Professor in the 1930s through the 1950s, decided to give about the meaning of life. On the last day of his business law class one spring. It was such a success it turned into an annual division at stanford for many years, until he retired. In 2008,vived supported by a generous gift to the office of religious life by the foundation for global community, which established the henry and Amelia Rathbun fund for exploring what leads to a Meaningful Life. Each year, a visiting fellow is selected to come to stanford to deliver this lecture and spend time with our faculty, students, and staff. In a busy world, and in a time of change in our country, this lecture provides us a welcome moment for self reflection and moral inquiry. We are so fortunate this year to have Ruth Bader Ginsburg as our visiting fellow. Her by anotherw moniker, as the notorious rbg. [applause] that name got its start several puts ago in a tumblr together by an admiring law student, and it took off. Today, Justice Ginsburg finds herself not only as a member of our nations highest court, but a cultural phenomenon, as well. Born in brooklyn, Justice Ginsburg received her bachelors degree from Cornell University and law degree from Columbia Law School. She was professor of law at Rutgers University from 1963 to 1972, and Columbia Law School from 1972 to 1980. In 1971, she cofounded the womens rights project of the American Civil Liberties union. She served as the aclus general counsel from 1973 to 1980. She was appointed to the u. S. Court of appeals for the district of columbia circuit in 1980. President clinton nominated her as an associate justice of the Supreme Court. She took her seat on the court in 1993. These biographical facts come nowhere close to adequately describing the person who is with us tonight. There really arent sufficient words to describe the impact she has had on the law, and the advancement of womens rights in america. Trailblazing, pioneering, daring. They are all true, but they still dont capture it. Justice ginsburg went to law school in an era, the 1950s, when very few women did read she faced in normas challenges is a woman and mother pursuing her career in that era. She then turned her career to the cause of battling discrimination on behalf of women and families everywhere. At Columbia Law School, she became the first tenured female professor. At the womens rights project, she argued fix cases before the Supreme Court. She played an absolutely central role in establishing contemporary law on equal protection as it relates to equality. Many have called her the third boot marshall of womens rights. She was the second woman to join the Supreme Court, serving at a time with Justice Sandra day oconnor, who was also a visiting fellow with us at stanford. Justice ginsburg will be in conversation tonight with dean jane shaw, the religious life and professor at stanford. Historyiously taught and theology at oxford for 16 years. Before coming to stanford, she was the dean of Grace Cathedral in san francisco. We look forward to an insightful and engaging conversation. And now, please join me in welcoming to stanford, justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. [applause] Justice Ginsburg thank you. [applause] thank you very much. Thought it might be an appropriate beginning for me to tell you a little bit about my life, and what im going to say to you comes from a book called my own words. All in my ownace words. Did you always want to be a judge . Or more exorbitantly, a Supreme Court justice . Schoolchildren who visit me at askcourt as they do weekly, that question more than any other. It is a sign of huge progress made. Aspirationyouth, and for a girl being a judge is not at all outlandish. Days in 1956, when i entered law school, women were then less than 3 of lawyers in the u. S. Servede woman had ever on a federal appellate court. She was Florence Allen, appointed by Franklin Delano roosevelt to the u. S. Court of appeals for the sixth circuit in 1934. The time i got to law school, she was retired, and there were none. Today, about half the nations law students and more than one third of our federal judges are women, including three of the nine on the u. S. Supreme court bench. Women hold more than 30 of u. S. Law school dean ships and serve as General Councils to fortune 500 companies. In my long life, i have seen great changes. How fortunate i was to be alive and a lawyer. When, for the first time in u. S. History, it became possible to urge successfully before legislatures and courts the equal citizenship stature of men and women. Of place. Page out bear with me a moment. Should be not too far from here. Skipped, we will go onto the next one. When i speak about teachers who influenced and encouraged me in my growing up years, at Cornell University, vladimir nabokov. Andhanged the way i read, the way i write. Words could paint pictures, i learned from him. Choosing the right word in the right word order, he illustrated, could make an enormous difference in conveying an image or idea. From constitutional law Professor Robert e cushman, and american ideals professor milton crime which, i learned of our enduring values as a nation, and how our Congress Progress was strained from them in the red scare years of the 1950s. But also, how lawyers could remind lawmakers that our constitution the right to think, speak, and write without fear of reprisal from government authority. At harvard law school, professor Benjamin Capper was my first and favorite teacher. He used the socratic method in his civil procedure class. Always to stimulate, never to wound. He was the model i tried to follow in my own law teaching until 1980. 