# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (March 15, 1933 - September 18, 2020), also known by her initials RBG, was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until she died in 2020. She was nominated to the position by President Bill Clinton and belonged to the liberal wing of the Court.

Ginsburg was the second woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court after Sandra Day O'Connor. Following O'Connor's retirement in 2006 and until Sonia Sotomayor joined the Court in 2009, she was the only female justice on the Supreme Court.

She died at her home in Washington, D.C., on September 18, 2020, from complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer at age 87.

Early life and education

Joan Ruth Bader was born on March 15, 1933, at Beth Moses Hospital in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. She was the second daughter of Celia (née Amster) and Nathan Bader, who lived in the Flatbush neighborhood. Her father was a Jewish emigrant from Odesa, Ukraine, at that time part of the Russian Empire, and her mother was born in New York to Jewish parents who came from Kraków, Poland, at that time part of Austria-Hungary.

The Baders' elder daughter Marylin died of meningitis at age six. Joan, who was 14 months old when Marylin died, was known to the family as "Kiki", a nickname Marylin had given her for being "a kicky baby."

When Joan started school, Celia discovered that her daughter's class had several other girls named Joan, so Celia suggested the teacher call her daughter by her second name, Ruth, to avoid confusion.

The Bader family belonged to East Midwood Jewish Center, a Conservative synagogue, where Ruth learned tenets of the Jewish faith and gained familiarity with the Hebrew language. Starting as a camper from the age of four, she attended Camp Che-Na-Wah, a Jewish summer program at Lake Balfour near Minerva, New York, where she was later a camp counselor until the age of eighteen.

Celia took an active role in her daughter's education, often taking her to the library. Celia had been a good student in her youth and graduated from high school at age 15. Yet she could not further her own education because her family instead chose to send her brother to college. Celia wanted her daughter to get more education, which she thought would allow Ruth to become a high school history teacher. Ruth attended James Madison High School, whose law program later dedicated a courtroom in her honor. Celia struggled with cancer throughout Ruth's high school years and died the day before Ruth's high school graduation.

Ruth Bader attended Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and was a member of Alpha Epsilon Phi. She graduated from Cornell with a Bachelor of Arts degree in government on June 23, 1954. While at Cornell, Bader studied under Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov, and she later identified Nabokov as a major influence on her development as a writer. She was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the highest-ranking female student in her graduating class.

At age 21, Ruth Bader Ginsburg worked for the Social Security Administration office in Oklahoma.

In the fall of 1956, Ruth Bader Ginsburg enrolled at Harvard Law School, where she was one of only 9 women in a class of about 500 men. The dean of Harvard Law, Erwin Griswold, reportedly invited all the female law students to dinner at his family home and asked the female law students, including Ginsburg, "Why are you at Harvard Law School, taking the place of a man?" When that same dean denied Ginsburg's request to complete her third year towards a Harvard law degree at Columbia Law School in New York, she transferred to Columbia and became the first woman to be on two major law reviews: the Harvard Law Review and Columbia Law Review. In 1959, she earned her law degree at Columbia and tied for first in her class.

Legal career

She was a professor at Rutgers Law School and Columbia Law School, as one of the few women in her field of teaching civil procedure (rules courts use in civil court).

Ginsburg spent a large part of her legal career pushing for gender equality and women's rights. She was a volunteer attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union and was a member of its board of directors and one of its general counsels in the 1970s.

In 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where she served until she was appointed to the Supreme Court. Ginsburg received attention in American popular culture for her fiery liberal disagreements and stubbornness.

Supreme Court

Ginsburg was appointed by President Bill Clinton and took the oath of office on August 10, 1993. She was the second female justice (after Sandra Day O'Connor) and the first Jewish female justice. Ginsburg was considered a liberal member of the Supreme Court.

When John Paul Stevens retired in 2010, Ginsburg became the oldest justice on the court at age 77.

Personal life

A few days after Bader graduated from Cornell, she married Martin D. Ginsburg. When she joined the D.C. Circuit, the couple moved from New York to Washington, D.C., where her husband became a professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center.

