Ginsburg, Ruth Bader

Joan Ruth Bader was born on March 15, 1933 in Brooklyn, New York , and became the second daughter of Celia (nee Amster) and Nathan Beider, who lived in the Brooklyn district of Flatbush. Her father was a Jewish immigrant from Odessa , who at the time of his departure was part of the Russian Empire , and her mother was born in New York into a family of Austrian Jews ^{[1] [2] [3]} . Bader's eldest daughter, Marilyn, died of meningitis at the age of six, when Ruth was 14 months old ^{[4] [5] [6]} . The family called Joan Ruth "Kiki," the nickname Marilyn gave her for kicking ^{[4] [7]} . When Kiki went to school, Celia discovered that there were several other girls in her class named Joan, so she asked the teacher to call her daughter Ruth to avoid confusion ^[4] . Although the Bader family was not pious, she went to the , a conservative synagogue where Ruth learned the principles of the Jewish faith and joined Hebrew ^[8] .

Celia played an active role in the education of her daughter and often took her to the library ^[7] . Celia was a good student in her youth and graduated from high school at the age of 15, but was unable to continue her education because her family chose to send her brother to college. She wanted her daughter to receive more education, which, in her opinion, would allow Ruth to become a history teacher in high school ^[9] . Ruth attended , which later dedicated a courtroom in her honor. Celia struggled with cancer in her last years and died the day before Ruth graduated from high school. ^[7]

Ruth went to Cornell University in Ithaca , where she became a member ^[10] . While studying at Cornell University, she met her future husband, ^[9] . On June 23, 1954, she graduated from Cornell with a Bachelor of Arts in government. Ruth was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the student with the highest score in her class ^{[10] [11]} . A month after graduation, Bader left Ginsburg. She followed her husband in Fort Silla, Oklahoma, where he was appointed officer of the Reserve Officer Corps (ROTC) ^{[9] [11] [12]} . At the age of 21, she began working at the social welfare office in Oklahoma, where she was later demoted after becoming pregnant with her first child ^[6] . In 1955, Ruth had a daughter ^[6] .

In the autumn of 1956, Ginsburg entered Harvard Law School, where she became one of nine women in a class of about 500 people ^{[13] [14]} . Reportedly, Erwin Griswold, the dean of the school, asked the female students, including Ginsburg, “how do you justify the fact that you have taken the place of a qualified man?” ^[9] . When her husband got a job in New York, Ginsburg moved to and became the first woman on the board of two law journals: the Harvard Law Review and the Columbia Law Review . In 1959, she received a degree and became one of the first in her graduation ^{[7] [15]} .

At the beginning of his judicial career, Ginsburg had difficulty finding a job ^{[16] [17] [18]} . In 1960, Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter rejected Ginsburg's candidacy for the position of clerk because of her gender. She was rejected, despite a strong recommendation from Albert Marx Sachs, who was a professor and then dean of Harvard Law School ^{[19] [20] [a]} . Columbia Law School professor Gerald Guter also insisted Judge Edmund L. Palmerie of the take Ginsburg as clerk, threatening to never again recommend Palmery to another Columbia school graduate if he will not give Ginzburg the opportunity to prove himself, at the same time guaranteeing that he will find a replacement for the judge if Ginzburg fails ^{[6] [7] [21]} . Later that year, Ginzburg began working for Judge Palmeri and held office for two years ^{[6] [7]} .

Academy

From 1961 to 1963, Ginzburg was a research associate and then an associate director of the Columbia Law School Project on international procedure; she studied Swedish in order to write a book on civil process in Sweden with Anders Brüzel ^{[22] [23]} . For her book, Ginsburg also conducted extensive research at the University of Lund in Sweden ^[24] . The time spent by Ginsburg in Sweden also influenced her views on gender equality. She was inspired to observe change in Sweden, where women made up 20 to 25 percent of all law students; and one of the judges, whom Ginzburg observed during her studies, was eight months pregnant and was still working ^[9] .

In 1963, Ginsburg received the first professorial position ^[25] . However, the appointment was not without flaws: Ginsburg was told that she would be paid less than her male colleagues, since her husband had a well-paid job ^[18] . At the time Ginzburg began her academic activities, there were fewer than twenty female law professors in the United States ^[25] . She held a position in Rutgers as a professor of law, mainly civil litigation, from 1963 to 1972, and received a permanent position in 1969 ^{[26] [27]} .

In 1970, Ginsburg co-founded the legal journal , which was the first women's rights- focused magazine in the United States ^[28] . From 1972 to 1980, she taught at Columbia University, where she became the first woman on a permanent contract, and co-wrote a on sex discrimination ^[27] . She also spent a year at the , from 1977 to 1978 ^[29] .

