Transcripts For CSPAN Obit 3 Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg At

CSPAN Obit 3 Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg At Georgetown Law Brbr July 12, 2024

The Justice Ginsburg lecture Series Features distinguished leaders who like Justice Ginsburg have committed their lives to furthering equality and human rights. It is an opportunity for our graduating students to hear from a giant in the law as she reflects on her career and offers advice to them as they graduate. And we are truly fortunate that the first speaker in this series will be, of course, Justice Ginsburg. Another round of applause. [applause] Justice Ginsburg is a legend in the law and in life. She has served with the greatest distinction on the Supreme Court andthe past 25 years, even if she had never been a judge or justice, she would still have learned a great place in legal history for her groundbreaking work in her advocacy to promote gender equality. A great justice, a great advocate, and who else has come become a cultural icon . [laughter] Justice Ginsburg has been honored by scores of followers with, to name only a few, a rap nickname. [laughter] numerous books including several coloring books, childrens books, and, of course, an exercise book and two upcoming movies. That thisvery fitting lecture series will be at georgetown law center, where we have been most fortunate to have a very special relationship with the justice. Ginsburghusband, marty , was, of course, a beloved tax professor and scholar of georgetown law for many years, and we have a professorship named in his honor. The justice is a longtime friend of our womens law and Public Policy Fellowship Program, and each year, invite the fellows to the court for tea and conversation. And our own professors mary , hartnett and Wendy Williams who will be in conversation with the justice today are , Justice Ginsburgs authorized of aaphers and coauthors recent book. Given all of these connections, instead of giving you an introduction to Justice Ginsburg, a long introduction, we are going to flash back 15 years of the 20th Anniversary Dinner for the womens law and Public Policy Fellowship Program when professor Marty Ginsburg introduced Justice Ginsburg as a keynote speaker. When Wendy Williams and Mary Hartnett asked me to speak at what they said was appropriately what they termed my favorite subject, naturally, i prepared a lengthy discourse addressing the Supreme Courts performance in tax cases. [laughter] sadly, wendy reacted with an expect and hostility. [laughter] , i am going to speak a few minutes only about my wife, honorable ruth. ,ut you are the losers, because i promise you, the Supreme Courts performance in tax cases is exceedingly funny. [laughter] [applause] we travel a lot. Our travels, like in the affordt of columbia, memorable moments. In december of 2000, just after bush against gore, ruth and i were in new york city to see a play. After the first act intermission, as we walked down seasts, ito our seemed like the entire audience began to applaud. Many stood, ruth being one. Two, and over and whispered loudly, ive that you didnt know there was a convention of tax lawyers here. [laughter] without changing her bright smile, ruth smacked me right in the stomach. [laughter] but not too hard. I give you this picture because it fairly captures our nearly 50year happy marriage, during up ani have offered astonishing number of foolish pronouncements with absolute ruth, almost everyone. [laughter] a few years ago speaking of , ruth, who in 1972 was a Columbia Law School tenure, my hire, my father, a former dean and president of columbia commented that he had known ruth , it had begun long before any of us was with cultivating. [laughter] i am not sure that is entirely true, but a certainty fits the ending. We met as undergraduates at Cornell University on a blind date in 1950. She nearly arrived, and i one year ahead. The truth is it was a blind date only onn ruths ruths side. [laughter] i asked a classmate to point her out. She is really cute, i perceptibly noticed. [laughter] , boy, she is really, really smart. And of course, i was right on both accounts. In the intervening 53 years, nothing changed. I will skip over those intervening years. [laughter] because you are old friends. And you know about us, and not an oldyou are friend, you likely know the essentials, courtesy of an interview our dear daughter jane ever there was, volunteer to the press a decade ago. All smiles, professor jane and as she had grown up in a home in which responsibility was equally divided. Her father did the cooking, she explained, and her mother did the thinking. [laughter] it was janes statement that convinced me that children should not be allowed as a defense in defamation. [laughter] in celebrating ruths then 50th birthday, a asked lots of ruths friends and acquaintances to write what i think of Justice Ginsburg. To put in a compilation. Jane, for example, contributed what she described as mothers extraordinary pot roast recipe. It was horrifyingly accurate and extraordinarily funny. Ruth is no longer permitted in the kitchen. [laughter] this by the demand of our children, who have taste. [laughter] to my mind, however, the very best letter was contributed by anita, my wonderful secretary from preteaching days, when i was a new york city lawyer. Anita, who i should explain, was the worlds fastest typist, she had in a worldclass stomach or dancer, think about that a worldclass flamenco dancer, if you can think about that. Whatnyway, she wrote of was the special and personal experience and the impact of advance970 efforts to gender equality. I propose to read it in its entirety, this rigorously unpublished grand testimonial to my wifes prejudicial influence on american life. When i think of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, i think of the words sexual and gender. Waserbased discrimination a book i typed for her when i arrived in new york. I had been in new york only a very short