The Supreme Court announced that the cause of death was complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer. Ginsburg had previously overcome colon cancer in 1999 and early-stage pancreatic cancer a decade later. In 2014, she received a coronary stent to clear a blocked artery. Despite her small stature and weight, Ginsburg was known for her toughness and dedication to regular workouts with a trainer, who later published a book about their challenging exercise routine. As Ginsburg turned 80 and celebrated her 20th year on the Supreme Court bench during President Barack Obama’s second term, she ignored requests for her retirement in order to allow a Democratic president to choose her successor. She intended to remain in her position for as long as she was able to perform her duties effectively, stating, “There will be a president after this one, and I’m hopeful that that president will be a fine president.” When Justice Sandra Day O’Connor retired in January 2006, Ginsburg was briefly the only woman on the Supreme Court, which did not reflect the progress she had made for women in the legal field throughout her career. She described her time as the sole female justice as difficult, noting that the public perception of a courtroom filled with men and one small woman was not ideal. Eventually, she was joined by two other female justices appointed by Obama: Sonia Sotomayor in 2009 and Elena Kagan in 2010. After Justice John Paul Stevens retired in 2010, Ginsburg became the most senior member and informal leader of a liberal bloc of four justices, which included the three female justices and Justice Stephen Breyer. Without a fifth vote, typically provided by Justice Anthony Kennedy before his retirement in 2018, the four justices often found themselves in the minority on a divided court. Ginsburg's dissenting opinions, which often represented all four justices, gained attention as the court shifted to the right. A law student named Shana Knizhnik dubbed her the Notorious RBG, a nod to the famous rapper Notorious BIG, who was also from Brooklyn like Ginsburg. The name and image of Ginsburg, with her serene yet severe expression, a lace collar on her black judicial robe, oversized glasses framing her eyes, and a gold crown tilted on her head, quickly gained popularity on the internet. Young women got tattoos of her image, daughters dressed up as RBG for Halloween, and "You Can't Spell Truth Without Ruth" appeared on bumper stickers and T-shirts. Biographies about her, such as "Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg" by Irin Carmon and Knizhnik, became bestsellers. A documentary film about her life was a surprise hit in 2018, and a Hollywood movie focused on her first sex discrimination case was released on Christmas Day of the same year. The admiration for Ruth Bader Ginsburg grew significantly after Donald Trump was elected, despite her controversial remark calling him a "faker" during the 2016 campaign. Scholars tried to understand this sudden surge in popularity, with some attributing it to a need for female role models. In 1993, when she was nominated by President Bill Clinton, Ginsburg's appointment raised concerns among some feminists due to her collegiality and conservative friendships. However, her confirmation by the Senate in a landslide vote marked a turning point for Democratic appointments to the Supreme Court. The sequence was appropriate because Ruth Ginsburg, known for her strategic sense and careful case selection in the women's rights movement, was often compared to Thurgood Marshall, the chief legal strategist of the civil rights movement. Both played key roles in persuading the all-male Supreme Court to recognize constitutional barriers against discrimination. When Ginsburg took her seat as a Supreme Court justice in 1993, it was a familiar setting despite the change in perspective from arguing cases as a litigator. From 1973 to 1978, she brought six cases to the court and won five of them. Her ambitious objective was to convince the Supreme Court that the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection extended to both racial and sex discrimination. The Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Earl Warren at the time, had never previously acknowledged sex discrimination as a constitutional issue. Under Chief Justice Warren Burger, who was appointed by President Nixon in 1969, the court was not expected to be any more receptive to her arguments. Ruth Bader Ginsburg later presided over a mock trial of Shylock at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco in Venice, Italy, on July 27, 2016, following a performance of "The Merchant of Venice." Ginsburg believed she needed to educate an audience that was not hostile but rather did not understand. She criticized laws that aimed to protect women but were based on stereotypes of male and female abilities and needs. In a speech in 1988, she pointed out that justices did not see the differential treatment of men and women in legal contexts as burdensome to women. She also noted that a justice's immediate reaction to a gender discrimination challenge might be to think they treat their wife and daughters well. In order to change course, the court first needed to recognize that laws intended to help or protect women could have unintended consequences. This was demonstrated through successful legal challenges to discriminatory practices, such as an Idaho law giving men preference over women in estate administration, a military regulation denying benefits to husbands of female soldiers, and a Social Security provision assuming wives were not significant breadwinners. In many of these cases, the