DOCSLIB.ORG

THE FIREBRAND1 and the NOTORIOUS RBG2

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
THE FIREBRAND1 and the NOTORIOUS RBG2 THE FIREBRAND1 and THE NOTORIOUS RBG2 How the Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray, Esq. the first African American female priest in the Episcopal Church, who was also a brilliant legal theorist and lawyer, influenced the Hon. Ruth Bader Ginsburg in her ground-breaking work of challenging legal discrimination on the basis of sex 3– to the benefit of all women. Once in a century, two women who have shaken the foundations of our view of society, cross paths in a manner that significantly advances the movement for equity and justice. The Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray, Esq. and the Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg are those two. Born 23 years apart, and facing many challenges and rejections by a society not ready for their gifts and abilities, one woman (Murray) ended up setting a course that would clear a path and open space for the other (Ginsburg) to break new ground and create opportunity for all of us. Pauli Murray (1910-1985), full of ambition, drive and determination, experienced the sting of race discrimination and sex discrimination as she was rejected by several institutions of higher learning – Columbia University, University of North Carolina, Harvard Law School and Cornell Univeersity (faculty positioin). In each case, she fought back and she spoke out, but did not wallow in defeat. Instead, she went on to build an impressive record of firsts and onlies. In each case she chose a different path, excelled in her pursuits, and continued to advance, always breaking new ground. By the end of her life, she had a BA from Hunter College, a JD from 1 Pauli Murray was given the nickname “firebrand” by her friend, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The two are featured in the book by Patricia Bell-Scott: “The Firebrand and the First Lady” (Alfred Knopf, New York, 2016). 2 The nickname “Notorious RBG” was coined for Justice Ginsburg in their New York Times bestseller of the same name about her life and accomplishments, by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik (Harper Collins, 2015). When asked if it bothered her that her nickname came from the late rapper Notorious BIG, Justice Ginsburg quipped: “no, we have a lot in common, we’re both from Brooklyn.” 3 “On the Basis of Sex” is the name of a 2018 movie on the life and civil rights work of Justice Ginsburg. 1 Howard Law School (only woman in her class; graduated first in her class), a LLM from UC Berkeley (became California’s first African American deputy attorney general), a JSD from Yale University (first African American JSD at Yale), a MDiv from General Theological Seminary, and was ordained a priest (the first African American woman priest in the Episcopal Church). Along the way, she published a book of poetry, became an advocate for others, including an innocent death row inmate, was first to refuse to sit at the back of a bus (Virginia 1940), led early sit-ins to desegregate lunch counters (1945), helped form the National Organization for Women (NOW), published works on race discrimination and sex discrimination, developed new legal theories, was the first to found departments of African American Studies and Women’s Studies at Brandeis University, and wrote two autobiographies4. She also developed a 20-year plus friendship, with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, leaving an impressive exchange of letters, a reflection of their warm relationship that only ended on the First Lady’s death in 1962. Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933-2020) would be the first to admit the influence that Pauli Murray had on her efforts to bring an end to sex discrimination, by challenging laws particularly written and designed to limit the rights of women. Ginsburg, too, was a woman of focus and ambition who excelled in her studies despite facing discrimination on the basis of sex at almost every turn. After graduating with a BA, as the highest ranking female in her Cornell University class, she enrolled at Harvard Law School. At the outset, the Dean invited all 9 women (in a class with 500 men) to dinner and had each of them stand and justify why she should be at the law school, occupying a place that could have gone to a male. After two years, Ginsburg and her 4 “Proud Shoes” gives great historical context for her family from slavery forward. Pauli Murray, (first pub. 1956; Beacon Press, 1999). “Songs in a Weary Throat: Memoir of an American Pilgrimage” by Pauli Murray (first pub. 1987 posthumously, Liveright, 2018). 