Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, affectionately known to many as RBG, has passed away at age 87 from complications from Cancer.
Justice Ginsburg was born Ruth Joan Bader March 15th, 1933 in Brooklynn, New York. Years later, the day before she would graduate from high school, she lost her mother Celia Bader to cancer.
Justice Ginsburg went on to earn her bachelor’s degree in government, graduating first in her class from Cornell University in 1954. She married Martin D. Ginsburg in the same year and after a military deployment and discharge, the couple went to Harvard. After health complications with her husband, the couple moved and Ginsburg transferred to Columbia Law School, graduating first in her class there as well in 1959. Ginsburg served as a clerk for a few years moving into academia teaching at Rutgers and Columbia, later becoming the first female professor to receive tenure at the latter. Despite her successes, Ginsburg faced many gender discrimination obstacles and challenges throughout her academic studies and career, making her an advocate for women’s rights and gender equality.
President Jimmy Carter appointed Justice Ginsburg to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in 1980. She served in this position until she was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1993 by President Bill Clinton and was confirmed by a 96-3 Senate Judiciary Committee vote. Justice Ginsburg was the second woman appointed to be a U.S. Supreme Court justice.
Justice Ginsburg has been in and out of the hospital multiple times over the last few years. In 1999, Ginsburg underwent treatment for colon cancer and then, in 2009, she was treated for early stages of pancreatic cancer. In August of 2019, pancreatic cancer returned and received treatment then as well.
Justice RBG’s presence will truly be missed and are thoughts and prayers are with her family.
