Early Life and Education

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was born Joan Ruth Bader on March 15, 1933, in Brooklyn, New York, to a Jewish immigrant family. Her mother, Celia Bader, instilled in her a love of learning and the importance of independence, teaching her the value of self-reliance. Celia died of cancer the day before Ruth’s high school graduation – a loss that shaped Ruth’s fierce determination. She attended Cornell University on a scholarship, where she excelled academically, graduating first in her class in 1954 with a degree in government. At Cornell she met her future husband, Martin D. Ginsburg, who would become a prominent tax attorney and her most vocal supporter.

After a brief stint as a social security claims representative, Ruth entered Harvard Law School in 1956, one of only nine women in a class of more than 500 men. She faced open hostility from some faculty and students, including being asked by the dean to justify taking a place that could have gone to a man. Undaunted, she excelled academically, becoming the first woman to serve on the Harvard Law Review. When her husband Martin, a second-year student, was diagnosed with testicular cancer, Ruth attended classes for both of them – typing his papers, taking her own exams, and caring for their daughter Jane. Martin recovered, and after he graduated and took a job in New York, Ruth transferred to Columbia Law School, where she graduated tied for first in her class in 1959.

Despite her stellar record, no law firm in New York would hire her as a lawyer. She was rejected explicitly because of her gender, her age (she was 26 and a mother), and her Jewish faith. The only offers she received were clerkships, but even those were scarce. She eventually clerked for Judge Edmund L. Palmieri of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, after a professor at Columbia pressured the judge into taking her. This early experience of discrimination forged her lifelong commitment to gender equality.

Ginsburg began her legal career in academia, teaching at Rutgers Law School from 1963 to 1972. During this time she faced pay discrimination – she discovered she was paid less than her male colleagues – and chose to fight it, though with limited success. Her work at Rutgers brought her into contact with the emerging women’s rights movement. She co-authored the first law school course on women and the law and, in 1972, became the first tenured female professor at Columbia Law School.

That same year she co-founded the Women’s Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). As its director, she developed a strategic litigation campaign to challenge gender-based classifications under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Her approach was influenced by her mentor, Thurgood Marshall, who had used similar tactics to dismantle racial segregation. Ginsburg systematically chose cases that would expose the illogical and harmful nature of sex-based stereotypes, often representing male plaintiffs to show that gender discrimination hurt everyone.

She argued six gender discrimination cases before the U.S. Supreme Court between 1973 and 1978, winning five. Her careful, incremental strategy effectively altered the legal landscape, helping to establish that laws discriminating on the basis of sex must withstand “intermediate scrutiny” – a standard that remains in use today. The ACLU’s litigation under Ginsburg’s direction produced dozens of landmark rulings that extended equal protection beyond race to encompass sex.

Notable Cases Before the Supreme Court

  • Reed v. Reed (1971) – Although Ginsburg did not argue this case, she co-authored an amicus brief. The Supreme Court held for the first time that a state law giving automatic preference to men over women as administrators of estates violated the Equal Protection Clause. It was the first time the Court applied the Fourteenth Amendment to strike down a law discriminating on the basis of sex.
  • Frontiero v. Richardson (1973) – Ginsburg argued that a federal law granting automatic housing and medical benefits to male military officers’ wives but not to female officers’ husbands was unconstitutional. The Court agreed, with a plurality opinion stating that sex-based classifications should be subject to “strict scrutiny,” though the majority adopted a slightly lower standard.
  • Duren v. Missouri (1979) – In her last argument before the Court, Ginsburg successfully challenged a state law that automatically exempted women from jury service. The Court ruled that such exemptions systematically underrepresenting women violated the Sixth Amendment right to an impartial jury drawn from a fair cross-section of the community.
  • Craig v. Boren (1976) – While Ginsburg did not directly argue this case, her advocacy for intermediate scrutiny bore fruit. The Court established the rule that gender-based classifications must serve important governmental objectives and be substantially related to those objectives – the standard Ginsburg had been arguing for in her briefs.

United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit

In 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed Ginsburg to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. For the next thirteen years, she established a reputation as a moderate judge who wrote meticulous, precise opinions. She was known for her careful reasoning, her willingness to uphold regulatory agencies when they acted reasonably, and her discomfort with sweeping judicial reforms. Her judicial philosophy was one of judicial restraint and incremental change, which she would carry to the Supreme Court. During this period she also developed a close friendship with Judge Robert Bork, a conservative, reflecting her ability to maintain collegial relationships across ideological lines.

Supreme Court Justice

In 1993, President Bill Clinton nominated Ginsburg to the Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice Byron White. The Senate confirmed her 96–3. She was only the second woman ever to serve on the Court, after Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, and the first Jewish justice since Justice Abe Fortas resigned in 1969. During her confirmation hearings, she famously declined to answer questions about specific cases, stating that such responses would compromise judicial impartiality. Her confirmation was relatively smooth, reflecting her bipartisan appeal at the time.