2 husband decided to relocate to New York, and Ginsburg requested to transfer to Columbia and still receive a Harvard Law degree as several males had done before. It was denied. She could transfer but she would not get a Harvard Law degree. After completing her third year at Columbia Law, and graduating jointly first in her class, no law firm would hire Ginsburg, because she was a woman. Again, she was experiencing discrimination on the basis of sex. Ginsburg would not accept defeat but went on to create her own record of firsts and onlies. She served as a briefing clerk for the federal court in New York, worked on international law at Columbia, learned Swedish and traveled to Sweden where she co-wrote a book on Swedish civil procedure; she taught at Rutgers Law School where she founded the Women’s Rights Law Reporter (the first of its kind), and during that time began her systematic effort to destroy the discriminatory laws that denied basic rights to women. She returned to Columbia Law where she became their first female tenured professor, and co-authored the first ever case book on sex discrimination. She co-founded the Women’s Rights Project. Ginsburg co-wrote (with the ACLU) the brief in the Supreme Court case, Reed v. Reed, which struck down Idaho’s law preferring the male parent to handle a deceased child’s estate. Ginsburg relied heavily on Murray’s sociological theories to win Civil Rights cases, and credited Murray as an honorary co-author on the Reed brief. Because of the Reed v. Reed case, hundreds of discriminatory laws have been changed. It was Murray who first argued to extend the Fourteenth Amendment against race discrimination to address sex discrimination. While at Howard Law School, Murray developed the concept of “Jane Crow” laws (a take off on Jim Crow), and first gave a speech on this theory in 1964. In 1965, she co-wrote and published an article on the Jane Crow theory. 3 After her success in the very important Reed case, Ginsburg commented about the sex discrimination legal theories by referring to Murray and her legal counterpart, Dorothy Kenyon: “We owed them so much, for they kept the idea – and the hope alive. We’re standing on their shoulders. We’re saying the same things they said, but now at last society is ready to listen.” Pauli Murray was a self-described pilgrim and imp. She was a trooper, a crusader, a tireless advocate who could not abide any injustice, a brilliant mind, a legal scholar, a labor organizer, a teacher, a poet, an author, a priest and a ground breaker. When asked in 1950 to write a pamphlet summarizing the racially discriminatory laws throughout the South, Murray wrote a 776 page, critically acclaimed book, “States Laws on Race and Color”, citing laws and other information from 48 states. In 1954, when Thurgood Marshall briefed and successfully argued the case of Brown v. Board of Education, he relied heavily on this book, calling it the “Bible” of the Civil Rights Movement. Today, it is described on Amazon as “[a] remarkable, hard-to-find resource ... an exhaustive compilation of state laws and local ordinances in effect in 1950 ....” Marshall also relied heavily on Murray’s use of sociological theories to make his winning legal arguments in Brown. In 1971, when Ginsburg and her husband were preparing to argue the history-making case of Moritz v. Commissioner (1971) in the federal 10th Circuit Court, Murray was one of the mock trial judges – the only female. Interestingly, in that seminal case that extended the care giver tax deduction to both sexes, the plaintiff was a male. Without question, the Hon. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a brilliant lawyer, law professor, and only the second female justice to serve on the United States Supreme Court, made great strides and progress in ending legal discrimination against women. But we can never forget the unsung 4 hero, the Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray, Esq. who has never been given her due as the one who laid the foundation upon which Justice Ginsburg built. We must give due credit to Pauli Murray. And Justice Ginsburg would be the first to say so. 5.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Evolution of the Image of the First Lady
    The Evolution of the Image of the First Lady Reagan N. Griggs Dr. Rauhaus University of North Georgia The role of the First Lady of the United States of America has often been seen as symbolic, figurative, and trivial. Often in comparison to her husband, she is seen as a minimal part of the world stage and ultimately of the history books. Through this research, I seek to debunk the theory that the First Lady is just an allegorical figure of our country, specifically through the analysis of the twenty- first century first ladies. I wish to pursue the evolution of the image of the First Lady and her relevance to political change and public policies. Because a woman has yet to be president of the United States, the First Lady is arguably the only female political figure to live in the White House thus far. The evolution of the First Lady is relevant to gender studies due to its pertinence to answering the age old question of women’s place in politics. Every first lady has in one way or another, exerted some type of influence on the position and on the man to whom she was married to. The occupants of the White House share a unique partnership, with some of the first ladies choosing to influence the president quietly or concentrating on the hostess role. While other first ladies are seen as independent spokeswomen for their own causes of choice, as openly influencing the president, as well as making their views publicly known (Carlin, 2004, p. 281-282).
