Honoring RBG
By Lin Nguyen
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, also known as the “Notorious RBG,” earned her nickname by being a powerful force as the Supreme Court’s second female justice. She was a champion for women all over the US and an inspiration to people all over the world, creating persistent advancements for gender equality. While making a name for herself, Ginsburg said, “Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time,” and with a look back at her life, that statement rings true.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Ginsburg grew up in a low-income, working-class family. She graduated from Cornell University, married Martin Ginsburg, gave birth to her daughter Jane, and attended Harvard Law School. There, she was one of eight women in her class and became the first female member of Harvard Law Review. She transferred to Columbia Law School, where she later became the school’s first female tenured professor. During this time, she argued six landmark cases on gender equality before the US Supreme Court. As early as she could, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was pushing against society’s boundaries of what women could accomplish and fighting for gender equality.
After she was appointed to the US Supreme Court in 1993, Ginsburg played an integral role in a number of historic rulings. One of those rulings was United States v. Virginia, in which Ginsburg wrote the Supreme Court’s decision that the last all-male public university, Virginia Military Institute, couldn't refuse to admit women on the basis of gender. She was also instrumental in the Obergefell v. Hodges case that legalized same-sex marriage.
As often as Ginsburg was a part of landmark majority rulings, she was also known for her well-worded dissents, like in the 2007 Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. In the case, Lilly Ledbetter sued Goodyear for paying her less than her male counterparts, a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The court ruled that Ledbetter could only call into question 180 days of unequal pay leading up to her official complaint rather than the entirety of her time at the company. Ginsburg wrote the dissenting opinion, translated the document into an understandable version, and read the dissent publicly from the bench to bring attention to the gender wage gap. This is just one example of how Ginsburg always had the best interests of the people in mind.
When asked what advice she would give young women today, Ginsburg said, “Fight for the things you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.” Even though our Notorious RBG is no longer with us, we can continue to honor her memory by leading our lives with passion, fighting for the causes we believe in, and making sure we do so with the intent to unify rather than fractionalize.
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