The transfer from institutional care to a less restrictive setting is not opposed by the affected individual, and the placement can be reasonably accommodated, taking into account the resources available to the State and the needs of others with mental disabilities.”
Mary Carr
Mary Carr Ruth Bader Ginsburg made headlines when she dissented from the Supreme Court’s ruling in the case of Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. She read her dissent from the bench stating, "in our view, the court does not comprehend, or is indifferent to, the insidious way in which women can be victims of pay discrimination.”
Mary Carr Her vote in the Obergefell v. Hodges case in 2015 helped in overturning the marriage bans against same-sex marriages and legalising same-sex marriage in all US states. During some verbal confrontations, Ruth Bader Ginsburg said “We have changed our idea about marriage. Marriage today is not what it was under the common law tradition, under the civil law tradition.”
Mary Carr The Supreme Court’s decision on the Whole Women’s Health v. Hellerstedt overturned the H.B.2 law in Texas that imposed regulation on abortion clinics, which aimed at deterring women from getting an abortion. Ruth Bader Ginsburg said: “it is beyond rational belief that H. B. 2 could genuinely protect the health of women, and the law ‘would simply make it more difficult for them to obtain abortions.’” “When the State severely limits access to safe and legal procedures, women in desperate circumstances may resort to unlicensed rogue practitioners, faute de mieux, a great risk to their health and safety.”
Mary Carr “My Own Words” by Ruth Bader Ginsburg was released on October 4, 2016. It is a collection of her speeches and writings.
Mary Carr
Mary Carr Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the fourth-oldest serving Supreme Court Judge at the age of 87. She died on September 18, 2020 from complications of pancreatic cancer.
Mary Carr Announced on International Women's Day 2021, the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Legacy Prize honors former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg's lifelong work in service to the causes of justice, equality, and the rule of law, and in recognition of her tremendous inspiration to WJP's mission and work.