plaintiff was a man seeking equal treatment under the law. After winning a case in the Supreme Court, Ginsburg maintained a relationship with the father and child involved. In 1998, she traveled to Florida to participate in Jason's wedding. In 2014, 42 years after the death of Paula Wiesenfeld, Ginsburg officiated her former client's second marriage at the Supreme Court. In a case from 1976 called Craig v. Boren, which Ginsburg worked on but did not argue, the Supreme Court established that official distinctions based on gender would be closely examined by the courts. The court struck down an Oklahoma law that allowed girls to buy beer at 18 but made boys wait until they were 21. While the specific issue in Craig v. Boren may not have seemed significant, the constitutional implications of the ruling were profound. While the court did not adopt Ginsburg's "strict scrutiny" rule in her early cases, they did come to the conclusion that the 14th Amendment's equal protection guarantee extended to equality of the sexes. Ginsburg felt a personal victory when she announced the court's majority opinion in a 1996 discrimination case involving Virginia Military Institute, where the court found the all-male admissions policy to be unconstitutional. Virginia had argued that their method of educating young men was not suitable for young women, but under legal pressure, they set up a separate military college for women. Ginsburg criticized the state in United States v. Virginia for not providing a sufficient reason to justify treating men and women differently. She argued that women deserving of a VMI-quality education should not be offered anything less under the state's obligation to provide equal protection. Ginsburg emphasized that while there are inherent differences between men and women, differential treatment should not lead to the inferiority of women. She believed her decision in the case would improve VMI. During her speech to the Women's Bar Association in Washington, DC the following year, Ginsburg recounted a moment during the VMI case where she looked at her colleague, O'Connor, who had also played a significant role in establishing the legal basis for the decision. O'Connor had previously written an opinion in 1982 that supported admitting men to an all-female nursing school in Mississippi, based on the same precedents set by Ginsburg's cases. Ginsburg's opinion in the VMI case also referenced O'Connor's earlier opinion in Mississippi University for Women v. Hogan. The constitutional circle was closed as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her fellow justices Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, Sandra Day O'Connor and John Paul Stevens left the Supreme Court building to participate in the casket procession of late Chief Justice William Rehnquist in Washington on September 6, 2005. Both O'Connor and Ginsburg were part of the first generation of women to break into the legal profession, facing challenges and discrimination along the way. Despite graduating at the top of her class, O'Connor was only offered secretarial positions, while Ginsburg, one of only nine women in her Harvard Law School class, excelled as a law review editor and was recommended for a prestigious law clerk position. The professor Albert Sacks, who later became dean of the law school, wrote a letter to Frankfurter, a former Harvard law professor, praising a female student's exceptional self-possession and qualities that would make her an attractive law clerk. Despite Justice Frankfurter never having hired a woman before, he declined to invite the star student for an interview. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her fellow justices Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, Sandra Day O'Connor, and John Paul Stevens left the Supreme Court building for the casket procession of the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist in Washington on September 6, 2005. Despite their opposing views on important court issues, such as affirmative action and federalism, and their different backgrounds, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Justice O'Connor had a bond that grew in intensity due to their shared life experiences. Ruth Bader's father, Nathan Bader, immigrated to New York with his family at a young age, while her mother, Celia Amster, was born shortly after her family's arrival. Ruth, originally named Joan Ruth at birth and known as Kiki in her childhood, was born on March 15, 1933. Growing up in Brooklyn's Flatbush neighborhood, she essentially lived as an only child as her older sister passed away from meningitis at the age of 6 when Ruth was 14 months old. The family owned small retail stores, including a fur store and a hat shop, but money was always tight. Ruth's mother, Celia Bader, was a woman with intellectual ambitions who graduated from high school at 15 but was unable to attend college. Instead, she was sent to work in Manhattan's garment district so her brother could go to Cornell University. She had high aspirations for her daughter, but unfortunately, she passed away before seeing them come to fruition. Diagnosed with cervical cancer when Ruth was a freshman at James Madison High School, she died at the age of 47 in 1950, just one day before her daughter's high school graduation. Unable to attend the ceremony, Ruth's teachers brought her numerous medals and awards to the house. When Ginsburg stood with Clinton in the Rose Garden on June 14, 1993, for the announcement of her Supreme Court nomination, she moved the president to tears with a heartfelt tribute to her mother. She expressed her hope to fulfill the potential her mother