A TRIBUTE To Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

We stand on the shoulders of giants. Although diminutive in stature and soft of voice, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s fierce intellect and devotion to justice made her a towering giant. She forged a personal and professional legacy of lasting societal impact. Since her passing on September 18, 2020, at the age of 87, she has been eulogized and lauded by innumerable dignitaries, scholars, judges, and lawyers. Hence, we are familiar with the broad points of her biography. She devoted her professional life to gender equality, for both men and women, as well as racial equality. As a lawyer, she participated in five landmark cases before the Supreme Court. During her tenure on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, she forged an enduring friendship with her colleague, Justice Antonin Scalia, which surmounted their ideological differences. She achieved her success in law school under unimaginable strain, propelled by her loving devotion to her husband, Marty. She graciously and cheekily accepted her iconic nickname in popular culture, The Notorious RBG. She bravely fought multiple bouts of cancer with inspiring tenacity.

In remembering and giving tribute to Justice Ginsburg, however, the full weight of her legacy cannot be measured merely by her impressive biography and legal accomplishments. Rather, her memory and impact must also account for how she made us feel. To quote another giant, poet Maya Angelou, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Across generations and areas of legal expertise, Justice Ginsburg made us all feel that equality was both our right and mantle, with her as our resilient champion and role model. A life and legacy so vibrant, vast, and dynamic as Justice Ginsburg’s requires the input of many perspectives, so I reached out to several prominent attorneys about Justice Ginsburg’s legacy and impact on them.

In response, City of Dayton Law Director Barbara Doseck pointed out, “You can’t dream to be what you don’t see. Justice Ginsburg provided hope to many women pursuing a career in law. She instilled necessary confidence in a judiciary that represented the people it serves. I will always admire her resilience, her intelligence, and devotion to the pursuit of justice.”

By The Honorable Mary Wiseman DBA Immediate Past President Montgomery Cty Ct of Common Pleas mary.wiseman@montcourt.oh.gov | 937.225.4384

Similarly, attorney Tamara Sack, noting Justice Ginsburg’s majority opinion in United States v. Virginia, 518 U.S. 515 (1996) striking down VMI’s males-only admission policy, said of Justice Ginsburg,

“For me, she epitomized what it means to have the courage of your convictions and the grace to state your position, free of emotion and bravado.”

Gretchen Treherne of Jackson Lewis also commented upon Justice Ginsburg as a multi-faceted role model, “She demonstrated that one can succeed in the challenging role of an attorney while also enjoying a fulfilling family life. She was undeniably a trailblazer not just for women in the legal profession, but for women in general. I also know men who admired her. I have been inspired by her and have felt tremendous gratitude toward her.”

Justice Ginsburg’s vision, keen intellect, poise, humility, and humor are what resonated most with Erin Rhinehart of Faruki+. Erin summarized her thoughts this way:

“Justice Ginsburg’s ability to see beyond the case in front of her; to see beyond the immediate loss; to see what the future could look like—indeed, should look like; and, how to lead the country down the right path—not with bombastic speech or actions, but with grace, poise, and precision. These are her qualities, her strengths, that will linger with me. These are the qualities I most admire and work tirelessly to emulate—only to fall short most days. But, each day offers a new opportunity to do better, try harder, and, in her words, ‘be a little deaf.’ Therefore, to honor her life, her achievements, we should all endeavor to do better, try harder, and ‘be a little deaf.’”

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Jane Lynch of Green & Green Lawyers reflected upon her experiences that at times mirrored those experienced, and fought against, by Justice Ginsburg:

“The year after I was born, RBG was one of eight women accepted to Harvard Law School. While there, she and the other women were chastised by the Dean for taking a man’s spot. After transferring to Columbia Law School and graduating first in her class, she had trouble landing a job commensurate with her qualifications, and when she did get a job, it was for less pay. In the late 70’s and early 80’s, I confronted these same issues, but her persistence and example gave me strength.

