Oral history interview with Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 2004
Abstract
Born Brooklyn, New York; family: father-fur manufacturer, immigration to U.S. at thirteen, mother-homemaker, first generation citizen; youth in Brooklyn: relationship between ethnic groups, entertainment and love for opera; Cornell University (1950-1954): McCarthyism and budding interest in law, party reputation of school vs. quest for academic excellence, Christian-Jewish segregation, meeting husb and and his love of her intellect, B.A. Government; marriage (1954): influence on law school life, honeymoon, life at Fort Sill, Oklahoma and treatment of indigenous people, birth of children, generosity of in-laws; Harvard Law School (1956-1958): women and inequalities, husband's cancer, work on Harvard Law Review, honorary societies, social life, memorable professors; Columbia University Law School (1958-1959): reasons for transfer, women and employment prospects; civil rights in 1950s-1960s: Brown v. Board of Education, feminism; clerkship (1959-1961): relationship with Edmund L. Palmieri, nature of federal courts, interesting cases, nature of clerkships; Columbia Law School Project on International Procedure: Research Associate (1961-1962), Assistant Director (1963), value of comparative perspective in legal decision-making, Sweden and feminism; Civil Procedure in Sweden (1965); Rutgers University School of Law Professor (1963-1972): first on faculty to have interest in comparative law, internal conflicts, traditional vs. empirical research, tenure, work for New Jersey Civil Liberties Union: teachers, faculty workers, students; American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU]: Women’s Rights Project Founder and Counsel (1972-1980), General Counsel (1973-1980), first cases, human rights vs. women's rights; Columbia Law School Professor (1972-1980): differences from Rutgers, women’s rights work on campus, differentiation of "man" and "woman" harmful to "humans"; United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia (1980-1993): appointment, complications of administrative law, friendships across party lines, comparisons to teaching, court operations, comparisons to Supreme Court, woman’s perspective, adjustment from New York to D.C.; United States Supreme Court, starting in 1993: announcement of nomination, Rose Garden speech, confirmation preparation and hearings; Susan Struck v. Secretary of Defense as more complete understanding of argument for woman’s right to choose than Roe v. Wade
Women judges; Women--Legal status, laws, etc.--United States; Women's rights; Judicial process; Law--Study and teaching--United States; Law clerks--United States; Ginsburg, Ruth Bader; Columbia University. School of Law Alumni and alumnae; United States. Supreme Court; United States. Court of Appeals (District of Columbia Circuit); American Civil Liberties Union
Format
oral histories
Genre
Interviews
Date
2004
Physical Description
141 pages
Note (Biographical)
Associate Justice, United States Supreme Court
Note
Interviewed by Ronald J. Grele on August 17, August 18, and August 19 2004