Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg A Champion of Gender Equality By Harry L. Munsinger, J.D., Ph.D.
J
oan Ruth Bader was born March 15, 1933, in Brooklyn, New York, into a Jewish family. Her religious beliefs remained a fundamental part of her identity. Fighting gender discrimination against both women and men would later become a hallmark of her career. Her mother was diagnosed with cancer when Ruth entered James Madison High School, and died just before Ruth graduated. Ruth’s mother had told her to be independent, something few girls were encouraged to do at that time. Ruth was offered a scholarship to attend Cornell
University, where she met her future husband, Martin Ginsburg. Ruth was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the top female student in her class. She studied hard and made excellent grades. Martin, an Officer in the Army Reserves, was called to active duty and the Ginsburgs spent two years in Oklahoma, where they welcomed their first child, Jane. After Martin completed his active duty service, the family moved to Boston. Martin returned to Harvard Law School, now joined by Ruth a year behind him. Ruth served on the Harvard Law Review, but she transferred
to Columbia Law School during her final year to be with Martin, when he took a job with a New York firm. Ruth graduated at the top of her class, but no law firm would hire her because she was a mother. Gerald Gunther, a constitutional law professor at Columbia, pressured Judge Edmund Palmieri of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York to offer the young Ruth Bader Ginsburg a clerkship in 1959. After the clerkship, Ginsburg worked as associate director of Columbia Law School’s Project on International Procedures, and she was invited
September–October 2021
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San Antonio Lawyer® 19
