My Own Words

by Ruth Bader Ginsburg

AT EIGHTY-THREE, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is still going strong. She works out twice a week in the Supreme Court gym. She watches the evening news on TV while on the elliptical glider. Under the guidance of her longtime trainer, she lifts weights and does 20 push-ups—with a short stretch in the middle to catch her breath. This is down from the 30 push-ups she did a few years ago—but more than most of us do at half her age, if ever. She has twice conquered cancer, in 1999 and 2009, and never missed a day on the bench. On Sunday, June 27, 2010, she lost her life partner of fifty-six years—and carried on. The day after Martin Ginsburg’s death, the last day of the Supreme Court’s Term, she appeared with her fellow Justices and announced one of the Court’s decisions from the bench. Marty, she said, would have wanted it that way.