Transcripts For CSPAN Justice Ginsburg On A Meaningful Life

Monday morning. Join the discussion. Discussedder ginsburg her life and career out of four of at Stanford University at a forum at Stanford University. [applause] good evening. It is my very great pleasure to welcome you to Memorial Church for this years lecture on a Meaningful Life. Tonight, we are deeply honored to have as our speaker associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Ice of the supreme couf the United States Ruth Bader Ginsburg. [applause] on the last day of his business law class one spring, the lecture was such a success that it turned into an annual tradition at stanford for many years until the professor retired. It was revived in 2008, supported by a generous gift to the office of religious life by the foundation for global communities, which established the henry and Amelia Rathbun bond fund for exploring for what leads to a Meaningful Life. Year, a visiting fellow is selected to come to stanford to deliver this lecture and to spend time with our faculty, students and staff. World, and in a time of great 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 rathbun visiting fellow. Many of you know her by another rpg. Er as the notorious notorious rbg. [applause] that name got its start several years ago in a tumbler blog could together by an admiring law student, and it just took off from there. Today, Justice Ginsburg find yourself not only a member of our nations highest court, but a cultural phenomenon as well. Brooklyn, Justice Ginsburg received her bachelors degree from Canal University and her law degree from Columbia Law School. She was professor of law at Rutgers University from 1963 to 1972, and a Columbia Law School from 1972 to 1980. She cofounded the womens rights project of the American Civil Liberties union, and she served as the aclu general counsel from 1973 to 1980. She was appointed to the United States court of appeals for the district of columbia circuit in 1980. President clinton nominated her as an associate justice of the Supreme Court, and she took her seat on the court in 1993. These biographical facts come nowhere close to adequately describing the person. There really arent sufficient words to describe the impact she and on thethe law advancement of womens rights in america. Pioneering, daring. They are all true. But they still dont capture it. Justice ginsburg went to law school in an era in the 1950s when very few women did. She faced in norma was challenges as a woman and as a mother in pursuing her career in that era. She then turned her career to the cause of battling discrimination on behalf of women everywhere. At Columbia Law School, she became the schools first tenured female professor. Project,mens rights she argued six cases before the Supreme Court. Centraled an absolutely role in establishing contemporary law on equal protection as it relates to equality between the sexes. Many in fact have called her the Thurgood Marshall of womens rights. She was the second woman to join United States Supreme Court serving at the time with Justice Sandra day oconnor who has also been a rathbun visiting fellow. Justice ginsburg will be in conversation tonight with the dean for religious life and professor of religious studies here at stanford. Professor shop previously taught at oxford for 16 years, and just before coming to stanford, she in the dean of the cathedral san francisco. We look forward to an insightful and engaging conversation. And now, if you will, please join me in welcoming to stanford Justice Ruth Bader inspired. Ruth bader ginsburg. [applause] Justice Ginsburg thank you. Thank you, thank you very much. Please be seated. I thought it might be an appropriate beginning 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. It is the preface all in my own words. Did you always want to be a judge . Or more exorbitantly, a Supreme Court justice . School children who visit me at the court as they do at least weekly ask that question more than any other. It is a sign of huge progress , judge todays youth served as an aspiration for a girl is not at all outlandish. Contrast the ancient days in 1956 when i entered law school. Women wear then less than 3 of the lawyers in the United States. Servede woman had ever on a federal appellate court. She was florence allen, appointed by Franklin Delano roosevelt to the court of appeals for the sixth circuit. By the time i got to law school, she was retired and then 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 seated on the u. S. Supreme court bench. Women hold more than 30 of u. S. Law school dean ships and serve as general counsel to took quite fortune 5004 of companies. In my long life, i have seen great changes. How fortunate i was to be a live and a lawyer when for the first time in u. S. History it became the equal citizens of stature of men and women. Now there is a page out of place. Bear with me and moment. Should be not too far from here. If it is skipped, we will go on to the next one. About teachers who influenced or encouraged me in my growing up years, at cornell university, the european literature professor vladimir knockoff nabokov. Could paint pictures i learned from him. Choosing the right word in the right word order he illustrated could make an anonymous difference in conveying an image or an idea. From constitutional law professor and american ideals professor, i learned of our nations enduring values, and staring forress was them in the red scare years of the 1950s. Also, how lawyers could remind lawmakers that our constitution shields the right to think, without fear of reprisal from government authorities. School, foraw besser Benjamin Kaplan was my first and favorite teacher. He used the socratic method in ,is civic procedure class always to stimulate, never to wound. He was the model i tried to follow in my own law teaching until 1980. 963 at a Columbia Law School, who later served under the stanford law faculty. He was determined to place me in a federal courtship, despite what was then viewed as a grave impediment. On graduation, i was the mother of a fouryearold child. Mission,ded in that and in later years litigated cases in or headed to the spring court. And dealing with sticky legal issues. Me find failed to help the right path. Another often asked question when i speak in public do you have some good advice you might share with us . Yes i do. [laughter] motherinlaw. Y advice she gave me on my wedding day. , it helpsood marriage sometimes to be a little death deaf. I have followed that advice assiduously 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 i thought i saw unkind words spoken, best tune out. Reacting in anger or annoyance will not advance ones ability to persuade. Advice my father in law had also served me well. Yearse it during my gap 19541956. My husband marty was fulfilling his obligation to the army as an all generally officer desk as an artillery officer. 