Confidence in your opinion
When asked about how many women she would like on the Supreme Court, Ruth Bader Ginsburg famously said six; when asked if that was too many, she responded “there have been six men, so why not six women as well?
Ruth Bader Ginsburg is only the second women on the Supreme Court; she is currently viewed as a liberal. She is my inspiration because of her staunch and passionate legal advocation for women’s rights. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was one of the first justices on the Supreme Court to try and advance issues of women’s rights and feminism as constitutional principles.
Today, issues of female empowerment and equality are topics which are discussed on various platforms, whether that be social media, television, or radio. They are socially and culturally accepted issues. However, when Ruth Bader Ginsburg was first working to become a lawyer, discrimination due to sex was quite common. Ginsberg was turned down by a Supreme Court Justice solely because of her gender. Rather than be dissuaded, she used this experience as motivation. Ginsburg co-founded the first law journal to focus exclusively on women’s rights, created the Women’s Rights Project at the ACLU, and played a role in extending the protections of the Equal Protection Clause to women for the first time.
Ginsburg’s role in shaping equal protection can only be described as pioneering. Before Ginsburg, equal protection did not apply to women. This allowed women to be discriminated against in various forms, whether it be in school or in the workplace. Today, equal protection has been extended to women, and will soon possibilty be extended to people of different sexual orientation as well.
I admire Ginsburg because of her passion and her fearlessness. In a profession dominated by men, Ginsburg was not afraid to voice her opinion and be controversial; she was not afraid of being criticized because she could back up her opinions with fact and logic. I admire her tenacity and also her energy. Ginsburg’s ability to change her mind about facts before her and consider circumstances before making a decision is something I also admire, and aspire to in my own life. Ginsburg, unlike Scalia, adheres to the judicial philosophy of purposivism; she believes that an individuals own views, as well as outside information such as judicial intent or consideration of the common good, can play a role in how a judge decides a case. Her purposivist viewpoints have allowed for some very interesting legal dialouge about the nature of rights and even the nature of our own constitituion. For example, Ginsburg has stated that the American constitution is too stagnant, and that it should be more like South Africa’s constitution, which has many positive rights.
What amazes me about Ginsburg is her commitment to her values; Ginsburg has always been true to what she believes is right. She backs up her opinions with fact, logic, and morality, but at the core of it her beliefs stem from her confidence in her opinions. I think this is inspirational and admirable, and one day I hope to be as knowledgable as Ginsburg in a field, and use my knowledge to create change for the better in other people’s lives.