Advocacy

In 1972, Ginsburg became a co-founder of the Women's Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and in 1973 she became General Counsel of the ACLU ^[11] . By 1974, the Women's Rights Project and its related projects, the ACLU, participated in more than 300 cases of gender discrimination. As director of the Women's Rights Project, she participated in six trials before the Supreme Court between 1973 and 1976 and won five of them ^[19] . Instead of asking the court to end all gender discrimination at once, Ginzburg chose a different approach — she set out to target specific discriminatory statutes and relied on each successive victory. She carefully selected the plaintiffs, from time to time choosing men in their capacity to demonstrate that gender discrimination is harmful to both women and men ^{[19] [27]} .

At gunpoint Ginsburg were those laws that at first glance were useful for women, but in fact reinforced the idea that women should be dependent on men ^[19] . Ginsburg's strategy also influenced the choice of words, she advocated using the word “ gender ” (from English - “gender”) instead of “sex” (from English - “sex, sex ”) after her secretary suggested that the word “sex »Will distract the judges ^[27] . She gained a reputation as a qualified human rights activist, and her work led to the cessation of gender discrimination in many areas of law ^[30] .

Ginsburg wrote a brief to the case of , US 71 (1971) ^[31] , in which the Supreme Court extended the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution on Women ^{[27 ] [32] [b]} . She helped win the case " ", US 677 (1973) ^[34] , which challenged the statute making it difficult for a female soldier to receive increased benefits for her husband compared to a male soldier seeking similar benefits for his wife. Ginzburg argued that the statute regards women as inferior, and the Supreme Court, voting 8–1, ruled in her favor ^[19] .

The court also ruled in her favor in , US 636 (1975), where Ginsburg represented a widower who was denied benefits for the loss of a breadwinner as part of . Social Security conditions made it possible to receive benefits while caring for widows, but not widowers. Ginzburg argued that the statute discriminated against men without giving them the same protection as women ^[35] .

In , US 190 (1976) ^[36] Ginsburg wrote a brief as amicus curiae and participated as an adviser on a case challenging the law of Oklahoma, in which different men and women were established minimum age limit on drinking alcohol ^{[19] [35]} . For the first time, a court imposed a so-called “ ” on the law discriminating on the basis of sex; elevated level of the constitutional review ^{[19] [35] [37]} . Her last case, considered in the Supreme Court, and in which she participated as a human rights activist, was “ ”, US 357 (1979), which challenged the voluntary participation of women in jury trials; while for men it was obligatory. She argued that jury trial was the responsibility of any citizen, and therefore it should not be optional for women. At the end of the speech, Ginzburg, then Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist, asked her: “So you are not satisfied with the portrait of Susan B. Anthony on the new dollar?” ^[38] . Ginzburg recalled that she wanted to answer "we are not content with ", but in the end decided to not answer the question at all ^[38] .

Lawyers and lawyers pay tribute to the work of Ginsburg in relation to a significant improvement in the rights of women, which are covered by the constitutional ^{[19] [27]} . All legal victories of Ginsburg, taken together, discarded the legislative assemblies from different attitudes towards women and men in the framework of the application of legislation ^{[19] [27] [35]} . She continued to work on the Women's Rights Project at the ACLU until she was appointed to the Federal Court in 1980 ^[27] . Later, Antonin Scalia , her colleague, praised Ginsburg's advocacy skills: “She became the leading and very successful defender of women's rights — Tergud Marshall of her cause, so to speak” ^[39] .

US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia

On April 14, 1980, President Jimmy Carter nominated Ginsburg for the position of Judge of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Colombia , which became vacant after the death of Harold Leventhal. ^[26] She was approved by the United States Senate on June 18, 1980 and received her appointment on the same day. ^[26] Her service in the US Court of Appeals was terminated on August 9, 1993, in connection with her appointment as judge to the US Supreme Court ^{[26] [40] [41]} .

US Supreme Court

"By gender" 2018 United States Directed by Mimi Leder

Comments

Sources

• Ginsburg, Ruth Bader; Harnett, Mary; Williams, Wendy W. My own words . — First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition. — New York, 2016. — 371 с. — ISBN 9781501145247 .
• Clinton, Bill. My Life (Bill Clinton autobiography). — New York: Vintage Books, 2005. — ISBN 140003003X .
• Garner, Bryan A. Foreword // Garner on Language and Writing. — Chicago: American Bar Association, 2009. — ISBN 9781590315880 .
• Antisemitism on Voices of Interview with of Ruth Bader Ginsburg from the United States Holocaust Memorial has a Museum then

• OCLC 70984211
• Issue positions and quotes at OnTheIssues
• Voices on Antisemitism : Interview with Ruth Bader Ginsburg from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum
• Ruth Bader Ginsburg produced by Makers: Women Who Make America
• Mention in the television program cable network C-SPAN
• Supreme Court Associate Justice Nomination Hearings on Ruth Bader Ginsburg in July 1993 United States Government Publishing Office