![]() ![]() The result, she said, was that she was perhaps not an entirely "sober judge" and kept nodding off.īorn in Brooklyn, Ruth Bader went to public schools, where she excelled as a student - and as a baton twirler. On one occasion in 2016, Ginsburg got herself into trouble and later publicly apologized for disparaging remarks she made about then-presidential candidate Trump.īut for the most part Ginsburg enjoyed her fame and maintained a sense of humor about herself.Īsked about the fact that she had apparently fallen asleep during the 2015 State of the Union address, Ginsburg did not take the Fifth, admitting that although she had vowed not to drink at dinner with the other justices before the speech, the wine had just been too good to resist. She was the subject of a hit documentary, a biopic, an operetta, merchandise galore featuring her "Notorious RBG" moniker, a Time magazine cover and regular Saturday Night Live sketches. Music Features Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Life Immortalized In Songīy the time she was in her 80s, she had become something of a rock star to women of all ages. She was an unlikely pioneer, a diminutive and shy woman, whose soft voice and large glasses hid an intellect and attitude that, as one colleague put it, was "tough as nails." estimates about the way most men or most women are, will not suffice to deny opportunity to women whose talent and capacity place them outside the average description," Ginsburg wrote. But the state, she said, could not exclude women who could meet those demands. True, Ginsburg said, most women - indeed most men - would not want to meet the rigorous demands of VMI. That was never more evident than in 1996 when, as a relatively new Supreme Court justice, Ginsburg wrote the court's 7-1 opinion declaring that the Virginia Military Institute could no longer remain an all-male institution. By the time she donned judicial robes, however, Ginsburg had worked a revolution. Hundreds of state and federal laws restricted what women could do, barring them from jobs, rights and even from jury service. When she began her legal crusade, women were treated, by law, differently from men. For more than a decade, until her first judicial appointment in 1980, she led the fight in the courts for gender equality. She changed the way the world is for American women. But Ruth Bader Ginsburg was nonetheless a historic figure. But with Ginsburg gone, there is no clear court majority for those outcomes. Though Roberts has a consistently conservative record in most cases, he has split from fellow conservatives in a few important ones this year, casting his vote with liberals, for instance, to protect at least temporarily the so-called DREAMers from deportation by the Trump administration, to uphold a major abortion precedent and to uphold bans on large church gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic. Inside the court, not only is the leader of the liberal wing gone, but with the court about to open a new term, the chief justice no longer holds the controlling vote in closely contested cases. Ginsburg's death will have profound consequences for the court and the country. ![]() Just days before her death, as her strength waned, Ginsburg dictated this statement to her granddaughter Clara Spera: "My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed." Obituaries A 5-Decade-Long Friendship That Began With A Phone Call Her death will inevitably set in motion what promises to be a nasty and tumultuous political battle over who will succeed her, and it thrusts the Supreme Court vacancy into the spotlight of the presidential campaign. Today we mourn but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her, a tireless and resolute champion of justice."Īrchitect of the legal fight for women's rights in the 1970s, Ginsburg subsequently served 27 years on the nation's highest court, becoming its most prominent member. "We at the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague. "Our nation has lost a justice of historic stature," Chief Justice John Roberts said. The court, in a statement, said Ginsburg died at her home in Washington, D.C., surrounded by family. The Supreme Court announced her death, saying the cause was complications from metastatic cancer of the pancreas. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the demure firebrand who in her 80s became a legal, cultural and feminist icon, died Friday. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg - here in her chambers during a 2019 interview with NPR's Nina Totenberg - died on Friday at the age of 87.įollow NPR's coverage of Ginsburg's death and the political aftermath here.
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