1954, we look for to becoming three in july 1955. Lawrried about starting school the next year with an infant to care for. Ruth, 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 law, you will stop worrying and you will find a way to manage to go to school. Engaging ad quite nanny on school days from 8 00 to 4 00. Many times after when the road was rocky, i thought back to fathers wisdom, spent no time dotting, and found a way to what i thought was important to get done. Worklife balance was the term in the years my children were young. It is aptly descriptive of the Time Distribution i experienced. , i havess in law school no doubt, was due in large member in large measure to baby jane, my daughter. I took classes and studied diligently until 4 00 in the afternoon. The next hours were james time janes time. Reading picture books and a a. Ilne poems bathing and feeding her. After her bedtime, i returned to renewedschool with vigor. Each gave me a sense of proportion that classmates trained only on the law. I have had more than a little bit in life, but nothing equal to my magnitude in marriage. 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 my son james was born. Marty made the kitchen his domain and became chef supreme friendsome, on loan to even at the court. Marty coached me through the birth of our friend. He was the first critic of the present 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 klein said of my 1993 nomination i would say 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 includedhat everything gaining the unqualified support of my home state senator, Daniel Patrick moynihan, and enlisting of the of many members academy as a practicing bar familiar with what i had done. I have several times said that the office i hold, now nearing 24 years, is the best and most consuming job a lawyer anywhere could have. Is tourts main job repair fractures in federal law, to step in when other courts have disagreed on what is the relevant federal law required. Does whate court other jurists have divided over , theeeting of the statute questions we take up our rarely easy. They seldom have indubitably right answers. Yet by reasoning to gather at our conferences, and with more , weh than precision ultimately agree far more often than we divide sharply. , 20152016 term, we were unanimous at least on the bottom line judgment in 25 of the 67 cases decided at the full briefing. In contrast, we divided fivethree or 43. Justice scalias death death reduced the number of justices to eight. We divided sharply only eight times. When justices have the firm view that the majority got it wrong, she is free to say so in dissent. I take advantage of that prerogative. I think it is important, as to my colleagues. Disagreementsrong on cardinal issues, for example Clinical Campaign spending, access to the ballot, affirmative action, access to abortion, samesex marriage. We genuinely respect each other and enjoy each others company. Collegiality is key to the success of our mission. We cannot do the job the constitution assigns to us if we didnt, to use one of Justice Scalias favorite expressions, get over it. [laughter] all of us revere the constitution. We aim to ensure that when we leave the court, the third branch of government will be in as good shape as it was when we joined it. , i spoke of great changes i have seen in womens occupations. Yet one must of knowledge the still bleak part of the picture. Most people in poverty in the United States and the world over are women and children. Ns earnings here with comparative education and experience, our workplaces do not adequately accommodate the demands of childbearing and child rearing area we have yet to devise effective ways to ward off Sexual Harassment at work, and Domestic Violence in our homes. Optimistic that the Movement Toward enlisting this talent of all who compose we the , asle, will continue expressed by my great colleague, the first woman to serve on the u. S. Supreme court, Justice Sandra day oconnor, for both men and women, the first step in getting power is to become visible to others. And 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 we will all be better off for it. Expectation, i can only say amen. [laughter] [applause] Justice Ginsburg, it is a huge pleasure and honor to have you with us. Thank you for accepting my invitation. Designedun program is to foster thinking about what it means to lead a Meaningful Life. You have said some things about that already. Could you encapsulate what that means to me to lead a Meaningful Life for you . Simply, it means doing something outside yourself. If you are willing to be a lawyer and just act as your profession, you have a skill. You are very much like a plumber. If you want to be a true professional, you will do something outside of yourself. Yourhing to repair community, something to make life a little better for people less fortunate than you. That is what i think a Meaningful Life is. One lives not just for oneself, but for once community. That is wonderful, thank you. Do you think that is the same as a purposeful life . Justice ginsburg yes. I think the purpose of what you aim for. How does family play a part in your own life and your own meaning in your life . Its a veryburg large part. It is one of the things that brought Justice Scalia and i together, because we both care a lot about families. 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 have two other families by the middle 60s. That made me realize that it would be possible for the first law in history, to move the in the direction of what i felt equal citizenship stature for men and women. About that. Talk about your own experience and how it lead you to the work. In the daysburg when i want to law school, entering class at harvard, it was over 500 students. Only nine were women. No antidiscrimination laws. Employers were totally upfront any lady we dont want lawyers here. We once hired a woman, she was dreadful. And how many men have you hired that didnt live up to your expectation . [laughter] Justice Ginsburg things we did complain about. Had nineaw school, we women. There were two teaching buildings at the time. Only one of them had a womens bathroom. You can imagine if you were in class. It is much worse fear taking a three or four hour exam and had to make the mad to the other building. We never complained. That is just the way things were. 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. Possible tocame into separate sphere mentality. The womens place was with the family, taking care of the home, and the mans place was outside. He was the representative of the family outside the home. Many of our laws were designed to fit that model of the stayathome woman and the workaday man. A decade of the 70s, almost all of the laws of that time were gone. Aboutld you like to talk one or two of the cases that were most important in that . Justice ginsburg maybe i can speak about two cases. The first one was the turning point about one case. Until 1971, the Supreme Court never saw a genderbased classification that it didnt think was ok. If we take the years of the liberal war in court warren court. What we would today call an abused, battered woman. Her abusive and philandering husband one day had deleted her to the breaking point. Spied her young sons baseball bat in the corner of the room, lifted it up, and with all her might, hit him on the head. He fell on the stone floor. And their altercation, beginning of the murder prosecution. In those days, in hell broke out. , hillsboro county there was something wrong about that. Jury including women would have acquitted her, but she thought they might better understand her state of mind. Her rage at the moment. Ofbe they would convict her the lesser crime of manslaughter instead of murder. She was convicted of murder. When the case came to the Supreme Court, the absence of women on the jury rolls. Gwendolyn hoyt, women have the best of both worlds. We dont call them for jury duty, but if they come in and sign up, we will put