The Supreme Court of the United States Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on Sept. 18, 2020. Appointed in 1993, Justice Ginsburg served on the court for 27 years. Justice Ginsburg will be remembered for her colorful dissents and ardent support of statutes to provide equal rights for women and men.
Justice Ginsburg on education
Justice Ginsburg affected education through her opinions and dissents as well. One of Justice Ginsburg’s most notable opinions is United States v. Virginia, 518 U.S. 515 (1996). The case involved a challenge to the Virginia Military Institute’s (VMI) practice of excluding women from the school. VMI argued that setting up a separate Virginia Women’s Leadership Institute at Mary Baldwin College would allow the same experience for women. After analyzing the record, Justice Ginsburg’s majority opinion concluded that it was clear the same experience would not be given to women. She ended the opinion stating, “there is no reason to believe that the admission of women capable of all the activities required of VMI cadets would destroy the Institute rather than enhance its capacity to serve the ‘more perfect Union.’” Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote an opinion of concurrence. In 2017, when Justice Ginsburg attended a celebration of the opinion at VMI, 11% of the student body were female cadets.
In many other cases, Justice Ginsburg wrote for the rights of children. Justice Ginsburg dissented in a case involving an Oklahoma School District that engaged in random drug testing of students who participated in competitive extracurricular activities such as band and Future Farmers of America (Bd. of Edn. of Indep. School Dist. No. 92 v. Earls). Although the majority of the court found that the testing did not violate the Constitution, Justice Ginsburg argued that the tests were unreasonable for this group of students.
In a case involving a school’s strip search of a 13-year-old girl, Justice Ginsburg provided useful context during oral arguments to her colleagues at a time when she was the sole female justice. In the end, the court concluded the strip search violated the Fourth Amendment (Safford Unified School Dist. v. Redding). Justice Ginsburg also joined the majority opinion in a case that found that Title IX allowed claims for retaliation by someone who had complained about sex discrimination (Jackson v. Birmingham Bd. of Edn.). The case involved a high school basketball coach who had complained about unequal treatment of the girls' team. These are just some of the highlights of education-related cases during Justice Ginsburg’s tenure.
Impact on the Court
The Supreme Court issued many genuine and heartfelt statements about Justice Ginsburg and her impact on the court from other current and former justices on the court. Associate Justice Clarence Thomas stated, “through the many challenges both professionally and personally, she was the essence of grace, civility and dignity. She was a superb judge who gave her best and exacted the best from each of us, whether in agreement or disagreement.” Associate Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh stated “Justice Ginsburg paved the way for women to become lawyers and judges. She made it possible for women and girls like my daughters to compete on equal footing as student-athletes.” Former Associate Justice David H. Souter stated, “Ruth Ginsburg was one of the members of the Court who achieved greatness before she became a great justice.”
Friendship
Although they did not always vote together while seated on the court, Justice Ginsburg and the late Associate Justice Antonin G. Scalia were very close friends. Their friendship started in the 1980’s when both were on the D.C. Circuit Court and continued on the Supreme Court. They spent every New Year’s Eve together and their families traveled together. They were even in an opera together. One example of their judicial disagreements is the previously mentioned United States v. Virginia case. Justice Scalia wrote a biting dissent to Justice Ginsburg’s majority opinion but gave it to her as soon as he was finished so she could address it in her majority opinion. The two did not take the other’s views as personal attacks, instead appreciated the other’s views. In an example to emulate, while Justices Ginsburg and Scalia had ideological differences, they grew closer as friends instead of seeing the other’s views as a moral defect.