It is a consolidated tradition in journalism to take stock in December and look back upon the personalities that marked the year coming to an end. As usual you get the good and the bad, but then you also get the icons, such as U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Known for being the senior liberal member of the court, she is a beacon of resistance. In case she were unable to serve, U.S. President Donald Trump could indeed replace her with a conservative and the court would shift to the right, a decision that would have dire consequences on a variety of issues, including abortion and gay rights (since taking office Trump appointed two justices to the court - Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, and the latter was confirmed despite allegations of sexual misconduct).
Ginsburg appeared this year in the documentary "RBG" directed by Betsy West and Julie Cohen, while the early years of her career as a law professor and then with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) are recounted in the film "On the Basis of Sex", directed by Mimi Leder and starring Felicity Jones as Ruth Bader and Armie Hammer as Marty Ginsburg (with costumes by Isis Mussenden). The documentary and the film are great introductions to Ginsburg's life and achievements.
Born in 1933, Ginsburg went to Cornell University where she met her future husband Martin Ginsburg. She became a mother before starting law school at Harvard where she was one of nine women in a class of 500 men.
These were hard times as Ginsburg was studying, taking care of her daughter Jane, visiting her husband who was in hospital after having been diagnosed with cancer and organising his classmates' notes for him to make sure he didn't miss his own work.
After Marty recovered and got a job as a tax lawyer in New York, Ruth transferred to Columbia University. She graduated as one of the top students, but, since no law firm would hire her because she was a woman, she became a professor at Rutgers Law School, where she taught some of the first women and law classes, co-founding the Women's Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
She started focusing on gender discrimination, and became advocate for the advancement of gender equality and women's rights. The documentary "RBG" is a great way to go through some of these cases as they are presented in an engaging way, often via interviews with the people involved in them.
In Frontiero V Richardson (1973), Ginsburg argued on behalf of a female Air Force lieutenant denied a housing benefit for her husband that her male colleagues received for their wives. She also worked on cases involving men, like Weinberger V Wiesenfeld (1975), involving a young widower who was denied benefits after his wife died in childbirth.
One of her most important cases remains the United States V Virginia (1996) in which she challenged the exclusion of women from the Virginia Military Institute. She won the case and, since then, the institute has been open to women as well.
In 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and, in August 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed her Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
She was the second female justice (after Sandra Day O'Connor) in the Supreme Court (only four women have ever been confirmed to the court - Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, were both appointed by Barack Obama).
Her late husband Marty (he died in 2010) was instrumental in her career since he always supported her choices and also championed her appointment at the Supreme Court.
Ginsburg set an example, showing that you can fight for different causes and can do so quietly, politely, without being arrogant and aggressive (a style sadly favoured by many people in powerful positions nowadays).
Throughout the years Ginsburg has indeed charmed also her opponents: in the "RBG" documentary rightwing senator Orrin Hatch is shown at Ginsburg's confirmation hearings, as he tells her "Frankly, I admire you and you earned the right to be on the supreme court."
She also struck an unlikely friendship with the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia with whom she shared a passion for the opera, despite their different positions on legal grounds.
Though Ginsburg is known for being a reserved and introverted woman, during the 2016 election, she called Donald Trump a "faker" and said she could not imagine a world with him as president. Criticised for her statement that may have undermined her impartiality in the court, she apologised.
Her strength, fights for justice and passion turned her into a beacon of resistance and an inspiration for many people, especially for a younger generation getting to know her only now: young law student Shana Knizhnik created a Tumblr account dedicated to Justice Ginsburg called "Notorious RBG", after the rapper Notorius B.I.G., that Knizhnik and her co-author Irin Carmon then transformed into a book. Ginsburg seems to like the moniker since, as she stated in interviews, she shares with him quite a few things, first and foremost she was born like him in Brooklyn.
Since 2015, Ginsburg has been portrayed by actress Kate McKinnon on Saturday Night Live; her pop culture icon fame rose, inspiring gadgets, mugs, T-shirts (a favourite of Ginsburg who often gives them to friends as well), action figures, tattoos, children's books and Halloween costumes, among other things.
Ginsburg is also a fashion icon for her bold sense of style: she favours elegant and sober garments and often matches her outfits with lace or crocheted gloves. She is a feminist, but never gave up her feminine style, symbolised by the collars she wears over her robes.
In "RBG" she explains the genesis of her jabots that have turned into feminist symbols: "The standard robe is made for a man because it has a place for the shirt to show and the tie, so Sandra Day O'Connor thought it would be appropriate if we included in our robe something typical of a woman."
The collars are a statement as they indicate that you don't need to dress like a man to be in this job, you just need to be yourself and be confident.
Ginsburg's favourite collar remains a simple beaded jabot, but in "RBG" she opens her wardrobe and shows many varieties of collars she owns, at times they are also sent to her, like the one she was gifted by the University of Hawaii, made with French lace and decorated with beads from the beach.
She is also known for the special meanings attached to the collars: a collar that was given to her as a gift from the law clerks of court is used to announce majority of opinion, while a black one decorated with large rhinestones is donned to show dissent (she wore it during the Hobby Lobby contraception case; the collar has even been recreated in miniature for necklaces and has been turned into a popular pin). For her official Supreme Court portrait in 2018, Ginsburg opted instead for a striking collar of gold feathers sent to her by a fan.
Ginsburg is so loved among her fans that her health is also a cause of concern: in November, she fell in court and fractured three ribs; before Christmas she underwent surgery after malignant nodules were found in her left lung (she was treated in 1999 for colon cancer and in 2009 for pancreatic cancer).
Yet she seems an indomitable force as proved by her workout routine (also documented in "RBG") and the fact that she has no plans to retire (she has hired clerks for the term that extends into 2020).
So, here's wishing that her superheroine story will continue as long as she has the strength and will to carry on doing her duty. Her first appointment is on 7th January 2019 when the justices are scheduled to hear their next round of arguments.
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