Ruth Bader Ginsburg
United States v. Virginia, decided in 1996, is a Supreme Court majority opinion authored by Ruth Bader Ginsburg in her capacity as an Associate Justice, holding that the Virginia Military Institute's male-only admissions policy was unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause.
Ginsburg was born on March 15, 1933, in Brooklyn, a United States citizen who attended James Madison High School before pursuing her undergraduate education at Cornell University. She went on to study law at Harvard Law School and later at Columbia Law School, after which she built a career as a lawyer and jurist. President Bill Clinton nominated her to the Supreme Court, and she began serving as an Associate Justice in 1993, a position she held until her death on September 18, 2020, in Washington, D.C. She was the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court, after Sandra Day O'Connor, and the first Jewish woman to hold that office.
Beyond United States v. Virginia, Ginsburg authored the majority opinion in Olmstead v. L.C. (1999), Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services, Inc. (2000), and City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation of New York (2005). She received the Brandeis Medal and was included in Time 100. Her tenure on the Court extended across more than two decades, concluding with her death at age eighty-seven.
Quotes by Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Ruth Bader Ginsburg's insights on:
We should not be held back from pursuing our full talents, from contributing what we could contribute to the society, because we fit into a certain mold- because we belong to a group that historically has been the object of discrimination.
Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. It shouldn't be that women are the exception
My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant to be your own person, be INDEPENDENT.
A judge sworn to decide impartially can offer no forecasts, no hints, for that would show not only disregard for the specifics of the particular case, it would display disdain for the entire judicial process.
After the pancreatic cancer, at first I went to N.I.H. every three months, then every four months, then every six months.
Ever since my colorectal cancer in 1999, I have been followed by the N.I.H. That was very lucky for me because they detected my pancreatic cancer at a very early stage.
Anybody who has been discriminated against, who comes from a group that's been discriminated against, knows what it's like.
If you just needed the skills to pass the bar, two years would be enough. But if you think of law as a learned profession, then a third year is an opportunity for, on the one hand, public service and practice experience, but on the other, also to take courses that round out the law that you didn't have time to do.