    [Show full text]
  • Lessons Learned from Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
    LESSONS LEARNED FROM JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG Amanda L. Tyler* INTRODUCTION Serving as a law clerk for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the Supreme Court’s October Term 1999 was one of the single greatest privileges and honors of my life. As a trailblazer who opened up opportunities for women, she was a personal hero. How many people get to say that they worked for their hero? Justice Ginsburg was defined by her brilliance, her dedication to public service, her resilience, and her unwavering devotion to taking up the Founders’ calling, set out in the Preamble to our Constitution, to make ours a “more perfect Union.”1 She was a profoundly dedicated public servant in no small measure because she appreciated just how important her role was in ensuring that our Constitution belongs to everyone. Whether as an advocate or a Justice, she tirelessly fought to dismantle discrimination and more generally to open opportunities for every person to live up to their full human potential. Without question, she left this world a better place than she found it, and we are all the beneficiaries. As an advocate, Ruth Bader Ginsburg challenged our society to liber- ate all persons from the gender-based stereotypes that held them back. As a federal judge for forty years—twenty-seven of them on the Supreme Court—she continued and expanded upon that work, even when it meant in dissent calling out her colleagues for improperly walking back earlier gains or halting future progress.2 In total, she wrote over 700 opinions on the D.C.
    [Show full text]
  • American First Ladies As Goodwill Ambassadors
    City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Publications and Research Hunter College 2010 American First Ladies as Goodwill Ambassadors Wendy W. Tan CUNY Hunter College How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/hc_pubs/12 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] American First Ladies as Goodwill Ambassadors: Summaries after studying materials available in Presidential Libraries By Wendy Tan Head of Cataloging, Hunter College Libraries, the City University of NY 695 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10065 Abstract Quite a few First Ladies took very active moves regarding international interests, and they often weighed in their opinions on their husbands’ decisions on related issues. My research was mainly conducted in five Presidential Libraries associated with five well-traveled First Ladies. After studying hundreds of journeys they made, my descriptions were focused on five, one for each lady, of them only. All of these trips shared a common trait, which was under the calling of humanitarian cause. Key Words American First Ladies; Goodwill Ambassadors; American Women 2 Introduction According to Gallup’s poll (2001) for the category of “most admired women”, 1948-1961 was Eleanor Roosevelt; 1962-1966 Jacqueline Kennedy; 1971-1973 Pat Nixon; 1977-1980 Rosalynn Carter; 1993-2000 Hillary Clinton. One of the qualifications shared by all these winners is that they were the First Ladies during much of those periods. Another characteristic present among these First Ladies is that they actively participated in activities taking place in foreign lands.
    [Show full text]
  • Presidents' Day Family
    Schedule at a Glance Smith Center Powers Room Learning Center The Pavilion Exhibit Galleries Accessibility: Performances Hands-on | Crafts Performances | Activities “Make and Take” Craft Activities Special Activities Learning Wheelchairs are available Shaping A New Nation Suffrage Centennial Center at the Visitor Admission 10:00 Desk on a first come, first served basis. Video Popsicle presentations in the Museum Stick Flags 10:30 Mini RFK 10:00 – 11:00 Foyer Elevators are captioned for visitors John & Abigail Adams WPA Murals Smith Center who are deaf or hard 10:30 – 11:10 Suffragist 10:00 – 11:30 Kennedy Scrimshaw of hearing. 11:00 Read Aloud Sashes & Campaign Hats 10:30 – 11:30 10:45 – 11:15 Sunflowers & Buttons James & Dolley Madison 10:00 – 12:30 10:00 – 12:15 Powers Café 11:30 11:10 – 11:50 Colonial Clothes Lucretia Mott Room 11:00 – 12:15 11:15 – 11:40 Adams Astronaut Museum Tour 11:15 – 12:20 Helmets 11:30 – 12:15 12:00 Eleanor Roosevelt 11:15 – 12:30 Restrooms 11:50 – 12:30 PT 109 Cart 12:30 Sojourner Truth Protest Popsicle 12:00 – 1:00 Presidential Press Conference 12:15 – 1:00 Posters Stick Flags 12:30 – 1:00 Museum Evaluation Station Presidential 12:00 – 1:30 12:00 – 1:30 Homes Store 1:00 James & Dolley Madison 12:30 – 1:30 Pavilion Adams Letter Writing 1:00 – 1:30 Astronaut Museum 1:00 – 1:40 to the President Space Cart Lucretia Mott Helmets Lobby 12:30 – 2:15 1:00 – 2:00 1:30 Eleanor Roosevelt 1:15 – 1:45 1:00 – 2:00 Entrance 1:30 – 2:00 2:00 John & Abigail Adams Sojourner Truth 2:00 – 2:30 2:00-2:30 Museum Tour Zines Scrimshaw 2:00 – 2:45 1:00 – 3:30 Mini 2:00 – 3:00 Sensory 2:30 Powerful Women Jeopardy WPA Murals Accommodations: 2:30 – 3:00 2:00 – 3:30 Kennedy The John F.
