Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is turning 83 on March 15. To commemorate the big day, why not revisit some of her best quotes and words of wisdom?
Fans of the Notorious RBG will soon be able to read a wide range of her influential work -- last week, Simon & Schuster announced that it is publishing a collection of Ginsburg's writings and speeches, titled My Own Words.
The book, due for release in January, will cover her entire tenure on the high court, including her fight for gender equality, abortion access and voting rights.
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We hope the Notorious RBG is celebrating her birthday in style!
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On women serving on the Supreme Court:"People ask me sometimes... When will there be enough women on the Court? And my answer is: When there are nine."
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On perceptions of gender balance:“So now the perception is, yes, women are here to stay. And when I’m sometimes asked when will there be enough [women on the Supreme Court]? And I say when there are nine, people are shocked. But there’d been nine men, and nobody’s ever raised a question about that.”
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On the Notorious RBG meme, parodying the name of rapper Notorious BIG:"I think a law clerk told me about this Tumblr and also explained to me what Notorious RBG was a parody on. And now my grandchildren love it and I try to keep abreast of the latest that’s on the Tumblr. … [I]n fact I think I gave you a Notorious RBG [T-shirts]. I have quite a large supply."
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On Supreme Court dissents:"Dissents speak to a future age. It's not simply to say, 'My colleagues are wrong and I would do it this way.' But the greatest dissents do become court opinions and gradually over time their views become the dominant view. So that's the dissenter's hope: that they are writing not for today but for tomorrow."
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On the gay rights movement:“In recent years, people have said, ‘This is the way I am.’ And others looked around, and we discovered it’s our next-door neighbor -- we’re very fond of them or it’s our child’s best friend, or even our child. I think that as more and more people came out [as gay] and said that ‘this is who I am,’ the rest of us recognized that they are one of us.”
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On social change for women:"The women of my generation and my daughter’s generation, they were very active in moving along the social change that would result in equal citizenship stature for men and women. One thing that concerns me is that today’s young women don’t seem to care that we have a fundamental instrument of government that makes no express statement about the equal citizenship stature of men and women. They know there are no closed doors anymore, and they may take for granted the rights that they have."
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On women's liberation:"It is not women's liberation, it is women's and men's liberation."
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On the evolution of legal opinions:"Justices continue to think and can change. They have wives. They have daughters. By the way, I think daughters can change the perception of their fathers. I am ever hopeful that if the Court has a blind spot today, its eyes will be open tomorrow."
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Explaining why she fell asleep at the 2015 State of the Union: "I vowed this year just sparkling water -- stay away from the wine -- but the dinner was so delicious it needed wine."
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On major portions of the Voting Rights Act being getting overturned by the Supreme Court in 2013:"Throwing out [the Voting Rights Act] when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet."
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On trying to have it all in life:"Who -- man or woman -- has it all, all at once? Over my lifespan I think I have had it all. But in different periods of time, things were rough. And if you have a caring life partner, you help the other person when that person needs it."
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On women's equality:"Women will only have true equality when men share with them the responsibility of bringing up the next generation."
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On having children:"The decision of whether or not to bear a child is central to a woman's life, her well-being, and her dignity."
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On her dream job:"People ask me, 'If you could be whatever you wanted to be, what would you be?' My first answer is not 'a great lawyer.' It is, 'I would be a great diva.' But I totally lacked that talent, so the next best thing is the law."
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On feminism:"Feminism … I think the simplest explanation, and one that captures the idea, is a song that Marlo Thomas sang, 'Free to be You and Me.' Free to be, if you were a girl -- doctor, lawyer, Indian chief. Anything you want to be. And if you’re a boy, and you like teaching, you like nursing, you would like to have a doll, that’s OK too. That notion that we should each be free to develop our own talents, whatever they may be, and not be held back by artificial barriers -- manmade barriers, certainly not heaven sent."
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On marriage:"In every good marriage, it pays sometimes to be a little deaf."
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On a 2014 Supreme Court decision ruling that businesses such as Hobby Lobby have the right to withhold birth control from their employees' health insurance:"I should emphasize that none of us questioned the genuineness of the Hobby Lobby owners’ belief. That was a given. But no one who is in business for profit can foist his or her beliefs on a workforce that includes many people who do not share those beliefs."
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On Citizens United and campaign finance:"If there was one decision I would overrule, it would be Citizens United. I think the notion that we have all the democracy that money can buy strays so far from what our democracy is supposed to be. So that’s number one on my list."
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On same-sex marriage:"All of the incentives, all of the benefits that marriage affords would still be available. So you're not taking away anything from heterosexual couples. They would have the very same incentive to marry, all the benefits that come with marriage that they do now."
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On generational differences:“My mother told me two things constantly. One was to be a lady, and the other was to be independent. The study of law was unusual for women of my generation. For most girls growing up in the ’40s, the most important degree was not your B.A., but your M.R.S.”
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On her Supreme Court colleague and frequent ideological opponent Antonin Scalia:"So there we are on a very elegant elephant. My feminist friends say, ‘Why are you riding on the back of the elephant? and I said, ‘Because of the distribution of weight, we needed to have Scalia in the front.’”
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