time. Born in arizona, i lived most of my life in spain and south america. My family needed the money, and i got a job in a law firm typing tenohe stunt no thes pool. Morning, her husband walked in and handed me 100 pages of handwritten material dealing with sex discrimination, abortion, and so on. I was horrified. [laughter] the words female and male leaked loomed out at me, i had never seen or heard them used the way she used them. [laughter] i had never even thought about those distinctions. I started typing. Over the next few months, there with his yellow pad of handwritten notes of these sexensical subjects, of discrimination. I kept typing. The shortsleeved lawyer announced, my wife is coming in. I thought, good god, here she comes. The lawyers wife. [laughter] in walks this little five foot, 100 pound woman with a soft green. Wearing she and i thought, it cant be the same woman. She is not supposed to look like that. [laughter] she is supposed to look like georges sand. Wheres the cigar . [laughter] i kept typing. Seville, spain on vacation with my family, where i have a home. We were invited to a large cocktail party, and the room was full of males and females. In walked and nita with her husband. Don marioented him as. He then said, this is my woman. My chest out and said, i am not your woman i am a person. [applause]. Ame is anita from the back of the room boomed 80 euros america , vivaa i had been converted through typing. Whether through typing, reading, theening, ruths worked in 1970s as a teacher and litigator converted multitudes, including, as we all know, a majority of the Supreme Court. 1980, at age 47, bonbons,o tv and she would enjoy a significant place in 20 century history, although without bonbons. She did not retire or get fat. She went on to better work. ,3 years on in the d. C. Circuit where to take but one example, her efforts on behalf of the icc child rape doctrine will never be forgotten. [laughter] part rather more important of the past 10 years is her efforts on behalf of everyone. Everyone, i guess, except the icc. Thisl events, we celebrate evening, a grand performance, born of great intelligence, find judgment, personal warmth, unremitting hard work, and marriage. [laughter] [applause] expected. Ust what i i asked her on our second date 53 years ago, the neck decade, with only a little luck, i am sure will be even better. I introduce to you the honorable ruth ginsburg. Dr[applause] so, Justice Ginsburg how you first met him and a little bit about your relationship and his influence on your life and work. Justice ginsburg as everyone can appreciate, he was a very funny guy. [laughter] how did we meet . 18. I was 17, he was we had friends in common at cornell. I had a boyfriend at Columbia Law School, he had a girlfriend at smith college. The week was long in between. [laughter] so our friends thought, we might like each others company. The two of us work together. I found out in very short order that marty was a boy like none i had ever met. This was a young man who really. Ared that i had a brain these were the not so good old the degree that women were supposed to get was an mrs degree, at cornell, there were four men to every woman. Parents of girls thought, what if sheplace to send her, cant find a man there, she is hopeless. [laughter] anyway, that is [laughter] that is how it all began. Host this audience tonight is mostly comprised of third year law students. And if you look out at them, we see a lot of females and also a lot of males. [laughter] wasnt the case when you went to law school. When you were at harvard, you were one of only nine women, and columbia, one of 12 women. We wonder if you could share with the audience a little bit of what that was like, being one of so few women in law school, and what law school generally was like for the women . Justice ginsburg in no a firstyear class, there were nine women and over 500 men, divided into four sections. Most of us had one other female companion. We felt that all eyes were on this, and that if we were called on in class and we gave a dumb answer, people would think, well, what did you expect from a woman . So we were super prepared. [laughter] and the difference was noted by a colleague of mine at columbia middleool, now into the 70s. Women were showing up in numbers in law school. He admitted to having a certain longing for the not so good old days. Why . Because he said when the class was moving slowly, and you needed a crisp right answer, you called on a woman. She would tell you what you wanted to hear and you could proceed. Nowadays, he said, there is no difference. The women are as unprepared as the men. [laughter] host and i think you have talked to us before about the deans dinners. These arent the kinds of dinners that dean trader had. Would you like to share . Justice ginsburg this is the famous dean griswold, who would invite all the women in the first year class home to dinner. And each of us had an escort. Mine was a professor who was visiting from columbia that year. Had the dinner, it was not a distinguished dinner. There was no alcohol served in the griswold home. He brought us into his living room, arranged the chairs in a semicircle and asked each of us in turn to tell him what we were doing at the law school occupying a seat that could have been held by a man. I must say, the dean didnt ask that question to wound. Dean griswold was not noted for his sense of humor. He had been one of the people who most strenuously urged the admission of women to Harvard Law School for the first time in 1950, 1951. What would it cost to admit women to Harvard Law School . They had to install a womens bathroom, and it was going to cost 25,000. [laughter] but it is too hard to contend with his faculty. Distinguished teachers who thought that the school had made an egregious error to admit women. So heasked the question could tell his colleagues, they have plans to use their law degrees to do good things. That was his reason. Course, the nine of us were unaware