Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Nortorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg focuses on Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second female justice to be appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States. The book portrays Ruth Bader Ginsburg (abbreviated RBG, and included in the title as a reference to the rapper Notorious B.I.G.) as a protagonist and champion for women's civil liberties.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1993 by then-President Bill Clinton, and served until her death on September 18, 2020, but her career began long earlier. She was praised as a self-described feminist and champion of equal rights, and was noted for her refusal to retire from the Court. Ginsburg was considered to have moderate ideas on politics when appointed, but later shifted to the left-wing of the Court.
Born in 1933, Ruth Bader Ginsburg grew up in Brooklyn, New York. As a child, her younger sister died unexpectedly, as did her mother before she graduated high school. Nevertheless, she was accepted into Cornell University, where earned her Bachelor's degree. She then enrolled into Harvard law school, and later switched to Columbia University to finish her law education. At the time, it was much rarer for women to be enrolled in such prestigious universities, an example of how, from an early age, RBG succeeded in pushing for equal rights for herself and all women.
After graduating from Columbia, Ginsburg became a law professor at the Rutgers and Columbia Law Schools. She stood out for being one of only a handful of women to teach law. In the 1970's, RBG was an active volunteer attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, and in the 1980's was appointed to the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia by Ronald Reagan after having established such a phenomenal reputation.
After being appointed to the Supreme Court, Ginsburg champion for civil liberties, especially for women, in cases such as Ledbetter v. Goodyear and United States v. Virginia. She was an advocate for abortion rights, but was against the Roe v. Wade decision, claiming that it halted a liberalization of abortion laws. As well as supporting women's rights, Ginsburg also stood up for minorities like Native Americans in the Supreme Court in cases like State v. A-1 Contractors.
Martin Ginsburg
Martin Ginsburg was the husband of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who provided much motivation to Justice Ginsburg over the years. The two married in 1954 and remained so until Mr. Ginsburg's death in 2010. Together, the couple had two children.
Mr. Ginsburg was also a lawyer like his wife, but specialized in cases dealing with taxes. He from Harvard Law School in 1958, and taught law at Georgetown University.
Antonin Scalia
One of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's closest friends on the Court, Antonin Scalia was a conservative judge who was known for his majority opinions in such cases as District of Columbia v. Heller. Posthumously, Scalia was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2018. Scalia's friendship with Ginsburg is an example of cooperation and compromise between two conflicting ideologies.