was unable to in a time when women's aspirations were limited and daughters were not valued as much as sons. Ruth Bader went to Cornell on a scholarship, where she met Martin Ginsburg during her freshman year. The two quickly formed a strong connection, with Ruth noting that Martin was the first boy who appreciated her intelligence. They became engaged during her junior year and got married in 1954 after she graduated. Their relationship was both romantic and intellectual, lasting a lifetime. Despite their differences in personality - she was reserved and careful with her words, while he was outgoing and often made jokes at his own expense - their strong bond and shared dedication to their family and careers were evident to everyone who knew them. Martin Ginsburg, a successful tax lawyer, supported his wife by giving up his New York law practice to move with her to Washington when she was appointed to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1980. Thirteen years later, he worked behind the scenes to support her appointment to the Supreme Court. Martin Ginsburg moved to Washington and taught tax law at Georgetown University's law school. He held a chair endowed by Ross Perot in appreciation for saving him millions in taxes. He was also a skilled cook who prepared meals for the family and baked treats for his wife to bring to her colleagues at the court. Ruth Ginsburg, on the other hand, admitted to being a terrible cook and was banned from the kitchen by her children. The Ginsburgs resided in a duplex apartment at the Watergate, located near the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where they regularly enjoyed attending the opera and ballet. After 56 years of marriage, his passing from cancer in 2010 at the age of 78 brought their relationship to an end. In his final moments, he penned a note on a yellow pad for his wife to discover next to his bed. The note began with “My dearest Ruth,” and expressed his deep love and admiration for her, noting that she was the only person he had loved in his life aside from their family. He also mentioned how proud he was to witness her achieve great success in the legal field. Their two children, Jane and James, are still alive. Jane is a professor of intellectual property law at Columbia Law School, while James is a producer of classical music recordings in Chicago. They also have four grandchildren. After getting married, the couple moved to Lawton, Oklahoma, where Martin Ginsburg was stationed at Fort Sill as an Army officer. Ruth Ginsburg applied for a job at the local Social Security office and was offered a position as a claims examiner at the GS-5 rank. However, the offer was revoked when she revealed she was pregnant with her first child, Jane, as pregnant women were not allowed to travel for training at that time. She took on a clerk-typist position at the GS-2 level and saw it as just the way things were. It wasn't until later in life that Ruth Ginsburg dedicated herself to challenging the societal norms that restricted women's potential. Early in their marriage, both Ruth and Martin Ginsburg faced a significant challenge when Martin was diagnosed with aggressive testicular cancer during his third year at Harvard Law School. Other students assisted him by taking notes, while Ruth Ginsburg, who was also attending class and looking after their young daughter, transcribed the notes and aided him in studying. He eventually recovered and graduated on schedule. Harvard Law School presented difficulties for women, as there were no female faculty members. In Ruth Ginsburg's first year, the dean Erwin Griswold invited the nine female students to a dinner where he questioned each of them about why they believed they deserved to be in the class instead of a man. Ruth stumbled over her words as she explained that she wanted to understand her husband's work as a lawyer, which is why she wanted to finish her final year at Columbia instead of Harvard. Despite her request being denied, she transferred to Columbia and tied for first place in her class. In 1972, she became the first woman to receive tenure on the Columbia law faculty. The experience continued to bother her, and years later, after Harvard changed its policy to award degrees in similar situations, Ruth's husband wrote a letter to the Harvard Law Record sarcastically mentioning that the incident had negatively impacted her career. He even joked about Ruth potentially trading in her Columbia degree for a Harvard one. In 2011, Ruth Ginsburg received an honorary degree from Harvard University, where she was serenaded by Plácido Domingo. Despite initially struggling to find a job at New York law firms after graduating from Columbia, she eventually landed a clerkship with federal district judge Edmund L Palmieri with the help of Professor Gerald Gunther. Following her clerkship, she worked on a comparative law project on civil procedure at Columbia. The project necessitated her to acquire Swedish language skills and stay in Sweden, which turned out to be a shaping experience for her. Sweden was thriving with feminism, and it was common for women to balance work and family responsibilities. Childcare facilities were easily accessible. An article written by the editor of a feminist publication captured Ruth Ginsburg's interest. Eva Moberg, the editor, expressed the need to move away from the idea of women having two roles and emphasized that both men and women are primarily individuals. Ruth Ginsburg's extensive work on Swedish civil law from 1963 to 1970, as well as her observations of a different societal organization in Sweden, were significant outcomes of her time there. Despite facing