    [Show full text]
  • From the Editor
    FROM THE EDITOR ntering my third year as an editor for this journal, I am continually impressed by the insightful, creative and powerful cases presented by the talented student authors E that are selected each year. In the midst of other graduate and dissertation-related duties, I find myself consistently prioritizing reviewing these case studies because I enjoy getting to deeply explore topics I would never think to investigate on my own. Often, I’m initially surprised by the issue chosen, but find myself drawn in as I read through each case. These case studies offer a refreshing alternative to other academic research whichW avoids in-depth analysis of a particular case or example in favor of abstract and quantitative approaches to exploring social issues. The cases in our current issue center on women in politics, and the representation of women in the media. In exploring the role of women in politics, these authors have chosen to analyze women’s leadership in both contemporary and historic settings. One case investigates Eleanor Roosevelt’s sponsorship of subsistence housing projects, and questions the limits placed on first ladies to enact social change. Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s time on the supreme court, the role of the court, and concerns about her potential replacements are analyzed in another case. The political coverage of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential race is examined in another. As more women continue to engage in politics, how women’s leadership is assessed in comparison to men’s is of extreme importance. The divisive coverage of Hillary Clinton brings us to another important theme of this journal, the representation of women in the media.
    [Show full text]
  • Student Packet (PDF)
    AMERICANS AND THE HOLOCAUST STUDENT PACKET IMMIGRATION AND REFUGEES: DEBATING THE WAGNER-ROGERS BILL ushmm.org/americans NAME AMERICANS DATE AND THE HOLOCAUST Student Packet IMMIGRATION AND REFUGEES: DEBATING THE WAGNER-ROGERS BILL Document Analysis Worksheet Directions 1. Read the text of the bill before Congress. 2. Review background information about the bill. 3. Examine the document assigned to you and answer the questions below. What group or individual did you read about? Summarize this person’s or group’s stance on the bill (list two to three main points of the argument): What evidence (if any) does your individual or group provide to support the argument? What external factors might have shaped this and how it was received by the intended audience? ushmm.org/americans IMMIGRATION AND REFUGEES: DEBATING THE WAGNER-ROGERS BILL 2 AMERICANS AND THE HOLOCAUST Student Packet THE WAGNER-ROGERS BILL OF 1939 Sen. Robert Wagner speaks with Rep. Edith Nourse Rogers about their bill to admit German refugee children. Actress Helen Hayes, who testified in support of the bill, sits in the middle.Library of Congress On February 9, 1939, in an attempt to help rescue Jews fleeing Nazi persecution, Senator Robert Wagner, a Democrat from New York, and Representative Edith Nourse Rogers, a Republican from Massachusetts, introduced a bill to permit the entry of 20,000 refugee children, ages 14 and under, from Nazi Germany into the United States over the course of two years (10,000 in 1939 and 10,000 in 1940) outside of the existing quota limit. Charity organizations, religious groups, and labor unions across the country publicized the plight of German refugee children in an attempt to gain support for the Wagner-Rogers “Child Refugee” Bill.
