Appointed to the high court in 1993 by then President Bill Clinton, Ginsburg quickly became one of the most respected justices in history, one whose intelligence, incisive opinions and dissents on an increasingly conservative court made her a liberal and feminist icon.
The subject of a documentary film that took its title from the initials of her name and referenced the rapper Notorious B.I.G., Ginsburg grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., and, after graduating first in her class from Columbia Law School, went on to successfully argue five gender discrimination cases before the Supreme Court.
On the high court, she authored opinions striking down an all-male admissions policy at the Virginia Military Institute (United States v. Virginia), upholding affirmative action at Michigan Law School (Grutter v. Bollinger) and helping establish the right of people with mental disabilities to be fully integrated into their communities (Olmstead v. LC). But her influence extended well beyond the opinions on which her name appears. Her laser-focused questioning during legal arguments was often cited as influencing the perspectives of her fellow jurists, and her legal writings continue to inspire heated debate.
Of her writing in the cases on which she represented the minority view, she told National Public Radio’s Nina Totenberg, “Dissents speak to a future age. It’s not simply to say, ‘My colleagues are wrong and I would do it this way.’ But the greatest dissents do become court opinions and gradually over time their views become the dominant view.”
After Donald Trump became president and filled two Supreme Court vacancies with staunchly conservative justices, Ginsburg’s failing health became a national obsession. In December 2018, after undergoing the removal of two cancerous nodes from her left lung, Ginsburg cast the deciding vote striking down a Trump administration policy restricting the ability of migrants to apply for asylum in the United States.
“Fight for the things you care about,” Ginsberg said after receiving an award from Harvard University in 2015, “but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.”
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Aug. 1935 – Two years old
1948 – Camp rabbi
1953 — Senior at Cornell University
Fall 1954 — Martin and Ruth
Summer 1958 — With the kids
1972 — At the Greenbrier
1977 — Rockefeller Foundation fellowship
1980 — Columbia Law School professor
Fall 1980 — Circuit Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals
December 1980 — St. Thomas family vacation
June 14, 1993 — Walk through the colonnade
June 15, 1993 — On Capitol Hill
July 20, 1993 — Confirmation hearing
July 20, 1993 — Confirmation hearing swear in
July 29, 1993 — Washington office
Aug. 3, 1993 — Amusing the president
Aug. 10, 1993 — Taking the oath
Oct. 1, 1993 — Family portrait
Dec. 3, 1993 — U.S. Supreme Court
Jan. 8, 1994 — Washington opera
Jan. 20, 1997 — Vice President Al Gore is sworn in
Sept. 5, 2003 — After the opera
Jan. 20, 2009 — Inauguration of President Obama
Feb. 24, 2009 — Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress
Feb. 24, 2009 — Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress
Oct. 1, 2010 – Elena Kagan’s investiture ceremony
May 26, 2011 — 360th Harvard University commencement exercises
June 21, 2011 — Jefferson Award for Public Service
Jan. 25, 2012 — State Department
July 24, 2013 — In chambers
Jan. 20, 2015 — State of the Union
March 18, 2015 — Women’s History Month reception
April 15, 2015 — Leadership Forum
Jan. 12, 2016 — President Obama’s last State of the Union address
June 17, 2016 — In chambers
Sept. 21, 2016 — ‘My Own Words’
Jan. 20, 2017 — President Trump’s Inauguration
Oct. 8, 2018 — The swearing-in ceremony of Brett Kavanaugh
Nov. 30, 2018 — U.S. Supreme Court portrait
Nov. 30, 2018 — U.S. Supreme Court portrait
Dec. 14, 2018 — Naturalization ceremony
Oct. 3, 2020 – Speaking at Amherst College
Feb. 10, 2020 – Speaking at Georgetown Univerisity
Feb. 14, 2020 — ‘Woman of Leadership Award’ renamed for Ginsburg
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