rejection from prestigious law schools in the US, Ginsburg eventually became the second woman on the faculty at Rutgers Law School, where there were only a few women teaching at American law schools. During this time, she gave birth to her second child, James, who was nine years younger than his sister. Alongside her teaching job, she also volunteered to handle discrimination cases for the New Jersey branch of the American Civil Liberties Union. These cases included complaints from public-school teachers who were fired for being pregnant. Her childhood friend, Melvin Wulf, who was the national legal director for the ACLU, learned about her work and brought more cases her way. One of these cases was the Idaho estate administrators case, which ended up being her first victory in the Supreme Court, known as Reed v. Reed. Her 88-page brief for this case, which detailed the ways in which the law perpetuated the oppression of women in society, became widely recognized in legal history as the "grandmother brief" and served as a resource for feminist lawyers for years to come. In 1972, the ACLU established a Women’s Rights Project and appointed Ruth Ginsburg as its inaugural director. Concurrently, she transitioned from her role at Rutgers to become a faculty member at Columbia. It was through the ACLU project that she developed her legal strategy to convince the Supreme Court that gender-based discrimination by the government was a violation of the Constitution. The significance of this approach was not immediately recognized, even by those closely following her work. Ruth Ginsburg was notably choosing cases where men were the victims of unequal treatment by the government. She was trying to present cases to the justices that were easy to understand, such as why men shouldn't be treated differently from women just because of their gender. However, Ruth Ginsburg's goal went beyond this surface level. She aimed to liberate both men and women from societal expectations and use the Constitution to dismantle the structures that enforced these gender roles. This is why a widowed father seeking social welfare to care for his baby was the ideal plaintiff, as it challenged the idea that childcare was exclusively a woman's responsibility. Wendy W Williams, a retired professor of law at Georgetown University Law Centre and Ginsburg’s authorized biographer, explained in a 2013 article that Ginsburg’s legal campaign was successful in specifically addressing the intricate and widespread legal system that categorized women as yin and men as yang. This framework either rewarded them for conforming to gender-specific roles or penalized them for deviating from them. Ginsburg recognized that the law and society viewed male and female as natural opposites that were interconnected and interdependent, and understood that you couldn't separate the two. Male plaintiffs played a crucial role in dismantling what Ginsburg called “sex-role pigeonholing,” as sex discrimination affected both men and women, and both could benefit from Ginsburg’s idea of sex equality. Professor Neil S Siegel of Duke Law School described Ginsburg's vision as one of “equal citizenship stature.” Despite her reputation as a liberal, many were surprised when Ginsburg began to compile a more moderate voting record on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She appeared to be more comfortable with conservative members of the court, such as Antonin Scalia and Robert H Bork, than with liberal colleagues. This was due to her belief that the judicial branch should work collaboratively with the other branches in a healthy democracy, rather than imposing final decisions that allowed no further discussion. This belief also led to her critique of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that established a constitutional right to abortion in 1973. In a speech at New York University Law School in 1993, before her nomination to the Supreme Court, she criticized the ruling for halting a reform-minded political process and causing prolonged divisiveness. She supported abortion rights but suggested that the court should have issued a narrower ruling allowing states some ability to regulate abortions. She warned against the court making drastic decisions that could lead to a strong backlash. Despite evidence that legislative progress on abortion laws had stalled due to lobbying by the Catholic Church, she maintained her criticism of the decision. Her speech caused concern among some women's groups and abortion rights organizations. During his first nomination to the court, Clinton conducted a very public search among judges and political figures. Mario Cuomo and Bruce Babbitt were considered, but ultimately Stephen G. Breyer was chosen. Despite a difficult interview due to Breyer's broken ribs, Clinton was urged by Martin Ginsburg to consider Ruth Ginsburg. After a private meeting with her, Clinton made his decision. He phoned her at 11:33 that evening to inform her that she was his selection. Clinton stated at the announcement ceremony the following day that he believed she would be able to promote consensus-building on the Supreme Court in the years to come, as she had on the Court of Appeals. The public strongly supported her appointment, and she was confirmed on Aug. 3, 1993, despite opposition from three conservative Republican senators. Speaking to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Ginsburg described her judicial approach as nonpartisan, but emphasized her unwavering support for abortion rights. In response to a question from Senator Hank Brown, she stated that abortion rights are essential to a woman's life and dignity. She