15 Things You Should Know About Ruth Bader Ginsburg
“I try to teach through my opinions, through my speeches, how wrong it is to judge people on the basis of what they look like, color of their skin, whether they are men or women.” — Ruth Bader Ginsburg, U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, despite the quiet tone of her voice, is a strong, steely advocate for human rights, especially those of women. This article discusses 15 things about this famous 85-year old Supreme Court justice, aka RBG, that are telling indicators of who is she and what influenced her. Here are just a few of them. To read the entire article, you can go to http://mentalfloss.com/article/76804/15-things-you-should-know-about-ruth-bader-ginsburg
1. Her Mother.
RBG regarded her mother as the most intelligent person she ever knew, and the one who encouraged RBG in her intellectual pursuits. Yet, RBG would never forget the sacrifice her mother made by giving up her dreams and going to work to help pay for her brother to attend school.
2. Life Challenges - Professional.
She experienced discrimination many times in her career. When she was pregnant with her daughter, she discovered that revealing her pregnancy resulted in the reduction of the civil service ranking for her job.
The dean of her law school at Harvard hosted a dinner for the 9 female students and asked them to each share how they could justify taking a spot that would otherwise have went to a man.
RBG graduated at the top of her class, but she had a difficult time finding a job. She did eventually get a job when one of her professors strongly persuaded a lower-ranking district court judge to hire her.
Asked when there will be enough women on the Court, RBG has consistently replied, “when there are nine …"
3. Life Challenges - Personal.
When her husband was diagnosed with cancer, not only did she work and take care of her young daughter, but she also attended her husband's law school classes to take notes for him. Throughout her career, her husband's cancer returned. On the day after he passed away in 2010, she returned to the court because it was what her husband wanted. As he said: "I think that the most important thing I have done is to enable Ruth to do what she has done."