963 school,bia law professor of constitutional law and federal courts, gerald gunther, who later served on the stanford law faculties for many years. He was determined to place me in a federal court clerkship, despite what was then viewed as a grave impediment. On graduation, i was the mother of a fouryearold child. After heroic efforts, gunther succeeded in that mission. In later years, litigating cases in or headed to the Supreme Court, i turned to gunther for aid in dealing with sticky legal issues, both substantive and procedural. He never failed to help me find the right path. Questionften asked when i speak in public, do you have good advice you might share with us . Yes i do. [laughter] motherinlaw. Y advice she gave me on my wedding day. It helpsgood marriage, sometimes to be a little dense. Andve followed that advice, not only at home through 56 years of a marital partnership, i have employed it as well in every workplace, including the Supreme Court of the United States. When a thoughtless or unkind word is spoken, best tune out reacting in anger or annoyance. Invents it will not advance one persons ability to persuade. Advice from my fatherinlaw. He gave it during my gap years, 1954 to 1956, when my husband was fulfilling his obligation to the army as an artillery officer in oklahoma. By the end of 1954, my pregnancy was confirmed. We looked forward to becoming three in july, 1955. But i worried about starting law School Next Year with an infant to care for. Fathers advice, if you dont want to start law school, you have a good reason to resist the undertaking. No one will think less of you if you make that choice. But if you really want to study crying andll stop find a way to manage a child and school. So we did. We found a nanny on school days from 8 00 to 4 00. Many times after when the road was rocky, i thought back to fathers wisdom and found a way to do what i thought was important to get done. Balance was not a term yet coined in the years. My children were young. Theit is descriptor is of it is descriptive of the time. My success in law school was due in large measure to baby jane, my daughter. I attended classes and studied diligently until 4 00 in the afternoon. The next hours were janes time. Spent at the park playing games or singing funny songs, reading picture books. Bathing and feeding her. After her bedtime, i returned to the law books with renewed will. Each part of my life provided rest bite from the other and gave me a sense of a portion that classmates trained only on the law lacked. I have had more than a little bit of luck in my life, but nothing equals my marriage. I do not have words adequate to describe my supersmart, exuberant, ever loving spouse. Early on in our marriage, it became clear to him that cooking was not my strong suit. [laughter] appreciationsting of our food loving children, we became four in 1965 when james was born. Marty made the kitchen his domain and became chef supreme in a home on loan to friends, even of the court. Marty coached me to the birth of our son. He was the first critic of articles and speeches i drafted. He was at my side constantly in and out of the hospital during two long bouts with cancer. I betray no secret in reporting that without him, i would not have gained a seat on the u. S. Supreme court. Then associate white House Counsel ron plane said of my 1993 nomination i would say definitely for the record, though Ruth Ginsburg should have been picked for the Supreme Court anyway, she would not have been picked if her husband had not done everything he did to make it happen. That everything included gaining the unqualified support my home state senator, Daniel Patrick moynihan, and enlisting the aid of many of the academy. I have several times said the office i hold, now nearing 24 years, is the best and most consuming job a lawyer anywhere could have. The courts main job is to law,r fractures in federal to step in when other courts have disagreed on what relevant federal law requires. Because the court would review when members have divided over the meaning of the statute or constitutional prescription, the questions we take up are rarely easy. They seldom have indubitably right answers. Yet by reading together in our conferences, and with more depth and precision through circulation and responses to draft opinions, we ultimately agree far more often than we divide sharply. To 2016, we were unanimous, at least on the bottomline judgment in 25 of the 67 cases decided. 43. Ntrast, we divided Justice Scalias death reduced the number of justices to eight. We divided sharply only eight times. When the justices of the firm new that the majority got it wrong, she is free to say so and dissent. I took advantage of that prerogative. I think its important, as do my colleagues. Disagreements on cardinal issues, think the control of Little Campaign ballot, access to the affirmative action, access to abortion, samesex marriage. We genuinely respect each other and enjoy each others company. Collegiality is key to our mission. We cannot do the job assigned to us if we didnt use one of Justice Scalias favorite expression, get over it. [laughter] all of us revere the constitution and the court. We aim to make sure that when we leave the court, the third branch of government will be in as good shape as it was when we joined it. Earlier, i spoke of great womensi have seen in observations. One must acknowledge the bleak part of the picture. Most people in poverty in the u. S. And the world over are women and children. Womens earnings here and abroad with