After the birth of their daughter, Martin was diagnosed with cancer. During this period, Ginsburg attended class and took notes for both of them, typed her husband's dictated papers, and cared for their daughter and her sick husband.

Their daughter, Jane C. Ginsburg (b. 1955), is a professor at Columbia Law School. Their son, James Steven Ginsburg (b. 1965), is the founder and president of Cedille Records, a classical music recording company based in Chicago, Illinois. Ginsburg was a grandmother of four. Martin and Ruth celebrated their 56th wedding anniversary on June 23, 2010. Martin Ginsburg died of complications from metastatic cancer on June 27, 2010.

Health and death

Ginsburg had surgery for colon cancer in 1999 and for pancreatic cancer in 2009. On November 8, 2018, she was hospitalized after fracturing three ribs in a fall.

Ginsburg underwent radiation treatment for pancreatic cancer during the summer of 2019. In July 2020, she announced that she had liver cancer.

Ginsburg died from complications of pancreatic cancer on September 18, 2020, at age 87. She died on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

Five days after her death, the eight Supreme Court justices, Ginsburg's children, and other family members held a private ceremony for Ginsburg in the court's great hall. Following the private ceremony, due to COVID-19 pandemic conditions prohibiting the usual lying in repose in the great hall, Ginsburg's casket was moved outdoors to the court's west portico so the public could pay respects. She was the first woman and first Jew to lie in state (not in honor, which is a right reserved for private citizens) at the Capitol. On September 29, Ginsburg was buried beside her husband in Arlington National Cemetery.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg quotes

"You can disagree without being disagreeable."

"It bothers me when people say to make it to the top of the tree you have to give up a family."

"As long as I can do the job full steam, I will stay here."

"Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time."

Interesting facts about Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ruth was not Ginsburg's first name. She was born Joan Ruth Bader.

Ginsburg was nicknamed "Kiki" because she would never stop kicking when she was a baby.

Ruth's mother often took her to the library and instilled in her a devotion to learning.

Despite their conflicting political views, Justice Ginsberg and the late Justice Antonin Scalia were friends and shared a love of the opera.

She appeared as an extra in two Washington Opera productions, once in a powdered wig and full costume and once as herself.

Ginsburg failed her driver's test the first five times she took it.

In 1965, she hid her second pregnancy by wearing oversized clothing.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg is known for her "jabots" or collars that she wore over her judicial robes.

Images for kids

In Spanish: Ruth Bader Ginsburg para niños

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Learn Ruth Bader Ginsburg facts for kids

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on Friday, September 18, in Washington, D.C. She was 87. Ginsburg had served as a United States Supreme Court justice since 1993. As the second woman to sit on the nation's top court, she fought fiercely for women's rights, for herself and others.

Memorials were held around the country. People brought flowers and lit candles. They carried signs quoting her. "Women belong in all places where decisions are being made," read some. "Fight for the things you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you," read others.

AMANDA ANDRADE-RHOADES- BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES

After two days at the Supreme Court Building, Ginsburg was to lie in state × state JEFF GREENOUGH-GETTY IMAGES a style appropriate for a person of high rank (noun) The military general was buried in state. at the U.S. Capitol on September 25. She's the first woman in American history to receive this honor.

Ginsburg faced gender discrimination as she worked her way toward the Supreme Court. This led her to support issues such as equal pay and opportunities for all. In doing so, she became a role model and cultural icon.

DAVID HUME KENNERLY-GETTY IMAGES

Journey to the Court

Joan Ruth Bader was born in 1933 in Brooklyn, New York. As a young girl, she loved books. One day, reading while walking, she fell and broke her nose.

Ruth graduated from high school and went to Cornell University, in New York. There, she met Martin Ginsburg. They married in 1954.

Ruth and Marty were accepted to Harvard Law School. But he was called for active military duty, so Ruth put her studies on hold. She took a job at the U.S. Social Security Administration. When her employer found out she was pregnant, Ruth was given a lesser role at lower pay.

In 1956, while Marty and Ruth were at Harvard, she was one of nine women in a class of more than 500. After Marty was diagnosed with cancer, Ruth went to class for both of them, typing up his notes and papers as well as her own. When Marty got a job in New York, Ruth gave up her last year at Harvard to go with him and finish her studies at Columbia Law School.