why the question. [laughter] host it came time to use your law degree, you are an exceptional law student, top grades, top of your class, larvae. When it came time to find that first job after moscow, you would think new york firms would be lined up trying to recruit you. Did that happen . There was nourg law prohibiting discrimination on race, religion, national origin, gender. Firms were totally upfront in telling you, women are not wanted in this workplace, or, we got a woman once and she was dreadful, how many men have you had that didnt work out . Job aroundng for a firms wereen some just beginning that they might take a chance on a woman. And i had an added liability, that was jane. She was four years old when i graduated from law school. If a firm was living on taking a chance on a woman, they were not yet prepared to take a chance on a mother. Get a first legal job, or we wouldnt be sitting here together. What happened . Justice ginsburg it was a great beginning. Federal District Court judge. When i got that judge, i didnt notice until years later when the professor wrote about it, he was in charge of getting fellowships for colombian law students and he was determined to get one for me. So he called a judge who had always taken his clerks from columbia. The judge was himself a colombian undergraduate and law school alum. And the judges answer was as expected i have had a woman clerk before. This is anok intense job and sometimes i will need her to come in on a saturday, to stay late. I cant risk it. So the professor said, i have a deal for you that you cant refuse. And if shechance does not please you, there is a young man in her class going to a downtown firm, he will jump in and take over. That is the carrot. There is a stick as well. If you dont give her a chance, i will never recommend another. Olumbia student [laughter] for women of my generation, getting that first job was allimportant. You just had to get your foot in the door. If you got the job, and you generally performed at least as well, in many cases better than the men, but you needed to get that first job to be set on your way. This is professor Jerry Gunther . Justice ginsburg who was then with columbia, then transferred to stanford law school. So you worked for judge polly arey. Did it work out . Justice ginsburg he was able to she thethers that best a clerk ive ever had. She will be here even on a sunday. We thought we would ask you to give a bit of advice to those who are here. Have smalle you, children, or hope to start families in their busy, Early Practice years. I wonder if you can share how it worked with you with the worklife balance thing, or the question can you have it all . Justice ginsburg can you have it all . Not all at one time. [laughter] havemy long lifespan, i truly had it all. In a marriage, you accommodate to each other. Sometimes one person has it all, and responsibility for raising the children and taking care of the home. Other times, different stuff. That was true in our life. When marty was eager to become a partner in five years, that was his goal. I those years, i would say did most of the child rearing. To my familys disappointment, most of the cooking. [laughter] but then in the late 60s, when the Womens Movement was all over the country, he realized something important was going on. Without having discussion about it, the balance turned the other way. I often attribute my success in law school to jane. She was 14 months when i started. For most of my classmates, that first year of law school was an allconsuming experience. My life was different. It did have balance. Home,the babysitter went and that was janes time. We went to the park, played games, and sang silly songs until she went to sleep. By that time, i was ready to go back to the books. I regarded each part of my life as a respite from the other. Periodthis was a time when a lot of people, society assumed the mother would be primarily responsible for the children. Including some School Administrators when they called home to discuss their childrens activities. Could you share how you handled getting a lot of phone calls . Justice ginsburg my son, who today is a a truly fine human. [laughter] thats what his teachers called was what his teachers called hyperactive. I called him lively. [laughter] calls, generally once a month when it comes to the school i came to the school to hear about my lively sons latest escapade. [laughter] and wasown there lectured. One day, i was particularly weary. I was sitting in my office at columbia, and responded that this child has two parents. Please alternate calls. [laughter] its his fathers turn. [laughter] schooly went down to the , and was confronted with three stone faces telling him your son on the elevator, it was an old handheld elevator where the operator went out to have a cigarette, he takes his fourth grade classmates, and they dared him to take the kindergarten class from the ground floor to the top floor. [laughter] so this very bad thing my son had done, his response was so he stole the elevator . How far could he take it . [laughter] Justice Ginsburg i dont know whether it was his great sense of humor, or more likely, if the school was far more reluctant to take a man away from his work. James behavior did not change swiftly. Barely once a semester. Think beforeo calling their father away from his work. Balance, you have quite a physical fitness routine. We are not going to ask you to demonstrate too elegantly, but could you describe it for the audience . Justice ginsburg i can describe how it began. It was the year 1999. I had just gotten through a miserable year of overcoming colon cancer. , and nineive surgery months of chemotherapy, and makes weeks of daily radiation. I was quite wiped out. Marty said you look like the survivor of a concentration camp, youve got to do something to build yourself up. So i asked around, and got some recommendations. The chemistry didnt work. Someone on

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