Mad Props to the Notorious RBG
Around the world, women are contributing to their families, communities, and economies in incredible ways. Often, they do so without the recognition they deserve. This International Women’s Day, Axiom is celebrating by giving some props where props is due.
During a time where few of us trust our government anymore, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg stands out as a beacon of integrity. Justice Ginsburg is a brilliant legal scholar who earned her place on the United States Supreme Court after spending decades fighting the institutionalized gender discrimination that worked to keep her from getting there. This career has culminated in Justice Ginsburg becoming both a leader in American juris prudence and a pop culture icon that women and girls will be admiring for generations.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg: the Notorious RBG
New documentaries are celebrating Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s personal achievements and legal legacy, and the ceiling-shattering Supreme Court Justice has recently become known by her adoring admirers as the “Notorious RBG” — a well-deserved moniker for a women who has always been ready to lay down knowledge from the bench and throw down in a court of law. Legal O.G. and straight-up role model for girls and women everywhere, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg gets mad respect.
But before she was “notorious,” and even before she became a Supreme Court justice, RBG was laying the groundwork for important shifts in American society that paved the way for greater equality for us all. How’s that? Read on.
RBG Blazes Trails for Women
RBG was one of Harvard Law School’s first female students. At the time, some professors would have “women’s days” where they would only call on women with the specific intention of attracting the ridicule of their male peers. At one point, the dean reportedly asked RBG how she could justify taking the place of a man in the school. Fining that Harvard wasn’t for her, Justice Ginsburg transferred to Columbia before her graduation and graduated first in her class. She later earned an honorary degree from Harvard —arguably the best kind!
After law school, RBG started work at the American Civil Liberties Union. She became the director of the Women’s Project of the ACLU, and in this capacity she challenged laws across the country that treated men and women differently. But by slowly chipping away at patriarchal institutions, RBG established a higher level of scrutiny for any law discriminating on the basis of gender.
Since earning her place on the Supreme Court, RBG has provided a critical voice for women. But this isn’t to say that the Notorious RBG is only out there fighting for the rights of women. Many of RBG’s clients at the ACLU were men, and she has advocated for universal gender equality in her role as a Supreme Court Justice. Quite simply, the Notorious RBG fights for anyone whose constitutional rights have been violated. Often, these people are women — but not always.
In United States v. Virginia, Justice Ginsburg sided with a male nursing student fighting gender-exclusion in educational programs. In Olmstead v. LC, Justice Ginsburg authored the majority opinion that reinforced the civil rights of individuals with disabilities. Justice Ginsburg also joined her colleagues in preventing the forced expulsion of certain noncitizens in Session v. Dimaya. No matter who you are or where you came from — if your constitutional rights have been violated, the Notorious RBG’s got your back.
Fighting Adversity Requires Bravery
Sometimes, the challenges we face in life are insurmountable. But taking them on requires bravery. Justice Ginsburg took on the very real challenge of rising to leadership in an institution that was built to prevent exactly that, and as a result she has become the fierce advocate we truly need.
In addition to being the Notorious RBG, Justice Ginsburg is well-known as ‘the Great Dissenter.’ That’s because she is unafraid to say when she disagrees. She continuously uses her sharp intellect and brilliant knowledge of the law to protect the most marginalized among us.
A true role model and a lifelong pioneer for freedom, the Notorious RBG deserves our respect. Agree or disagree with her opinions, her contributions to the law have helped shaped American jurisprudence. Justice Ginsburg has worked for decades to fight injustice, and in so doing she has paved the way for a more free and equal society.
Fighting the abhorrence of discrimination with the tenacity, resilience, bravery and passion such a challenge requires, Justice Ginsburg is the quintessential feminist and a personal hero. So, pour out some homemade organic kombucha across your lilac trees and send some love to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg this International Women’s Day. That’s exactly what I’ll be doing: giving mad props to the Notorious RBG.