RBG sought equal rights not just as a judge, but also as a practitioner. She firmly believed that legislative changes for equality were as important as judicial recognition of that change. As a practitioner and volunteer lawyer for the ACLU, RBG helped pass the Pregnancy Discrimination Act to protect women from being fired because they were pregnant, helped pave the way for the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which allowed women to apply for a bank account, credit card or mortgage without a male co-signer, and in her last appearance before the Supreme Court as an ACLU lawyer, she argued against the systematic exclusion of women as jurors, paving the way for that change.

It takes a long time for equality to actually take hold, and these small victories are often later taken for granted. Twenty years after RBG entered Harvard, I was told by a male student I shouldn’t be in law school ‘because I was already married.’ I also have experienced the pain of less pay for the same work, and years ago I had to have a male co-signer for a credit card. But because RBG fought these fights from the late 50’s to her death, women became more equal. Not yet fully equal. Attacks on women’s equality still persist, but we are more equal because of RBG.”

Cheryll Bennett, Federal Public Defender, with workplace experiences similar to Jane’s, added that Justice Ginsburg’s legacy includes advocating for racial, as well as gender, diversity: “She was nothing short of an icon of women’s rights, but was also an advocate for racial minorities and immigrant groups. RBG did for women’s rights what Thurgood Marshall did for the African American community. Her message of perseverance against all odds have sustained many - including myself, at times when we have thought that our efforts have gone unnoticed or have had little impact on change. She began fighting for women and other disenfranchised groups from her earliest career (as in 1967, while teaching at Rutgers Law, she helped to integrate and establish a minority student program at what was then a primarily white, and all-male, school. Within a year, Rutgers began to develop a racially and gender diverse student body).

As a woman and a racial minority, I have had to endure disparaging remarks about my qualification to be in law school, to hold my current employment and leadership positions within several organizations. I have been maligned for speaking out against verbally abusive and sexually offensive conduct by males in the workplace; threatened with discipline by male superiors for standing up against discriminatory workplace policies, and watched male employees receive perks denied to female counterparts – all within our esteemed legal profession. While some may have resigned in the face of such adversity, RGB inspired me to stay the course and keep fighting – despite the odds. I fought when I was the only fighter; not just for myself, but like RGB, for the many women in our organization. She inspired me to keep trudging, to never be afraid to be the lone dissenter, and that progress, no matter how small, is still progress.” www.daybar.org

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Montgomery County Public Defender Kristine Comunale echoed Cheryll’s observation about Justice Ginsburg’s persistence and disciplined focus on incremental change to effect greater long-term progress. Kristine noted that Justice Ginsburg “understood that her endeavor for equal rights for women would be a process that would come one little step at a time.”

As to the monumental progress made by that incremental, arduous process, retired University of Dayton School of Law Professor Susan Wawrose framed that approach best when she said, “An open door is no small matter.” As she explained, “Even though there is still work to be done, I love that my daughter and young women of her generation were able to grow up with the expectation that they could follow their dreams, and that if they were qualified, they would have the right to participate. An open door is no small matter. I also love that studying, working, and playing side-by-side with equally qualified women is an expectation for my son. For many of these younger generations, the common images of what our world ‘should’ look like have changed as a result of her work.”

Professor Wawrose added,

“What really moves me most powerfully about Justice Ginsburg is the way she managed to combine extraordinary bravery with deep humanity. She took on powerful forces and did so with a quiet, matter-of-fact grace backed by steely fortitude. She modeled self-possession and respect for others. She spoke steadily, but firmly, and in a way that required others to slow down, to listen closely. Family and personal relationships seem to have been always a priority, even when her workload was, as it had to have been, crushing.”

Although we feel profound loss at the passing of Justice Ginsburg, we proudly stand on her shoulders to carry forth her vision of greater equality. Empowered by her victories, informed by her dissents, girded with her example of persistence, humility, poise, dignity, bravery, intellect, and human connection, thanks to her, we feel the most essential human emotion: hope, for a better, more just, future.