Supreme Court justice talks about women’s struggles to advance in the law
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – In an era that’s become accustomed to men and women working together in most occupations, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg reminded her audience it wasn’t always that way. Speaking at the West Virginia University College of Law Thursday afternoon, Ginsburg noted, “In my growing up years, men generally held an unyielding conviction that women and law and women and judging don’t mix.’
She paused before adding, “It ain’t necessarily so.’
Ginsburg, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Cornell University and Columbia Law School, became a member of the Supreme Court in 1993 after being appointed by President Clinton.
Prior to her appointment, Ginsburg served as a U.S. Court of Appeals judge in the Washington, D.C., circuit. Before President Clinton tapped her for the position, Ginsburg worked as an attorney for women’s right and civil liberties issues. She also taught at Columbia, becoming the first woman with tenure to be hired there, and at Rutgers University Law School, where she battled for maternity leave rights for New Jersey schoolteachers.
On the Supreme Court, Ginsburg joined Justice Sandra Day O’Connor who had been appointed by President Reagan as the first female justice on the nation’s highest court.
The Supreme Court now is undergoing changes as Chief Justice William Rehnquist died last month of complications from thyroid cancer and was replaced by Chief Justice John Roberts. O’Connor announced in July she would retire. President Bush has nominated Harriet Miers to take her place with confirmation hearings slated to begin next month.
Many people today do not concern themselves about the faces or the rulings of the Supreme Court. But as West Virginia University President David C. Hardesty Jr. noted in his welcome, “While the work is sometimes less visible, nevertheless, the court has a true impact on our lives.’
On Thursday, however, Ginsburg met with an audience eager to hear her words. The spectators, including federal and state judges, filled the Marilyn E. Lugar Courtroom and were seated in an overflow area.
Ginsburg chose to give her audience a history lesson, recalling the struggles that women have endured to practice law and work as judges in the United States.
Men, she said, often argued against allowing women into law schools or state bar associations, for such nonsensical reasons as they didn’t have a bathroom for them.
Ginsburg noted, however, that women’s role in law can be traced back to ancient times when the Greeks worshipped a goddess of justice named Athena and the Book of Judges in the Bible tells of Deborah, a prophet, judge and military leader.
Yet, the first woman was not admitted into a U.S. law school until 1869. And after graduation, women found states unwilling to admit women to the bar. Even when this battle was won, the number of women going into law remained small.
Ginsburg noted the president of Harvard Law School answered a question on declining enrollment during World War II by saying, “Not as bad as we thought, we still have 75 students and we haven’t had to admit any women.’
But the number of women in law has increased dramatically in recent years. In the 1960s, only 3 percent of students enrolled in law school were women. Today, they account for more than 50 percent.
In 1919, the first women gained tenure in an accredited law school. Today, women make up about 23 percent of tenured law professors and 35 percent of the teaching staff overall.
More than 130 women have headed state bar associations, including nine currently in the positions.
Women began showing up on the bench in the mid-20th century. President Truman considered appointing a woman to the Supreme Court but then decided the time wasn’t right.
Presidents since Kennedy, however, have been appointing women on the federal bench with Carter appointing a barrier-breaking number – 40.
“President Carter literally changed the complexion of the U.S. judiciary’ Ginsburg noted by appointing not only women by judges of a variety of ethnic backgrounds.
Clinton appointed 104 women to the federal bench while the current President Bush has appointed 45 women so far.
“Yes, there are gains yet to be made,’ Ginsburg said. “… But what a long distance we have come since my graduation in 1959.’
Women serving on courts have changed the U.S. legal system for the better, Ginsburg believes.
“Our system of justice is certainly richer for the diversity of the background of its justices,’ she said, also noting it was poorer when judges were all cut from the same mold.
In referring to the Supreme Court, Ginsburg praised her colleagues whose presence now is missing from the bench. She said of Rehnquist, “He was the fairest, most efficient boss I ever had.’ And Ginsburg noted how O’Connor helped her learn her way on the Supreme Court, offering such advice on writing difficult decisions as “Don’t waste time on regret or resentment, just get the job done.’
Asked what advice she might have for young women whom she influences, Ginsburg said, “Just believe you can do anything God has given you the talent to do and you won’t be held back because you were a girl or a boy or one religion or another, or one skin color or another.’
She told a story about how her granddaughter had wanted to be included in a documentary that Ginsburg was doing and that her granddaughter was asked what she’d like to be when she grew up. Her answer: “President of the United States of the World.’
Ginsburg smiled, “There are girls growing up and believing they can do that. That’s something wonderful.’