On the Court, Ginsburg aligned most often with the liberal wing, but she was not an ideological firebrand. She wrote influential majority opinions in cases such as United States v. Virginia (1996), which struck down the Virginia Military Institute’s male-only admissions policy. In that opinion she established that states must provide an “exceedingly persuasive justification” for any sex-based classification – the highest standard ever applied to gender discrimination cases. In Olmstead v. L.C. (1999), she wrote for the majority that unnecessary segregation of people with disabilities amounts to discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act, expanding civil rights protections.

Key Majority Opinions

  • United States v. Virginia (1996) – Forced VMI to admit women, bolstering the constitutional principle that sex-based stereotypes cannot justify different treatment.
  • Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services (2000) – Clarified standing in environmental cases, allowing citizen suits to proceed when the defendant has violated the law.
  • Safford Unified School District v. Redding (2009) – Held that a strip search of a 13-year-old girl for prescription-strength ibuprofen violated the Fourth Amendment, reinforcing the protection of student privacy in schools.

Powerful Dissents

Ginsburg became famous for her sharp and passionate dissents, which she often read aloud from the bench to signal the gravity of the Court’s error. She dissented forcefully in cases involving voting rights, abortion rights, and employment discrimination.

  • Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (2007) – The Court ruled that employees challenging pay discrimination must file claims within 180 days of the first discriminatory paycheck, even if they do not yet know they are underpaid. Ginsburg’s dissent, which she read from the bench, argued that such a narrow reading of Title VII ignored the reality of pay secrecy. Her dissent spurred the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, the first law signed by President Barack Obama.
  • Shelby County v. Holder (2013) – The Court struck down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, arguing that the coverage formula was outdated. Ginsburg’s dissent compared the removal of a preclearance requirement to “throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.” She predicted a rise in voter suppression laws, which subsequently occurred.
  • Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. (2014) – She dissented from the Court’s decision allowing closely held for-profit corporations to claim religious exemptions from providing contraception coverage under the Affordable Care Act. She warned that the ruling opened the door to corporations claiming religious objections to a wide range of laws.
  • Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt (2016) – While she joined the majority in striking down Texas abortion restrictions, she later dissented in 2020 when a similar Louisiana law was upheld in a plurality decision. Her dissent memorably began, “The Court’s opinion is deeply wrong.”

Impact on Gender Equality Jurisprudence

Ginsburg’s contribution to constitutional law goes far beyond individual cases. She fundamentally changed the Court’s understanding of the Equal Protection Clause. Before her work, the Court had never struck down a law for discriminating on the basis of sex. After her litigation campaign, intermediate scrutiny became the standard, and the Court required that sex-based classifications be based on actual differences, not stereotypes. Her opinion in United States v. Virginia remains the gold standard for sex equality analysis, demanding that the government meet an “exceedingly persuasive justification” for any classification by sex.

Moreover, her jurisprudence on family and work life – she often wrote about the need for employers to accommodate caregivers, particularly women – laid groundwork for later expansions of the Family and Medical Leave Act and workplace anti-discrimination law. She was also a strong advocate for women’s reproductive freedom, co-authoring a book on the subject and voting consistently to protect abortion rights under Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

In her later years, Justice Ginsburg achieved an unlikely status as a cultural icon. Motivated by a 2013 shaming of her by a conservative commentator, a young law student, Shana Knizhnik, created a Tumblr blog called “Notorious R.B.G.” – a play on the rapper Notorious B.I.G. The nickname stuck, and Ginsburg embraced it, even buying T-shirts for her granddaughters. Her dissents, her workout routine (she famously lifted weights into her 80s), and her jabot collection became symbols of resistance and resilience for many Americans.

She was the subject of multiple books, a documentary (RBG), and a feature film (On the Basis of Sex). She appeared on magazine covers, had an opera written about her, and received the Liberty Medal from the National Constitution Center. Her friendship with Justice Antonin Scalia – ideological opposites who adored each other and attended the opera together – became a beloved example of civility in an increasingly polarized political landscape.

Ginsburg’s death on September 18, 2020, at age 87, triggered an outpouring of grief and a contentious political battle over her successor. Thousands of people gathered at the Supreme Court steps to mourn. Her body lay in repose at the Court and later at the U.S. Capitol, where she became the first woman and the first Jewish person to lie in state in the Capitol rotunda.

Enduring Influence

Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s work continues to shape the law and inspire activists. The standard for sex equality she helped establish – intermediate scrutiny – remains the governing test. Her vision of a society in which men and women, girls and boys, are not limited by stereotypes has become deeply embedded in legal education and advocacy. Organizations like the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project continue the fight she began, and her life story is taught in schools across the country.

As she herself said, “Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time.” Ginsburg took those steps with meticulous strategy, unshakeable resolve, and an unwavering belief that the Constitution requires equal justice for all. Her legacy is not just in the cases she won or the opinions she wrote, but in the countless individuals who today work to make equality a reality.

For readers wanting to explore her life and work in more depth, excellent resources include the Oyez Project’s biography of Ginsburg, the ACLU’s tribute to her advocacy, and the Supreme Court’s official biography page. Her own writings, including the book My Own Words, offer a direct window into her thinking.