No discussion on activist lawyers could possibly be complete without mentioning the ‘Notorious RBG’. From being one of nine women in her class of 500 at Harvard Law School, to becoming a pop culture icon, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a true pioneer for gender equality.
AN INSPIRATION TO WOMEN EVERYWHERE
Ruth Bader Ginsburg not only attended both Harvard and Columbia Law Schools, but she was the first woman to work at both college’s law reviews, whilst finishing at the top of her class, caring for her daughter and her sick husband as well as helping him in his own studies by typing and making notes for him. After graduating, Ginsburg struggled to find employment in a law firm, but began teaching as a Professor. Her passion for equality began to shape her career; she would take part in seminars and write articles about gender equality and the issues that were present at the time. She eventually became involved in a series of Supreme Court cases relating to gender equality which began her journey to becoming a Supreme Court Justice.
Her career led to her becoming a pop culture icon, and an inspiration for many. This began with a law student creating a Tumblr account dedicated to her, called ‘The Notorious RBG’. Her inspirational life story and fame was immortalised in documentaries, novels, a biopic, and even led to ‘Ruth Bader Ginsberg Merch’ – ranging from mugs, to posters, to t-shirts.
This was partly due to the strength and work ethic she displayed throughout her life, but also because her activism through her roles as lawyer and judge had an immense impact on human rights and creating a better and more equal society for all.
AN ACTIVIST LAWYER
After graduating, Ruth Bader Ginsburg struggled to find a job due to her gender and the fact that she had children, however she ended up working as a law school professor. In her own words, “I was Jewish, a woman, and a mother. The first raised one eyebrow; the second, two; the third made me indubitably inadmissible”. In her role as a professor, she was able to ‘move along the change’ as she saw it, in the women’s movement which was gaining traction towards the end of the 1960s.
Ginsburg first became involved in the issue of gender equality when she took part in moderating a panel discussion on ‘women’s liberation’. She went on to publish articles and teach seminars on the topic of gender discrimination, partnering with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to draft briefs in cases. One of her lesser-known cases, Moritz v Commissioner of Internal Revenue, involved a law that denied single men a tax deduction when acting as carers for their families, and was the first gender-discrimination case she argued in The Supreme Court. Ginsburg went on to win the case, which was the first time that a provision of the Internal Revenue Code had been declared to be unconstitutional.
Throughout the next few years, she began to specialise in gender-discrimination cases, and became the founding counsel of the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project. Another major case she worked on was the case of Reed v Reed, where a woman was unable to execute her son’s estate because of her gender. Once again, Ginsburg was successful in this case, which was the first time the Supreme Court struck down a law due to gender discrimination that breached the 14th Amendment (the guarantee of equal protection). Ginsburg also continued with her work in education; teaching and writing articles on gender based discrimination and becoming the first tenured female faculty member at Columbia Law School. This demonstrates how her work went beyond just being a lawyer, through spreading education and awareness of issues of equality to the younger generation, in the hopes that her message would continue to evolve.
AN ACTIVIST JUDGE
In 1980, Ginsburg was appointed to the US Court of Appeal and developed a reputation for being unafraid to share her honest opinion on the decisions of her fellow judges. In 1993, she was nominated by Bill Clinton to replace a retiring Supreme Court judge. She received unanimous endorsement from the Senate Judiciary Committee and began sitting in the US Supreme Court.
She quickly started to bring her activist views into her role as a judge. For example, in United States v Virginia, she wrote the opinion that the men-only admission policy of a University violated the equal protection clause. She wrote; ‘Generalizations about ‘the way women are’, estimates of what is appropriate for most women, no longer justify denying opportunity to women whose talent and capacity place them outside the average description’.
Ginsburg’s activism also extended to the LGBTQ+ community, as in the case of Obergefell v Hodges in 2015. This case granted same-sex couple the right to marry in all 50 states. During the arguments given in this case, Ginsburg showed disapproval at the regressive attitudes displayed by the judges who were hesitant about the decision. During a debate about the purpose of marriage and procreation, she famously asked whether a 70-year-old heterosexual couple would be able to marry, despite the fact that they could not procreate, thus denying this argument in favour of upholding the ban on same-sex marriage.
Ginsburg unfortunately passed away earlier this year at the age of 87. Her death emphasised the impact she had had on women and men all around the globe, with quotes of hers being posted all over the internet. Following her death, various headlines such as ‘A feminist heroine and cultural icon’, ‘A warrior for gender equality’, and ‘Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court’s Feminist Icon, Is Dead at 87’ show just how much her lifelong activism meant to people all around the world.
Tanya is a Law student heading into the final year of her degree at the University of Manchester. She is interested in bringing attention to human rights issues arising from her Pro-Bono work at University (volunteering at the Legal Advice Centre and taking part in volunteering projects). Her main goal is to become a Barrister practising in either Criminal or Family Law.