Who was Ruth Bader Ginsburg? You’ve probably heard her name being tossed around due to her recent passing, but do you know who she was and what she did for the United States in the 13 years she was on the Supreme Court? 

Before her time serving as a Supreme Court member, Ginsburg was a strong advocate for gender equality and even served as the Director of the Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. Even before her time on the U.S. Supreme Court, Ginsburg already argued six cases on gender equality through the ACLU. 

Another fun fact is that she was a believer that the law should be gender-blind, and everyone is granted equal rights. For example, she won a case involving part of the Social Security Act which favored women over men due to the fact it granted benefits to widows but not widowers.

Ginsburg attended Cornell University and later Harvard Law with her husband, Martin. Ginsburg did not have the perfect marriage, and after her first child was born, named Jane, Martin was drafted into the military. 

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was appointed onto the U.S. Court of Appeals in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter before she was appointed by President Bill Clinton to be in the U.S. Supreme Court in 1993. Ginsburg then became the Supreme Court’s second female justice and the first Jewish female justice. 

Another one of her cases that she won was in 1996 when she wrote the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Virginia where it was stated that the Virginia Military Institute couldn’t refuse to admit women

In later years, Ginsburg won the American Bar Association’s Thurgood Marshall Award in 1999 for her efforts to gender equality and civil rights.

Sadly on Sept. 18, Ruth Bader Ginsburg died from metastatic pancreas cancer after serving for 27 on the Supreme Court. Ginsburg might be gone but her legacy lives on.

Source: History.com Editors, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 21 Sept. 2020, https://www.history.com/topics/womens-history/ruth-bader-ginsburg