In honor of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s 87th birthday on March 15, we asked some of the women who worked for her to reflect on the impact she’s had on them—and on us.
March 8 is International Women’s Day. To celebrate, we asked women like Jackie Aina, Cecile Richards, and these nine former clerks to Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to reflect on how other women have lifted them up—mentored them, advised them, represented them, and above all showed them what was possible.
At the start of 2018, cultural icon and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was about to mark her 25th anniversary on the bench and her 85th birthday. Between the two milestones, some wondered whether her retirement was imminent. But with President Donald Trump in the White House, the Notorious RBG made clear she intended to remain in her position—in her usual understated fashion. How? She hired clerks to serve in two more terms.
To hear the women who worked for her tell it, the impact she had on them far exceeded the time spent in her chambers. With her example, an entire generation of women has risen up in the courts, teaching law, practicing it, deciding it, adjudicating it—all the while working toward that more perfect union.
And then there are all the personal moments, both during the clerkship and in the years since—the time I accompanied the Justice to the opera and witnessed her passion for music firsthand; the conversation we had when I told her I was pregnant and she described how her beloved husband Marty had timed her contractions when she was giving birth, but rigged the math to make them seem more bearable; the times I have stood at the podium to deliver my own Supreme Court arguments and watched Justice...
Becoming a parent made me more productive at work. When I had my first child, time became my most precious commodity, and I became much better at guarding it. But in the years since, I too often slipped into immediately saying “yes”—to events, volunteer requests, and more. Conversations with the Justice helped me to be more thoughtful and strategic. Is this really worth missing bedtime or a chance to help my 11-year-old with her math homework? If not, I try to say no.
Rachel Wainer Apter serves as the director of the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights. She clerked for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg during the 2011 term. The opinions expressed are those of the author alone and do not reflect the views of the Division on Civil Rights, the Attorney General, the Department of Law and Public Safety, or the State of New Jersey. This tribute was adapted from an earlier version that appeared on Law360.
Sometimes, at least, I learn that the school did also call my husband, and I feel like we’ve made at least some progress. I am inspired by her daily and I am so grateful for her work to create change.Lisa Beattie FrelinghuysenThe year I clerked for Justice Ginsburg, the Supreme Court took a case, United States v. Virginia, involving the Virginia Military Institute, an all-male state college that trained its students to be great “citizen soldiers,” leaders in business and the military.
A year later, when Sarah Zorn, a female cadet at the Citadel, was appointed the first regimental commander, leading the corps’ five battalions and 21 companies, I wrote to the Justice, “How great is that, when only 10% of the student body is female?” The Justice wrote back, “70 push-ups in two minutes; impressive.” I wondered, was the Justice considering the next level in her RBG workout?
The personal education was about life partnership: A few years later, I married another one of Justice Ginsburg’s law clerks—and Sam and I both benefited from the incredible education offered by the model of Marty and Ruth Ginsburg’s truly egalitarian marriage, between two amazingly accomplished partners.
Margo Schlanger is the Wade H. and Dores M. McCree Collegiate Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School. This tribute was adapted from an earlier version that appeared in Law360. Dori Bernstein served as a law clerk to then Judge Ginsburg on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. She later worked as an appellate attorney at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and as director of the Supreme Court Institute at Georgetown University Law Center.
A few days later, I arrived at Justice Ginsburg’s chambers for the extraordinary and surreal honor of a yearlong clerkship assisting the Justice in preparing for argument and in drafting her opinions. She was already a rock star to me and my co-clerks, but over the next few months her fanbase grew by millions, and then tens and hundreds of millions, until she became one of the most well-known and admired women in the world.
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