My Own Words

by Ruth Bader Ginsburg

the questions we take up are rarely easy; they seldom have indubitably right answers. Yet by reasoning together at our conferences and, with more depth and precision, through circulation of, and responses to, draft opinions, we ultimately agree far more often than we divide sharply.

For both men and women the first step in getting power is to become visible to others, and then to put on an impressive show. . . . As women achieve power, the barriers will fall. As society sees what women can do, as women see what women can do, there will be more women out there doing things, and we’ll all be better off for it.XII

Then, too, we must try hard to understand that for righteous people hate and prejudice are neither good occupations nor fit companions. Rabbi Alfred Bettleheim once said: “Prejudice saves us a painful trouble, the trouble of thinking.” In

No one can feel free from danger and destruction until the many torn threads of civilization are bound together again.

There can be a happy world and there will be once again, when men create a strong bond towards one another, a bond unbreakable by a studied prejudice or a passing circumstance.

Once asked how we could be friends, given our disagreement on lots of things, Justice Scalia answered: “I attack ideas. I don’t attack people. Some very good people have some very bad ideas. And if you can’t separate the two, you gotta get another day job. You don’t want to be a judge.

And saying that our future’ll Be suddenly “race-neutral” Is acting like an ostrich with its head stuck in the sand— Because it cannot stand To see what plagues our land.

(À la Verdi)46 You are searching in vain for a bright-line solution To a problem that isn’t so easy to solve— But the beautiful thing about our Constitution Is that, like our society, it can evolve.

For our Founders, of course, were great men with a vision, But their culture restricted how far they could go, So, to us, I believe, they bequeath the decision To allow certain meanings to flourish— (With a vocal flourish) —and grow.47

Though we won’t be afraid of forgiving, We must not stop in our mission to right every wrong— Not until We the People and our Constitution are living 53 In a nation, in a place That, regardless of station or race, Is a nation where all of us truly belong! 54

vägmärken, which translates literally as “pathmarker” or “waypaver.”

Belva Ann Lockwood, her birth year, 1830. Lockwood was the first woman ever to gain admission to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Bar, the first woman to argue a case before the nine Justices, and the first woman to run the full course for president.

Lockwood sought more than suffrage. She urged full political and civil rights for all women. Though she could not vote for president, she twice ran for the office herself, pointing out that nothing in the Constitution barred a woman’s candidacy.

Marietta Stow: “We shall never have equal rights until we take them, nor equal respect until we command it.” In 1884 and 1888, during her two campaigns as the presidential nominee of the Equal Rights Party, Lockwood cast a spotlight on a range of issues warranting public attention and government action.