Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on September 18, 2020, at the age of 87.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg circa 1977. Long before she was a Supreme Court Justice, she had argued critical cases in front of the court—and often triumphed. She won five out of the six cases she presented to the court between the years 1973-78.
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Pres. Bill Clinton strolled along the White House colonnade with Supreme Court Justice nominee Ruth Bader Ginsburg on June 1, 1993. Ginsburg’s nomination passed the Senate that August, making her the second female justice in the Court’s history.
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Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg in her Chambers, U.S. Courthouse, September 1, 1984. During her time as a judge on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, she built her reputation as a meticulous moderate.
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Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court William Rehnquist (R) administered the oath of office to newly-appointed U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (L) as U.S. President Bill Clinton looked on 10 August 1993. Ginsburg was the 107th Supreme Court justice and the second woman to serve on the high court.
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Supreme Court nominee Ruth Bader Ginsburg answered reporters’ questions during a courtesy call to then-Senator Joe Biden’s office as Daniel Patrick Moynihan (L) D-N.Y. looked on, June 15, 1993
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Ruth Bader Ginsburg in her early days on the Supreme Court. She was confirmed as a justice by an astounding bipartisan majority, with a 96-3 vote in the Senate.
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Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, at the bottom of the Supreme Court building after taking her oath as the newest associate justice, October 1, 1993. Her tenure transformed the court and her career served as a beacon for women around the world.
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U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in her chambers at the Supreme Court August 7, 2002 in Washington, DC. During the following decade, as the court became more conservative, her voice emerged as that of a powerful dissenter.
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U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg attended a gala opening night dinner following a Washington Opera performance Oct 21, 2000 in Washington, D.C. A 2015 opera “Scalia/Ginsburg” memorialized her deep friendship with her fellow opera-loving justice, as well as their ideological sparring on the court.
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Bill Clinton applauded Ruth Bader Ginsburg after her moving speech accepting the Supreme Court nomination on June 14, 1993. After Ginsburg died on Sept. 18, 2020, former First Lady Hillary Clinton tweeted, “Justice Ginsburg paved the way for so many women, including me. There will never be another like her. Thank you RBG.”
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“My mother told me two things constantly. One was to be a lady, and the other was to be independent.”—Ruth Bader Ginsburg
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Supreme Court Justices (R-L) Scalia, Ginsburg, Stevens, Souter, then-Chief Justice Rehnquist, Kennedy, Blackmun, Thomas & O’Connor sitting for portrait, December 3, 1993. Ginsburg was the second female Justice in the Court’s history, after O’Connor.
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U.S. Supreme Court Justices (L-R) Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Ruth Bader Ginsburg arrived for services for former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist at the Supreme Court September 6, 2005 in Washington, DC.
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U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg waits to enter a dinner to honor Michelle Bachelet, Chile's first female president, May 8, 2006 in Washington, DC. Ginsburg herself was a trailblazer for her fellow women, and fought hard to uphold their rights, particularly on reproductive issues and workplace discrimination.
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Ruth Bader Ginsburg warmly greeted U.S. President Barack Obama prior to the president delivering his first State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, January 27, 2010.
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“So often in life, things that you regard as an impediment turn out to be great, good fortune.”—Ruth Bader Ginsburg
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While standing to receive her honorary degree, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was surprised with a serenade from Spanish tenor Placido Domingo (right) after he received his honorary degree. Ginsburg and her fellow justice Antonin Scalia, friends since the 1980s and ideological opponents on the court, were both devoted fans of opera.
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House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., right, prepared to take a picture in her Capitol office with Supreme Court Justices, from left, Elena Kagan, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Sonia Sotomayor, before a reception, March 18, 2015. The Justices were in the Capitol to be honored at Pelosi's annual Women's History Month reception in Statuary Hall.
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Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Stephen Breyer arrive at Donald Trump’s inauguration, January 20, 2017. In the run-up to the 2016 election, Mitch McConnell stonewalled on President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland. Ginsburg’s death sets up a similar showdown.
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Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg acknowledges applause as she arrives to speak at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, on April 27, 2017. In later years, thanks to her fiery dissents and recognizable style, “Notorious RBG” became a pop-culture icon (as seen on her meta tote).
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U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg receives the American Law Institute's Henry J. Friendly Medal from U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts in Washington, DC, on May 21, 2018. Ginsburg was even close to justices who were her ideological opposites, including the late Antonin Scalia.
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U.S. Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg before the start of a discussion with retired U.S. Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor led by Diane Sawyer during the Women's Conference in Long Beach, CA on October 26, 2010. O’Connor and Ginsburg were respectively the first and second women to be appointed to the Supreme Court.
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“Women will have achieved true equality when men share with them the responsibility of bringing up the next generation.”
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Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, second from right in the first row, poses with her fellow justices in the East Conference Room at the Supreme Court building on Nov. 30, 2018. That year, as the #MeToo movement roiled America, she revealed her own experiences with sexual harassment and noted, “I think it’s about time. For so long, women were silent.”
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U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, at a speech at Amherst College in Amherst, MA on Oct. 3, 2019. In her later years, Ginsburg became a pop-culture icon to a younger generation.
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Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg attended a private ceremony in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court where the late Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens lay in repose on July 22, 2019 in Washington, DC. Justice Stevens died at the age of 99 and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
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Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg celebrated her 20th anniversary on the bench in 2013. In an interview five years later, she revealed her philosophy had been shaped by her Jewish experience, “of being one of the people who had suffered oppression for no sensible reason. It’s the sense of being part of a minority. It makes you more empathetic to other people who are not insiders, who are outsiders.”
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“[I would like to be remembered as] someone who used whatever talent she had to do her work to the very best of her ability ... And to help repair tears in her society, to make things a little better through the use of whatever ability she has.”—Ruth Bader Ginsburg
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