    [Show full text]
  • INHERENT DIGNITY: Women Change Makers in the Progressive Era
    THE RECOGNITION OF INHERENT DIGNITY: Women Change Makers in the Progressive Era An original play based on mostly primary source documents by Steven Angel & Priscilla Kane Hellweg A Creative Education Product of ENCHANTED CIRCLE THEATER 4 Open Square Way Studio 204 Holyoke, MA 01040 www.enchantedcircletheater.com © 2017 ENCHANTED CIRCLE THEATER www.enchantedcircletheater.com 1 The Recognition of Inherent Dignity: Women Change Makers in the Progressive Era by Steven Angel & Priscilla Kane Hellweg NARRATOR 1: 1948 -- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Preamble Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world, Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, …, Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law, Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations, Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms, Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge, Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, …1 1 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UN, http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/ ENCHANTED CIRCLE THEATER www.enchantedcircletheater.com 2 Eleanor Roosevelt NARRATOR: Eleanor Roosevelt, The Struggle for Human Rights, September 28, 1948 Sorbonne, Paris, France ELEANOR ROOSEVELT: (More than two thousand people crowded into the university amphitheater on September 28 and many more were denied entry.
    [Show full text]
  • Mary Mcleod Bethune (1875–1955)
    Mary McLeod Bethune (1875–1955) Mary McLeod Bethune was an educator and activist, serving as president of the National Association of Colored Women and founding the National Council of Negro Women. Who Was Mary McLeod Bethune? Mary McLeod Bethune was a child of formerly enslaved people. She graduated from the Scotia Seminary for Girls in 1893. Believing that education provided the key to racial advancement, Bethune founded the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute in 1904, which later became Bethune- Cookman College. She founded the National Council of Negro Women in 1935. Bethune died in 1955. Early Life Born Mary Jane McLeod on July 10, 1875, in Mayesville, South Carolina, Mary McLeod Bethune was a leading educator and civil rights activist. She grew up in poverty, as one of 17 children born to formerly enslaved people. Everyone in the family worked, and many toiled in the fields, picking cotton. Bethune became the one and only child in her family to go to school when a missionary opened a school nearby for African American children. Traveling miles each way, she walked to school each day and did her best to share her newfound knowledge with her family. Bethune later received a scholarship to the Scotia Seminary (now Barber-Scotia College), a school for girls in Concord, North Carolina. After graduating from the seminary in 1893, she went to the Dwight Moody's Institute for Home and Foreign Missions (also known as Moody Bible Institute) in Chicago. Bethune completed her studies there two years later. Returning to the South, she began her career as a teacher.
    [Show full text]
  • Ranking America's First Ladies Eleanor Roosevelt Still #1 Abigail Adams Regains 2 Place Hillary Moves from 2 to 5 ; Jackie
    For Immediate Release: Monday, September 29, 2003 Ranking America’s First Ladies Eleanor Roosevelt Still #1 nd Abigail Adams Regains 2 Place Hillary moves from 2 nd to 5 th ; Jackie Kennedy from 7 th th to 4 Mary Todd Lincoln Up From Usual Last Place Loudonville, NY - After the scrutiny of three expert opinion surveys over twenty years, Eleanor Roosevelt is still ranked first among all other women who have served as America’s First Ladies, according to a recent expert opinion poll conducted by the Siena (College) Research Institute (SRI). In other news, Mary Todd Lincoln (36 th ) has been bumped up from last place by Jane Pierce (38 th ) and Florence Harding (37 th ). The Siena Research Institute survey, conducted at approximate ten year intervals, asks history professors at America’s colleges and universities to rank each woman who has been a First Lady, on a scale of 1-5, five being excellent, in ten separate categories: *Background *Integrity *Intelligence *Courage *Value to the *Leadership *Being her own *Public image country woman *Accomplishments *Value to the President “It’s a tracking study,” explains Dr. Douglas Lonnstrom, Siena College professor of statistics and co-director of the First Ladies study with Thomas Kelly, Siena professor-emeritus of American studies. “This is our third run, and we can chart change over time.” Siena Research Institute is well known for its Survey of American Presidents, begun in 1982 during the Reagan Administration and continued during the terms of presidents George H. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush (http://www.siena.edu/sri/results/02AugPresidentsSurvey.htm ).
