JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG

Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court

“Up until the start of the ’70s, it simply wasn’t possible to move courts in the direction of recognizing women as people of equal citizenship stature.”

“All of us revere the institution for which we work, and we want to leave it in as good shape as we found it.”

Of the 114 justices who have served on the Supreme Court, none of them have achieved the level of public acclaim that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has in recent years. What accounts for this enormous, unprecedented popular acclaim for a diminutive, soft-spoken, scholarly justice (just the second woman to serve on the court)?

There are several reasons:

First, Justice Ginsburg’s trailblazing efforts as a law professor and a public-service litigator in the area of gender equality—she cofounded the successful ACLU Women’s Rights Project—have increasingly been recognized (through movies and books) by the public, particularly younger generations of women.

Second, during her more than forty years on the bench (thirteen-plus years on the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and more than twenty-seven years on the Supreme Court), she has been a consistent and articulate supporter of gender equality, contraceptive and abortion rights, and other positions supported by “liberal” or “progressive” organizations and groups. Often her views, when not in the majority, are communicated through forceful dissenting opinions (and the opinions are often seen as masterpieces of legal craftsmanship).

Third, over the past decade or so, a great deal of attention has been focused on her public persona by the media, making her workout regimens and love of opera endearing parts of her appeal to many.

And further, her several bouts with cancer and other illnesses, and her determination to remain on the court, even into her late eighties, are seen as a sign of her personal grit and determination (and perhaps of her determination to have a Democratic president select her successor).

Anyone who attends a Justice Ginsburg lecture, interview, or appearance witnesses her rock-star appeal. She draws up to twenty thousand people at events, and regularly gets long standing ovations when publicly introduced at events she simply attends. I have seen this many times firsthand at gatherings where I have introduced or interviewed Justice Ginsburg, whom I have come to know over the years through Kennedy Center events—she is a devoted attendee of our operas—or at social events in the Washington area.

This particular interview occurred in front of a live audience at the 92nd Street Y in New York in September 2019, and was oversubscribed many times over. The interview demonstrates her precise use of language, her well-developed sense of humor, and her willingness to discuss openly the discrimination she suffered as a woman. It also shows her commitment, even at this stage of her life, to seeking to end injustices that she feels still exist for women.

How did Justice Ginsburg become such a leader and, later, such a role model? The answers come through in the interview: her extraordinary intellect (she was near the top of her class at both Harvard and Columbia Law Schools), her persistence in fighting for her causes, and her ability to work with (and charm) those who have disagreed with her, such as her opera-loving close friend the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

And Justice Ginsburg has also found a way to be a leader who is unique within the court: her public appearances and persona have clearly affected public opinion on many of her key issues. And the court, while a creation of legal precedent and scholarship, does reflect the views of this tenth justice: public opinion.