Ruth graduated from Columbia in 1959, tied for first in her class. But she was unable to get a job at a leading law firm. And Supreme Court clerkships × clerkship DARRENMOWER-GETTY IMAGES a job that gives a person a chance to work with and learn from a judge (noun) After finishing law school, Harry applied for a clerkship with a judge. went to men, not women.

LIBRADO ROMERO-THE NEW YORK TIMES

Ruth didn't get angry. She got even. She taught at Rutgers Law School, in New Jersey, from 1963 to 1972, and pushed for equal pay for women there. In 1972, she began teaching at Columbia. She helped start the Women's Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union. And in 1980, she joined the U.S. Court of Appeals.

"I Dissent"

President Bill Clinton appointed Ginsburg to the Supreme Court in 1993. She was sworn in on August 10 of that year, with her husband by her side. She had already established herself as an important voice for gender equality. She ruled on a number of landmark × landmark CHRIS MADDALONI/CONTRIBUTOR -GETTY IMAGES historic (adjective) Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark lawsuit that made segregation illegal in schools. cases in her career.

JEFFREY MARKOWITZ-SYGMA/GETTY IMAGES

A Supreme Court justice can write a dissenting opinion when he or she disagrees with the majority. Ginsburg did this often. In 2014, she explained why: "Justices continue to think and can change," she said. "I am ever hopeful that if the court has a blind spot today, its eyes will be open tomorrow."

On September 19, the Supreme Court released statements from the eight current justices who served with Ginsburg. Here are some of their words.

"We at the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague. Today we mourn, but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her-a tireless and resolute champion of justice." -Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.

"She was the essence of grace, civility, and dignity. She was a superb judge who gave her best and exacted the best from each of us, whether in agreement or disagreement." -Justice Clarence Thomas

"My dear friend and colleague Ruth Bader Ginsburg was an American hero. She spent her life fighting for the equality of all people, and she was a pathbreaking champion of women's rights." -Justice Sonia Sotomayor

"Justice Ginsburg will go down as a leading figure in the history of the court. She will be remembered for her intelligence, learning, and remarkable fortitude. She has been and will continue to be an inspiration for many." -Justice Samuel A. Alito

JABIN BOTSFORD-THE WASHINGTON POST/GETTY IMAGES

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on Friday, September 18, in Washington, D.C. She was 87. Ginsburg had served as a United States Supreme Court justice since 1993. As the second woman to sit on the nation's top court, she fought fiercely...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Ginsburg transferred to Columbia Law School when her husband got a job in New York City. She graduated tied for first in her class in 1959. After graduation, Ginsburg had a hard time finding a job. She was turned down for jobs as a lawyer because she was a woman. With some help, Ginsburg got a job as a law clerk for a judge. She then taught at Rutgers University and later at Columbia .

During the 1970s Ginsburg also worked with the American Civil Liberties Union. She argued important cases for them before the U.S. Supreme Court. These cases were about equal rights for women. In 1980 President Jimmy Carter selected her to be a judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals. In 1993 President Bill Clinton chose her for the U.S. Supreme Court. Ginsburg continued to support equal rights and civil rights through her work on the Supreme Court. She died on September 18, 2020.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Ginsburg transferred to Columbia Law School when her husband got a job in New York City. She graduated tied for first in her class in 1959. After graduation, Ginsburg had a hard time finding a job. She was turned down for jobs as a lawyer because she was a woman.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
I Dissent | Ruth Bader Ginsburg Kids Read Aloud | Ms. Mera

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
I Dissent | Ruth Bader Ginsburg Kids Read Aloud | Ms. Mera

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Ruth Bader Ginsberg faced many challenges to become a lawyer. In 1956, she was one of only nine women at Harvard Law School (out of 500 students!). She and her female classmates were even banned from using one of the libraries on campus. But that didn't stop her from following her dream-which led her to become the first Jewish person and second woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court -the highest court in the country.

