Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second female associate justice of the Supreme Court, tragically passed away on September 18, 2020. After advocating women’s rights for many years, Ms. Ginsburg passed away due to pancreas cancer. However, though she may not be alive, her memories and service proceed her.
Formerly known as Joan Bader Ginsburg, Ms. Ginsburg was born on March 15, 1933. She was ethnically Jewish and was raised in a less wealthy home. She finished high school with a heartbreaking finish, her mother passing away due to cancer just a day before she could graduate. She always encouraged Ms. Ginsburg and taught her the importance of education, even as a young child. Years later, when Ms. Ginsburg was appointed as a Supreme Court Justice, she honored her mother in the speech, hoping she could inspire other women just as her mother did. For college, Ms. Ginsburg attended Cornell University and there she found her husband, Martin Ginsburg. She once stated, “He was the only boy I ever met who cared that I had a brain.” She married him in her third year and finished school with the highest ranking.
The news source, HISTORY, stated, “The early years of their marriage were challenging, as their first child, Jane, was born shortly after Martin was drafted into the military in 1954. He served for two years and, after his discharge, the couple returned to Harvard where Ginsburg also enrolled.” In this school, there were only eight women in the entire class of men. However, amidst the lack of female representation of her schooling, she did exceptionally well and achieved high marks. She then attended the prestigious Columbia University, thus attending the same school as her husband and again, did exceptionally well as the highest rank. After all of her schooling, she then became a professor at Rutgers University Law School and Columbia. The New York Times wrote, “She was the first woman to receive tenure on the faculty of Columbia Law School.”
She stood up for women’s rights in multiple cases in her role as director of the Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. She made the case that it is important not to discriminate based on gender, not just race. In 1993, Ms. Ginsburg was chosen to be the second female Supreme Court justice. She helped push that the military institute would accept women. She paved the way for women equality for many, and her actions incredibly bettered the rights of all females.
Things weren’t always perfect, however. She encountered sexism and unfair treatment because she was a woman. Additionally, in 2010, her husband sadly passed away as well. He left her a note, prior to his death, that read, “My dearest Ruth, You are the only person I have loved in my life, setting aside, a bit, parents and kids and their kids, and I have admired and loved you almost since the day we first met at Cornell. What a treat it has been to watch you progress to the very top of the legal world!!” They loved each other dearly, and this was a terribly heartbreaking time for Ms. Ginsburg.
However, amidst this pain, Ms. Ginsburg did not stop pushing for women’s equality and fairness. She lived her life fighting for rights and was strong in education. She didn’t allow the world to tell her what being a woman means. She was valiant and despite anyone’s political beliefs, she fought for what she saw was right and made a difference in many people’s lives. Now that Ms. Ginsburg has passed, we know her memories and pursuit for justice will live on for generations to come.