Ruth Bader Ginsburg: a life

Description

"The life and legal career of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg"--;"The first full life--private, public, legal, philosophical--of the 107th Supreme Court Justice, one of the most profound and profoundly transformative legal minds of our time; a book fifteen years in work, written with the cooperation of Ruth Bader Ginsburg herself and based on many interviews with the Justice, her husband, her children, her friends, and associates. In this large, comprehensive, revelatory biography, Jane De Hart explores the central experiences that crucially shaped Ginsburg's passion for justice, her advocacy for gender equality, her meticulous jurisprudence: her desire to make We the People more united and our union more perfect. At the heart of her story and abiding beliefs--her Jewish background. Tikkun Olam, the Hebrew injunction to "repair the world," with its profound meaning for a young girl who grew up during the Holocaust and World War II. We see the influence of her mother, Celia Amster Bader, whose intellect inspired her daughter's feminism, insisting that Ruth become independent, as she witnessed her mother coping with terminal cervical cancer (Celia died the day before Ruth, at 17, graduated from high school). From Ruth's days as a baton twirler at Brooklyn's James Madison High School, to Cornell University, Harvard and Columbia Law School (first in her class), to being a law professor at Rutgers University (one of the few women in the field and fighting pay discrimination), hiding her second pregnancy so as not to risk losing her job; founding the Women's Rights Law Reporter, writing the brief for the first case that persuaded the Supreme Court to strike down a sex-discriminatory state law, then at Columbia (the law school's first tenured female professor); becoming the director of the women's rights project of the ACLU, persuading the Supreme Court in a series of decisions to ban laws that denied women full citizenship status with men. Her years on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, deciding cases the way she played golf, as she, left-handed, played with right-handed clubs--aiming left, swinging right, hitting down the middle. Her years on the Supreme Court. A pioneering life and legal career whose profound mark on American jurisprudence, on American society, on our American character and spirit, will reverberate deep into the twenty-first century and beyond"--;An examination of the private, public, legal, and philosophical life of one of the most profound and profoundly transformative legal minds of our time. De Hart explores the central experiences that crucially shaped Ruth Bader Ginsburg's passion for justice, her advocacy for gender equality, her meticulous jurisprudence: her desire to make We the People more united and our union more perfect. At the heart of her story we see the influence of her Jewish background; the influence of her mother, Celia Amster Bader, whose intellect inspired her daughter's feminism; her husband, Marty Ginsburg, and his battle with cancer; her years with the ACLU Women's Rights Project, on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, and her crucial years on the Supreme Court. -- adapted from publisher info. Preface : An American icon -- Part I. Becoming Ruth. Celia's daughter Cornell and Marty Learning the law on male turf Sailing in "uncharted waters" The making of a feminist advocate Seizing the moment -- Part II. Mounting a campaign. A first breakthrough Setting up shop and strategy -- Part III. Learning under fire. "The case that got away" A "near great leap forward" Coping with a setback -- Part IV. Moving forward. Getting back on track Moving forward on shifting political ground -- Part V. Becoming judge and justice. An unexpected cliff-hanger The 107th justice Mother of the regiment "I cannot agree" -- Part VI. Standing firm. Persevering in hard times Losing Marty and leading the minority Race matters The right thing to do A hobbled court An election and a presidency like no other -- Epilogue : Legacy.