Ruth Bader Ginsburg - Women's History Month - 9

A woman for all time, well deserved to be in Women's History Month!

The ERA:

When Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was asked what amendment she would most like to see added to the U.S. Constitution, she replied that she would choose "the Equal Rights Amendment," noting that when her granddaughters read the Constitution, she would like them to see "that that is a basic principle of our society." Although more than 80% of countries guarantee gender equality in their constitutions, including, as Ginsburg noted "every constitution written since the Second World War" -- the period during which most of the world's constitutions were written -- the world's oldest written constitution does not include this protection.

In effect since 1789, the U.S. Constitution was written during a period when gender equality was far from being an important societal value. Over time, the US has passed many laws protecting women's rights but, as Ginsburg observes, "Legislation can be repealed. It can be altered... That principle belongs in our Constitution." The U.S. Constitution is exceedingly difficult to amend, however the ERA was nearly added to the Constitution forty years ago. The Amendment, which was originally drafted by suffragist Alice Paul in 1923, was approved by both houses of Congress and endorsed by then President Richard Nixon in 1972. It then went to the states for approval, but ultimately only received 35 of the 38 state ratifications needed to become a Constitutional Amendment.

Today, there is renewed interested in an Equal Rights Amendment, which, according to Ginsburg, would recognize that "women are people equal in stature before the law." Many older women's rights activists observe that young people are often shocked to learn that the Constitution does not guarantee equal rights for women; in fact, one survey found that 72% of adults incorrectly believed that the Constitution included such a gender equality guarantee. Justice Ginsburg did not see the passage of the ERA in her lifetime, She said it's an essential part of ensuring women's equal protection, observing that a "prime part of the history of our Constitution is the story of the extension of constitutional rights to people once ignored or excluded."

RGB's life:

Here is the excellent biography from Britannica

Wikipedia says this:

Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg ; March 15, 1933 – September 18, 2020) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death in 2020. She was nominated by President Bill Clinton to replace retiring justice Byron White, and at the time was generally viewed as a moderate consensus-builder. She eventually became part of the liberal wing of the Court as the Court shifted to the right over time. Ginsburg was the first Jewish woman and the second woman to serve on the Court, after Sandra Day O'Connor

Ginsburg was born and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. Her older sister died when she was a baby, and her mother died shortly before Ginsburg graduated from high school. She earned her bachelor's degree at Cornell University and married Martin D. Ginsburg, becoming a mother before starting law school at Harvard, where she was one of the few women in her class. Ginsburg transferred to Columbia Law School, where she graduated joint first in her class.

Despite two bouts with cancer and public pleas from liberal law scholars, she decided not to retire in 2013 or 2014 when Obama and a Democratic-controlled Senate could appoint and confirm her successor. Ginsburg died at her home in Washington, D.C., on September 18, 2020, at the age of 87, from complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer. The vacancy created by her death was filled 39 days later by Amy Coney Barrett, a conservative. 

The Wikipedia article has much more information about her long life and many judicial decisions.

She left a great impact on women's rights.