must make the decision for herself, and if the government controls it, she is being treated as less than a fully responsible adult. In a more conservative Supreme Court, Ginsburg strongly dissented in a case involving abortion, criticizing the majority for relying on outdated ideas about women and lacking reliable evidence. Another controversial decision led to a strong dissent from the court, with a 5-4 vote in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co resulting in the rejection of Lilly Ledbetter's pay discrimination claim due to her failure to file within the 180-day deadline. The majority opinion, written by Alito, stated that the clock started running from Ledbetter's first paycheck reflecting unequal pay, while Ginsburg argued that the period should begin when the employee becomes aware of the discrimination. She called on Congress to clarify this issue and made her dissent known from the bench, adding weight to her message. A technical argument about a statute of limitations turned into a public outcry, leading to Congress overturning the court's interpretation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This ultimately resulted in the passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the first bill signed into law by President Obama. Professor Lani Guinier of Harvard Law School noted that Justice Ginsburg was actively engaging with the public during this time. Guinier described the act of giving an oral dissent as a way to make judicial speech more accessible to the public. Ginsburg, known for wearing her 'Dissenting Collar', carefully crafted her opinions, both majority and dissenting, using clear and concise language without unnecessary complexity. She credited her attention to writing to studying literature under Vladimir Nabokov at Cornell. However, it was her dissenting opinions, especially those announced in court, that garnered the most attention. Ginsburg would often switch out her decorative collars on days when she planned to announce a dissent, adding a playful element to her dissenting speeches. She even wore her "dissenting collar," described by one observer as resembling medieval armor, the day after Trump's election. One of her most famous dissents was in 2013 in Shelby County v. Holder, where the majority invalidated a provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Ginsburg questioned the court's usual restraint and ended her announcement with a quote about the arc of justice. Another favorite opinion of hers came in a 1996 decision called MLB v. SLJ, involving parental rights and the right to appeal court decisions. The Supreme Court of Mississippi ruled that the state was not required to pay for the necessary record for an appeal to proceed, as the Constitution does not typically grant affirmative rights for individuals in poverty. Justice Ginsburg based her decision on a separate line of cases that emphasized the importance of protecting family relationships as fundamental rights. This decision was praised as extraordinary by legal experts, as it navigated through unfavourable precedents to ensure equal justice for parental rights. In a 2017 decision, the court addressed the differential treatment of unwed mothers and fathers under federal immigration law regarding transmitting American citizenship to their children born overseas. According to the law, mothers could pass on their American citizenship if they had lived in the United States for at least one year, while fathers had to have lived in the US for five years. The law assumed that it was easier to confirm a child's mother than father, as fathers were less likely to acknowledge their out-of-wedlock children. In Sessions v. Morales-Santana, Ginsburg, writing for a 6-2 majority, deemed the law unconstitutional due to its sex-based discrimination, calling it outdated and reflective of past gender stereotypes. She argued that such broad generalizations limit individuals' choices and opportunities. Ginsburg often attributes the success of her 1970s legal battles to having the right arguments at the right time. In the preface to her book "My Own Words," published in 2016, she expressed gratitude for being alive and a lawyer during a time when advocating for the equal-citizenship status of women and men was successful. She acknowledged that she played a significant role in this progress, reflecting on the factors that led to a shift in the understanding of the courts, attributing it to a changing societal climate and the influence of women's aspirations. In both her appearance and her work, Ginsburg was known for her precision. She wore her dark hair pulled back and liked to wear finely tailored suits by designer Giorgio Armani, occasionally mixing in flamboyantly patterned jackets from her travels. She was known for being well-dressed and appeared on various best-dressed lists. Despite being an active and persistent questioner on the bench, she tended to be quiet in social settings. Her more outgoing husband often spoke for her, giving the impression to those who didn't know her well that she was shy and reserved. However, when discussing her passion for opera, she could become almost poetic. Despite her past as a high school cheerleader and twirler, she moved with such efficiency that it was hard to imagine her in that role. Her personality seemed to have two sides, but it was actually her innate shyness that disappeared when she had a task to complete. Before her first Supreme Court argument, she was extremely nervous and couldn't eat lunch out of fear of getting sick. However, once the argument began, her fear vanished as she felt empowered by the attention of the powerful judges.