Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Life to Remember

Unfortunately, a month ago a woman who has broken many barriers to get to the future we have today has died. Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away on September 18, 2020, due to pancreatic cancer. She was a legend who the youth of today will never forget.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG) was a Supreme Court Justice who changed the way many see the world today. She has changed the lives of so many, even the people who go to school at AHS. “She was the second woman, after Justice Sandra Day O’Connor (appointed in 1981) to be named to the court. She was the first Jew appointed to the court since Abe Fortas was nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965” (Patrick). RBG was born in 1933 in Brooklyn, New York. She started her career by going to law school at Cornell University and Harvard University, then continuing by teaching at Rutgers University and Colombia University. RBG was extremely good in interpreting constitutional law and serving justice. “In nominating Judge Ginsburg for the Supreme Court, President Clinton recognized her outstanding contributions to the development of constitutional law and the rights of women” (Patrick). She was different, a feminist icon who believed in gay rights and the separation of church and state. “The Ginsburg personality is an unusual blend of right and light, and tradition and revolution” (Von Drehle). RBG paved the road for the future of so many who were seen as less than. Here at AHS, there are a lot of people who are seen as different, but thanks to RBG we are a couple of steps closer to being equal.

In her twenty-seven years as a Supreme Court Justice, RBG made lots of changes for America’s society. “Ruth Ginsburg chipped at the edges of convention in a time when the edges were beginning to crumble. Eventually, she broke through the barrier, and a shaft of radical light fell into her familiar world” (Von Drehle). “She wrote several major decisions, including a 1996 ruling in U.S. vs. Virginia that opened the doors of Virginia Military Institute to women and struck down discriminatory admissions policies of state-run schools. She supported abortion rights, gay rights, affirmative action, and the strict separation of church and state” (Savage). Everyone, especially the youth of today’s society, need to be grateful for what she did. “She became her own sort of revolutionary: believing so much in traditions that she wanted to open them up, allowing men into the roles of women, and women into the roles of men” (Von Drehle). Because of her beliefs, men and women in our school and in the USA are nearly equal.

Justice Ginsburg is notorious for fighting for women’s rights and the first amendment rights to freedom of expression (Patrick). Freedom of expression is definitely something that we take for granted here in the USA. Ginsburg was an icon who many young men and women looked up to and who counted on her for change. “Well into her 80’s, Ginsburg was surprised and delighted to discover she had become a celebrity, particularly among a new generation of women. Her appearances at universities and law schools drew large adoring crowds, and her ace adorned with a crown was featured on T-shirts and coffee mugs. She was the subject of several films, including “RBG”, a documentary” (Savage). Sadly, she was diagnosed with cancer in 1999 and fought for a long time before it took control of her. “Ginsburg battled cancer for more than a decade. She was successfully treated for cancer of the colon, pancreas and lung, but had a recurrence of pancreatic cancer in the spring” (Savage). Pancreatic cancer took her from the world a month ago in her house in Washington DC when she was only 87 years old.

RBG left a legacy the people of the United States will never forget. Here at AHS we should respect her memory and keep fighting for equality and keep fighting for our right to express ourselves. 

Works Cited

Savage, David G. “Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 1933-2020.” LosAngelesTimes, 19 September 2020. sirsissuesresearcher https:explore.proquest.com/sirsissuesresearcher/document/2444438 677?accountid=67933. Accessed 13 Oct 2020.

Patrick, John J. “Ginsburg, Ruth Bader.” 2001. sirsissuesresearcher, https://explore.proquest.com /sirsissuesresearcher/document/2264372707?accountid=67933. Accessed 13 Oct 2020

Von Drehle, David “Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Her Life and Her Law.” Washington Post, 18 Jul 1993. sirsissuesresearcher, https://explore.proguest.com/sirsissuesresearcher/document/2 263014162?accountid=67933. Accessed 13 Oct 2020.