the earnings of men comparable education and experience. Our workplaces do not adequately accommodate the demands of childbearing and child rearing, and we have yet to devise effective ways to ward off Sexual Harassment at work, and Domestic Violence in our homes. But i am optimistic the Movement Toward enlisting the talents of all who compose we the people, will continue. As expressed by my brave colleague, the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court, Justice Sandra day oconnor, for those men and women, the first step in getting power is to become visible to others. Then to put on an impressive show. As women achieve power, the barriers will fall. As society sees what women can do, as women can see what women can do, there will be more women out there doing things, and they will all be better off for it. To that expectation, i can only say amen. [applause] so Justice Ginsburg, its a huge pledgor and honor to have pleasure and honor to have you with us. I do know the program is designed to foster thinking about what it means to lead a Meaningful Life. You have said things about that, but can you encapsulate what it means to lead a Meaningful Life to you . Justice ginsburg to put it simply, it means doing something outside yourself. I tell the law students, i, i address now and then, if youre going to be a lawyer, and just profession, you have a skill, so you are very much like a plumber. If you want to be a true professional, you will do yourself,outside of something to repair tears in your community. Something to make life a little bit better for people less fortunate than you. Thats what i think a Meaningful Life is. One lives not just for oneself , but for ones community. Prof. Shaw thats wonderful, thank you. You think that is the same as a purposeful life . Justice ginsburg yes, i think purpose is what you aim for. Has family how played a part in your own life . Your own meaning in your life . Justice ginsburg it plays a very large part. Its one of the things Justice Scalia and me were drawn together for, because we both care a lot about families. I saw a big change in life in the United States between the birth of my daughter in 1955 and my son in 1965. When my daughter jane started school, i was one of a very few working moms. 10 years later, there had been an enormous change. It was not at all unusual to middle0 families by the 60s. And that made me realize that it would be possible for the first time in history to move the law in the direction of what i call equal citizenship stature for men and women. About prof. Shaw talk about your own experience and how it led you to that work. Justice ginsburg in the days when i went to law school, my entering class at harvard was over 500 students, only nine were women. There was no antidiscrimination law. Employers were totally upfront want anyying we dont we onceers here, or hired a woman, she was dreadful. Hiredw many men have you that didnt live up to their expectations your expectations for them . [laughter] anyway, things we didnt complain about. So for example, harvard law school, we had nine women. There were two teaching buildings at that time. Only one of them had a womans bathroom. You can imagine if you were in class is one thing, much worse is taking a three or four hour exam and having to make a mad dash to the other building. But the thing of it was, we never complained. Thats just the way things were. But by the late 60s, the feminist movement had revived in the United States, in part as a result of the civil rights movement. But also as part of a worldwide movement. The u. N. Had declared International Womens year. Things were changing all over. So it became possible to break referred to as the cesspit the separate sphere mentality. The womens space was with the family, taking care of the home, and the mans place was outside, the representative of the family outside of the home. And many of our laws were designed to fit that model of the stayathome woman and the working man. 70s, decade of the almost all laws of that kind were men. Prof. Shaw talk about what you think were most important . Justice ginsburg i didnt speak about two cases. In the first one, the turning point case. Courtil 1971, the supreme never saw genderbased classification, that it didnt think was ok. If we take the years of the liberal warren court, and theres a case called hoyt against florida, hoyt was an abused, battered woman, what we would call today. Husband one day had humiliated her to the breaking point. She spied her young sons baseball bat in the room, lifted it up, and with all her might, hit him on the head. He fell on the stone floor. The end of their altercation. The beginning of the murder prosecution. Didnt putys, they women on juries. Hoyt thought there was something wrong about that. Not that a jury, including women, would have adjudicated her, but understanding her at that moment, and maybe they would convict her of the lesser crime of manslaughter instead of murder. She was convicted of murder. When the case came to the Supreme Court challenging the absence of women on the jury roles, the courts attitude was gwendolyn hoyt, women have the best of worlds. We dont call them for jury duty, but if they come into the Clerks Office and sign up, we will put them there. How many men do you think would signup if they had the choice . So the Supreme Court didnt get it. That, it was a case of a woman who owned a tavern, and her daughter was a bartender. Michigan, perhaps with the encouragement of the bartenders league, passed a law that said a woman couldnt tend bar unless she was the wife or daughter of