RBG: The Guardian Angel of Women’s Rights

Editor: Anita Newkirk Hackney

Ruth Bader-Ginsburg, or RBG, was a hard-working woman. She was a doting wife to her husband, Martin Ginsburg and a loving mother to her children all while building a career path for herself and for her family. She did not have the luxury most women are graced with today. She suffered trials and tribulations like other people, but she did not flounder or surrender to the pain. 

While serving on the Supreme Court bench, she endured many health scares.  She underwent surgery for colon, pancreatic and lung cancer, was hospitalized with three fractured ribs after falling in her office in 2018, and lost her husband to cancer in 2010; but through it all, she continued to make a difference while serving on the Supreme Court. 

According to biography.com: 

 “Ginsburg was born Joan Ruth Bader on March 15, 1933, in Brooklyn, New York. The second daughter of Nathan and Celia Bader, she grew up in a low-income, working-class neighborhood in Brooklyn. Ginsburg’s mother, who was a major influence in her life, taught her the value of independence and a good education. [. . .] At James Madison High School [. . .], Ginsburg worked diligently and excelled in her studies. Sadly, her mother struggled with cancer throughout Ginsburg’s high school years and died the day before Ginsburg’s graduation.”

“Ginsburg earned her bachelor’s degree in government from Cornell University in 1954, finishing first in her class. She married law student Martin D. Ginsburg that same year. The early years of their marriage were challenging, as their first child, Jane, was born shortly after Martin was drafted into the military in 1954. He served for two years, and after his discharge, the couple returned to Harvard, where Ginsburg also enrolled. At Harvard, Ginsburg learned to balance life as a mother and her new role as a law student. She also encountered a very male-dominated, hostile environment, with only eight other females in her class of more than 500. The women were chided by the law school’s dean for taking the places of qualified males. But Ginsburg pressed on and excelled academically, eventually becoming the first female member of the prestigious Harvard Law Review.”

“Then, another challenge: Martin contracted testicular cancer in 1956, requiring intensive treatment and rehabilitation. Ginsburg attended to her young daughter and convalescing husband, taking notes for him in classes while she continued her own law studies. Martin recovered, graduated from law school, and accepted a position at a New York law firm. To join her husband in New York City, Ginsburg transferred to Columbia Law School, where she was elected to the school’s law review. She graduated first in her class in 1959.”

Once RBG graduated, she began working. She worked as a clerk for United States District Judge Edmund L. Palmieri from 1959 – 1961. She also taught students at Rutgers University Law School from 1963 – 1972 and at Columbia University from 1972 – 1980. Even though she graduated at the top of her class from Cornell University and Columbia Law School, her accomplishments did not do her any favors in this male-dominated world. 

During this time, she became the first female professor to receive tenure. RBG also served as the director of the Women’s Right Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. She argued six landmark cases on gender equality during her time as the director for the Women’s Rights Project. One of the six cases involved a portion of the Social Security Act, which favored women over men because it granted benefits to the widows and not the widowers. 

In the 1980’s, RBG served on the United States Court of Appeals until she was appointed to the Supreme Court by former President Bill Clinton during his first term. As a Supreme Court Justice, RBG preferred to listen to the opposition before she presented a strong voice in favor of gender equality, worker’s rights, and the separation of church and state. 

One example of this was the United States v. Virginia case (1996) where she wrote the Supreme Court’s landmark decision that the state-supported Virginia Military Institute could not refuse admission to women. Three years after the United States v. Virginia case, she won the American Bar Association’s Thurgood Marshall Award for her contributions to gender equality and civil rights for the American people.

In 2015, there was a 5-4 majority ruling in the Obergefell v. Hodges case which made same-sex marriages legal in all 50 states. RGB was instrumental in the decision-making as she had shown support for the idea of officially approving same-sex marriages in the past and challenged arguments against it during earlier proceedings of the case. 

According to biography.com, “She was joined in the majority by Justices Anthony Kennedy, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, with Roberts reading the dissenting opinion this time.”

Although President Donald Trump is trying to degrade all her work by placing Amy Coney Barrett to uproot her liberties for women and the LGBTQ community, RBG refused to give President Trump the satisfaction of replacing her. Her dying wish was she would not be replaced until a new president took the helm. 

RBG was a strong badass woman who stood up for women’s rights and the civil rights of the American people.  She may no longer be a part of the living court or this world, but she has produced many cases that have protected the rights of many Americans. She is still the guardian angel of women’s rights and civil liberties for the United States.