Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Portrait Sculpture
Size: Life size
Media: Bronze
Installed: July 2021
Collection: Freedom From Religion Foundation
Location: Freethought Hall, Freedom From Religion Foundation Offices, Madison, Wisconsin

Ruth Bader Ginsburg (March 15, 1933 - September 18, 2020) was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. She earned her B.A. in Government at Cornell University, attended Harvard Law School, and received her LL.B. from Columbia Law School in 1954, graduating top in her class. She married Martin D. Ginsburg in 1954. From 1959 to 1961 she served as a law clerk to Judge Edmund L. Palmieri of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. During the 1960s she was associate director of a Columbia Law School Project on International Procedure where she studied the Swedish legal system, and co-authored the book Civil Procedure in Sweden with Swedish jurist Anders Bruzelius. In 1963 Ginsburg became a professor at Rutgers Law School, and from 1972 to 1980 taught Civil Procedures at Columbia Law school. She also served as a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in Stanford, California.

As a practicing attorney, Ginsburg litigated sex discrimination cases for the American Civil Liberties Union, and served as its general counsel (1973-1980) and on its National Board of Directors (1974-1980). In 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She was nominated by President Bill Clinton to serve on the Supreme Court in 1993. Justice Ginsburg was the first Jewish woman and the second woman on the Supreme Court, serving for 27 years. During her tenure Ginsburg wrote influential majority opinions, including United States v. Virginia (1996), declaring that qualified women could not be denied admission to Virginia Military Institute. Other notable opinions included Olmstead v. L.C. (1999), Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services (TOC), Inc. (2000), and Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (2007), in which her dissenting opinion was credited with inspiring the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, signed into law by President Barack Obama (2009). The law made it easier for employees to win pay-discrimination claims.

Ginsburg and her husband had two children, Jane C. Ginsburg and James Steven Ginsburg. She died on September 18, 2020 at age 87.

Award Sculpture
Subject: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Size: 10-inches high with a 2-inch wooden base
Media: Bronze
Created: 2023
Award: Presented to Hillary Clinton on April 5, 2023 when honored for lifetime achievements
Location: LOTOS Club, New York, New York