Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who spoke Monday at the School of Law, paved the way for equal rights for women under the law.
At 18, the jury duty notices start to accumulate—everyone has to serve eventually. But women used to be exempt from attending, and all-male juries decided the fate of millions.
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who spoke Monday at the School of Law, paved the way for equal rights for women under the law. “The notion that being a full citizen includes obligations as well as rights was something that was very strange,” she said.
Ginsburg’s public interview with Walter Dellinger, Douglas B. Maggs Professor of Law, was a personal narrative that illuminated the history of gender discrimination and women and the law.
“My mother told me two things constantly,” Ginsburg said. “One was to be a lady and the other was to be independent, and the law was something most unusual for those times because for most girls growing up in the ’40s, the most important degree was not your B.A. but your M.R.S.”
Dellinger led the interview with chronological questions, starting with Ginsburg’s childhood and leading up to her current seat on the Supreme Court. But Ginsburg connected every answer back to her crusade for gender equality. From surviving the Depression to being an unemployed Cornell Law School graduate, Ginsburg inserted her reserved humor and wit.
Ginsburg, 71, entered the world of law when the profession did not welcome women. Although she finished law school at the top of her class, firms did not want or think they needed a woman, she said. When Ginsburg was offered a teaching position—one of her life goals—fewer than 20 women taught at law schools in the country. When former President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the U.S. Court of Appeals in 1980 she was one of 11 women in the system.
Ginsburg also addressed in detail the camaraderie among the Supreme Court Justices. “The relationships among justices is very close,” she said. “We know that we pride the institutions in which we work and know it will suffer if we don’t get along.”
From celebrating her three-year-old granddaughter’s birthday with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to showing their support during her struggle with rectal cancer, Ginsburg praised the justices’ general affection for each other.
As for the gossip about Justice Antonin Scalia’s unconventional comments outside of the courtroom, Ginsburg refuses to contribute. “I hope you notice that at least two of the judges—I’d say three—do not engage in that kind of rhetoric,” she said, naming herself as one.
Still, for any justice, Supreme Court decisions can be difficult and the decisions often elusive to outsiders. “Sometimes you see that you are in the woods and you don’t see a way out,” Ginsburg said. “The only way you can get out is by continuing to read on, and then one day you begin to see a clearing. I had that experience just last night—that’s why I’m so upbeat today. It took—I don’t know how many days.”
Duke law students planned to storm the doors at the chance to witness the one-on-one interview, for most a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Students camped out in the hallways starting at 9:30 a.m. for the noon presentation, armed with laptops for work and Constitutional law books to be signed.
Although “she was not the loudest speaker in the room,” Scott Edson, a third-year Duke law student, said Ginsburg’s speech hit home. Her words of wisdom for the budding lawyers included focusing on accuracy in advocacy, honing oral argument and writing skills and being selfless. “Do something other than just your paid work,” Ginsburg said. “You will get a satisfaction out of doing something to give back to the community.”
The School of Law’s “Great Lives in the Law” series launched in April 2002 and has featured Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of History John Hope Franklin, among others.
Ginsburg was appointed to the Supreme Court by former President Bill Clinton Aug. 19, 1993. She studied at Harvard Law School and graduated from Columbia Law School in 1959. She served as a professor of law at Rutgers University School of Law and on the faculty at Columbia Law School. She served as general counsel to the American Civil Liberties Union from 1973 to 1980 and on the ACLU’s National Board of Directors from 1974 to 1980. In 1971, she was instrumental in launching the Women’s Rights project of the ACLU.
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