Joan Ruth Bader was born in Brooklyn, New York, on March 15, 1933. Many girls in her school were also called Joan, so she decided to go by her middle name.

Ruth's parents did not go to college. But they knew that education was important and encouraged her to learn as much as she could. She studied government while on a scholarship at Cornell University, then enrolled at Harvard Law School two years after she married her husband, Martin "Marty" Ginsburg, in 1954. After he graduated, the family moved to New York City, and Ginsburg transferred to Columbia Law School, where she graduated in 1959.

At that time, many women did not work outside their homes, and some men believed that women weren't as capable as men to work for pay. So even though Ginsburg graduated from law school with top grades, she couldn't find a job as a lawyer. Instead, she became a professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey. When students asked her to teach a class on how women were treated under the law, Ginsburg discovered some unfair practices-for instance, some working mothers weren't provided health insurance by their companies, even though their male coworkers were. This helped fuel her interest in fighting for women's equality.

While she was teaching at Rutgers, Ginsburg found out that she was being paid less than male professors. Then she found out that other women were being paid less, too! She and her female colleagues demanded equal pay from the university-and they got it.

Soon Ginsburg was fighting many cases in court to help people who were being treated unfairly because of their gender-for instance, she won a case to allow pregnant women and women with children to serve in the military. Then in 1972, she helped start the Women's Rights Project for the American Civil Liberties Union, an organization that argues for fair treatment of all U.S. citizens. Through this project, Ginsburg won five out of six gender equality cases in front of the Supreme Court.

Now people were thinking about Ginsburg whenever they thought about equal protection for women under the law. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the U.S. Court of Appeals (the court that hears cases from lower courts when people don't agree with the decision). Then on August 10, 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed Ginsburg to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Ginsburg was one of nine Supreme Court justices, and many times she disagreed with their decisions. But she wrote very powerful statements whenever she disagreed, called a dissenting opinion, and soon she earned the nickname the "Great Dissenter."

Sometimes those statements led to Congress passing new laws. One time in 2007, the Supreme Court heard a case from a woman named Lily Ledbetter who discovered she was being paid less than her male co-workers. Most of the Supreme Court justices said she had waited too long to come to court, and Ledbetter lost her case. But because of Ginsburg's dissenting opinion, Congress passed a law two years later changing those time limits-and therefore giving women more protection.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg served on the Supreme Court every day until her death on September 18, 2020. She was 87 years old. For days afterward, the Supreme Court grounds in Washington, D.C., were covered in flowers and messages from people all across the country, who remembered and respected how she always fought for equality and was never afraid to disagree with anyone.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Ruth Bader Ginsberg faced many challenges to become a lawyer. In 1956, she was one of only nine women at Harvard Law School (out of 500 students!). She and her female classmates were even banned from using one of the libraries on campus.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In honor of the life of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who passed away one month ago, this post shares highlights from her 2017 visit to the Library's Young Readers Center. Justice Ginsburg met with a group of third grade students to discuss "I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark" with author Debbie Levy. In the conversation, Ginsburg shared advice for making change in the world and persuading those who disagree with you, among other topics. Highlights and the full video are included below.

What is the best advice that you can give us for changing things in the world?

Join together with other people who feel like you because there's strength in numbers. If you just try to do things all by yourself, you're not going to get very far. You need a team to work with you to achieve what you think is important.

What would you like the students to learn or to understand from your own less-than-equal experience as a girl and young woman?

I would like the students to know that they can be free to be you and me. That is, free to do whatever you have the talent and are willing to work hard enough to do; that there are no closed doors.

Why did you want to stand up for equal rights?

Because I thought everybody should have a fair chance to do what they can do best, and I also thought about how I would like the world to be for my children...I want the world to give them a fair chance to do whatever they want to do if they're willing to do the hard work that it takes. And nobody should be able to say, "No, you can't do this" because you're a boy or because you're a girl.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
I Dissent: A Conversation for Kids with Ruth Bader Ginsburg

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In honor of the life of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who passed away one month ago, this post shares highlights from her 2017 visit to the Library's Young Readers Center. Justice Ginsburg met with a group of third grade students to discuss "I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark" with author Debbie Levy.