News

Actions

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Fast Facts

Posted at 4:22 PM, Dec 24, 2018
and last updated 2019-01-03 15:52:23-05

Here is a look at the life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, US Supreme Court Justice.

Personal:
Birth date: March 15, 1933

Birth place: Brooklyn, New York

Birth name: Joan Ruth Bader

Father: Nathan Bader, merchant

Mother: Celia (Amster) Bader

Marriage: Martin David Ginsburg (June 23, 1954-June 27, 2010, his death)

Children: Jane Carol and James Steven

Education: Cornell University, B.A., 1954; Harvard Law School, 1956-1958; Kent scholar, Columbia Law School, LL.B., 1959

Religion: Jewish

Other Facts:
Served on the DC federal appeals court with Justice Clarence Thomas.

Launched American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Women’s Rights Project.

Named one of Forbes Magazine’s 100 Most Powerful Women from 2004 through 2011.

Nominated by President Bill Clinton in 1993.

Timeline:
1959-1961 – Law clerk to a judge in the US District Court, Southern District of New York.

1961-1963 Research Associate and Associate Director, Project of International Procedure at Columbia Law School.

1963-1972 Professor at Rutgers University School of Law.

1972-1980Professor at Columbia University School of Law; the first woman to be hired with tenure at Columbia University School of Law.

1973-1980 General Counsel for the ACLU.

1977-1978 Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, California.

1980-1993 – Judge of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

August 10, 1993Is sworn in as Supreme Court Justice filling the seat held by Justice Byron White.

September 1999 Has successful surgery for colon cancer.

October 1999-June 2000 – Undergoes chemotherapy for colon cancer following the surgery.

December 12, 2000 – Is one of the four dissenting votes in Bush V. Gorewhich resolves the disputed 2000 Presidential election in favor of Texas Governor George W. Bush.

October 5, 2002 – Is inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.

January 26, 2007 In a speech at Suffolk Law School, she says she dislikes being the only woman on the Supreme Court. Ginsburg says she has disagreed with former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor “on a lot of important questions, but we have had the experience of growing up women and we have certain sensitivities that our male colleagues lack.”

February 5-13, 2009Has surgery and treatment for early stages of pancreatic cancer.

March 17, 2009It is announced that Ginsburg will be undergoing chemotherapy to treat her pancreatic cancer.

August 9, 2010Receives the American Bar Association’s highest honor, the ABA medal.

August 31, 2013 – Becomes the first Supreme Court justice to officiate at a same-sex marriage ceremony.

November 26, 2014 – Undergoes a heart procedure to have a stent placed in her right coronary artery.

February 20, 2016 – Attends the funeral of her High Court colleague, Justice Antonin Scalia at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. Ginsburg was a longtime family friend of Justice Scalia, he once said they were an “odd couple” and he counted her as his “best buddy” on the bench.

July 11, 2016 – Criticizes Donald Trump, calling the presumptive Republican presidential nominee a “faker.” A few days later, she issues an apology and says the remarks were inappropriate for a judge to make.

January 2018 – Indicates, by thehiring of law clerks for at least two more terms, the intention to stay on the Supreme Court bench at least until 2020.

July 29, 2018 – During a speaking appearance, Ginsburg says she plans to stay on the Supreme Court for “at least five more years.”

November 8, 2018 – Ginsburg is admitted to George Washington University for observation following a fall in her Supreme Court office that fractured three ribs. She is released from the hospital the following day.

December 21, 2018 – The Supreme Court announces Ginsburg had two cancerous nodules removed from her left lung at a New York hospital.There is no evidence of any remaining disease, says a court spokesperson, nor is there evidence of disease elsewhere in the body.