Ruth Bader Ginsburg began writing at an early age, with the first piece in this collection being published in her school newspaper when she was barely thirteen years old. Her childhood experiences helped shape the writer, person, and judge she went on to become.
The Introduction to Part One sets up the premise for the whole enterprise. This volume is literally a collection of the words of legendary Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg pretty much since she began first putting words to paper. It is a book covering the gamut chronologically, historically, thematically, educationally, and just about any other word ending in -ally one can imagine. As such, this is a book that serves not just the purpose of allowing readers to get to know Ginsburg in a way that few public figures are ever known, but also as an instructive ideal for young ambitious people who have set their own dreams at lofty heights. Reveal to them the power and value of holding onto things they write as children, teens and young adults. This is an especially valuable thing to learn in today’s society which is far more disposable than the one in which so much of what is in this book was composed.
I have been looking forward to tonight with great joy, for our speaker, Gloria Steinem, is among humans, the least self-regarding, the most caring and giving. I vividly remember the day I opened New York magazine and found the first issue of Ms. magazine inside. Gloria’s bright mind, brave heart, and unflagging energy inspired that venture and so much else that, borrowing words from her friend Marlo Thomas, freed girls and boys to be you and me.
In 2020, the final year of her long, exhaustively powerful life, a TV miniseries aired titled Mrs. America aired which told the story of efforts to pass the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970’s against a concerted opposition led in party by Phyllis Schlafly. One of the major characters of the series as Gloria Steinem and in one episode there was an appearance by a minor character: a youngish, dark-haired woman representing the ACLU Women’s Rights Project. That character turns out to be Ruth Bader Ginsburg in what is surely one of the most memorable cameo appearances by a future Supreme Court Justice in a television dramatization of all time. This quote is the opening paragraph to speech that Ginsburg delivered before the New York City Bar Association in 2015.
Some women, at least, can meet the physical standards VMI imposes on men, are capable of all the activities required of VMI cadets, prefer VMI’s methodology over VWIL’s, could be educated using VMI’s methodology, and would want to attend VMI if they had the chance.
By near-universal agreement, the Supreme Court decision which most essentially defines Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s tenure on the bench is officially known as United States v. Virginia, No. 94–1941. It is more familiarly known as “the VMI decision.” The decision is a landmark in gender equity, forcing Virginia Military Institute top open to female applicants. What had been a male-only domain since 1839 enrolled its first-ever female cadets in 1997 as a result of this decision and effectively changed the entire course of American military school history. For those still mired in confusion about the vitriol spewed toward Ginsburg in the days following her death, this decision is also why so many right-wing conservatives ideologues viewed Ginsburg as not much better than the devil incarnate as, in their view, it was a decision not about gender equality, but about subverting the patriarchal status quo established as a result of thousands of years of unchallenged authority. This quote is extracted from the Bench Announcement of the decision, June 26, 1996.