    [Show full text]
  • Finding Pauli Murray: the Black Queer Feminist Civil Rights Lawyer Priest Who Co-Founded NOW, but That History Nearly Forgot October 24, 2016
    Finding Pauli Murray: The Black Queer Feminist Civil Rights Lawyer Priest who co-founded NOW, but that History Nearly Forgot October 24, 2016 Photo courtesy Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University “If one could characterize in a single phrase the contribution of Black women to America, I think it would be ‘survival with dignity against incredible odds’…” - Pauli Murray, “Black Women-A Heroic Tradition and a Challenge” (1977) She was an African-American civil rights activist, who was arrested for refusing to move to the back of the bus in Petersburg, Va. 15 years before Rosa Parks; and she organized restaurant sit-ins in Washington, D.C. 20 years before the Greensboro sit- ins. She was one of the most important thinkers and legal scholars of the 20th century, serving as a bridge between the civil rights and women’s rights movements. Co-founder of NOW - She was a co-founder of the National Organization for Women, a feminist icon ahead of her time who challenged race and gender discrimination in legal, societal, academic and religious circles. And yet today, not many would recognize the name of the Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray – let alone her indelible impact on American law, civil rights and women’s rights. As a black, queer, feminist woman, Pauli Murray has been almost completely erased from the narrative. It is time she was recognized. A Remarkable Life - Murray’s life and her remarkable accomplishments are coming back into focus as the National Trust for Historic Preservation considers designating the Pauli Murray childhood home at 906 Carroll Street in Durham, N.C.
    [Show full text]
  • Second Addendeum to the Geraldine A. Ferraro Papers
    Second Addendeum to The Geraldine A. Ferraro Papers Marymount Manhattan College 221 East 71st Street New York, New York 10021 Archives Collection 3 Processed April 26, 2010 Mary Elizabeth Brown Daniel Saftler 1 Content Introduction 002 Correspondence Inventory (Box #227-#229) 003 Speeches Inventory (Boxes #229 to #230) 004 Subject Inventory (Box #230) 006 2 Introduction The two banker boxes comprising this third deposit of the Geraldine A. Ferraro Papers arrived at Marymount Manhattan College’s archives from Ms Ferraro’s former law office at Blank Rome in New York City in the winter of 2009. Processing of the previous two deposits governed the creation of series for this one. The Correspondence series documents Ferraro’s participation in Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 2008. The 58 folders include letters from most of the fifty states, most sent either in March or August of that year. One interesting feature is the number of letters from members of People United Means Actions (PUMA). The correspondence reflects the wide range of opinions the Obama campaign elicited. The Speeches series covers the period 1979 to 2008. Ferraro’s initial donation contains most of the speeches she gave when running for office and her first addendum contains speeches she gave as a member of the U.S. delegation the United Nations Commission on Human Rights; this addendum is strongest in speeches given after 1997. The collection reflects Ferraro’s work for a number of causes, especially her advocacy for patients with multiple myeloma, a disease she herself was diagnosed with in 1998.
    [Show full text]
  • Principles and Persons: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Raconteuse Kenneth L
    Hastings Law Journal Volume 63 | Issue 5 Article 1 6-2012 Principles and Persons: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Raconteuse Kenneth L. Karst Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.uchastings.edu/hastings_law_journal Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Kenneth L. Karst, Principles and Persons: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Raconteuse, 63 Hastings L.J. 1197 (2012). Available at: https://repository.uchastings.edu/hastings_law_journal/vol63/iss5/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Hastings Law Journal by an authorized editor of UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. Karst_63-HLJ-1197 (Do Not Delete) 6/24/2012 8:33 PM Articles Principles and Persons: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Raconteuse Kenneth L. Karst* Before she was appointed to the judiciary, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was often identified as the nation’s foremost legal advocate for women’s claim to equal citizenship. Eventually, some years after she had become Justice Ginsburg, she was assigned to write the opinion for the Supreme Court’s most sweeping decision validating that claim. Throughout her career as lawyer and judge, she has had a number of occasions to tell the stories of her former clients and other women. This Article considers several themes in those references, in particular her persistent efforts to give credit to other women for their courage and their fortitude. * David G. Price and Dallas P. Price Professor of Law Emeritus, UCLA School of Law. I offer this comment in memory of Martin D. Ginsburg. He is the very model of a modern masculinity.
    [Show full text]