by JENNA SERVIZZI December 13, 2020 - A tribute to Supreme Court Justice and hero Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
R.B.G: A Legacy
2020 has been a rollercoaster. We had all hoped that the start of this new decade would mean great things. We were wrong. From a global pandemic to murder hornets to a fight for social justice and equality that has gone on for far too long, it seemed like we had seen it all, and things couldn’t get any worse. But on September 18th, the nation lost one of its most prominent and influential leaders, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
To many, Justice Ginsburg - or Notorious R.B.G, a nickname she was given with fondness and admiration - was a symbol of equality and hope. She stood for equal rights for women, for the black community, for the LGBTQ+ community, and so many more. R.B.G was a pillar of strength, a pillar that held up the hopes and aspirations of countless dreamers. She stood tall in the face of adversity because she believed that everyone was deserving of love, respect and rights. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a bold woman who did not stay silent about what she believed. From her start at Harvard Law as one of the first women admitted, she did not give up when the people around her told her she couldn’t graduate from law school and become a practicing lawyer. Notorious R.B.G changed the game. Even now, after so much time has passed since her passing her life and her legacy live on and continue to inspire us all.
R.B.G: A Life
A comprehensive timeline of some of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s greatest moments. To understand the legacy this beloved woman left behind her, we must acknowledge some of her career’s most defining moments.
March 15, 1933 → Joan Ruth Bader is born in Brooklyn, New York.
June 23, 1954 → Ruth Bader marries Martin Ginsburg, who she called “the only young man I dated who cared that I had a brain,” the same year she graduates from Cornell University.
1956 - 1958 → Ginsburg attends Harvard Law School and was one of the first women to do so.
1959 → Ginsburg is named a Kent Scholar at Columbia Law School.
1963 - 1972 → R.B.G is a professor at Rutgers University School of Law.
1972 - 1980 → R.B.G. becomes the first woman to receive tenure at Columbia University Law School.
1980 - 1993 → R.B.G serves as the Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Colombia Circuit.
August 10, 1993 → R.B.G. is sworn into the Supreme Court following her nomination by former President Bill Clinton. She was the second woman to sit on the bench.
1996 → Justice Ginsburg writes the majority opinion in United States v. Virginia challenging the establishment of a separate military academy for women; the case became a milestone moment for women’s rights.
1999 → R.B.G rules in favor of the protection of the rights of people with disabilities in the workplace in Olmstead v. L.C.
2000 → Justice Ginsburg dissents in the case of Bush v. Gore and George W. Bush becomes President of the United States.
October 5, 2002 → Ginsburg becomes a member of the National Women’s Hall of Fame.
2004 → Ruth Bader Ginsberg is listed as one of Forbes Magazine’s 100 Most Powerful Women, she would remain on this list until 2011.
August 9, 2010 → Justice Ginsburg receives the ABA Medal, the highest honor of the American Bar Association.
August 31, 2013 → Ginsburg officiates the wedding of a same-sex couple, becoming the first Supreme Court Justice to do so.
2015 → Justice Ginsburg votes for legalizing same-sex marriage in all 50 states in Obergefell v. Hodges.
October 23, 2019 → R.B.G. is announced as the winner of the Berggruen Prize for Philosophy & Culture as a result of her contributions to the fight for social justice and equality.
September 18, 2020 → Justice Ginsburg dies at the age of 87.
Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time - Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933 - 2020)
