Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg

by Irin Carmon

January 4, 1897: A woman abducted from her home at gunpoint wasn’t raped, the Supreme Court says in Mills v. United States, because for an act to be rape, “more force is necessary.”

Absolutely disgusting... So thankful for how far justice has come fo this... Though it still needs more work. For Men, women, children, people of all genders.

“I like the idea that we’re all over the bench. It says women are here to stay.” —RBG

“I think it will be one more statement that people who love each other and want to live together should be able to enjoy the blessings and the strife in the marriage relationship.” —RBG on performing same-sex weddings

“The women were a heck of a lot smarter than the men.” But they hid their smarts.

“Sometimes people say unkind or thoughtless things, and when they do, it is best to be a little hard of hearing—to tune out and not snap back in anger or impatience.”

The pedestal upon which women have been placed has all too often, upon closer inspection, been revealed as a cage.

Griswold attached a computer-generated list, marked Appendix E, of all the laws and regulations that treated men and women differently. RBG swiftly realized what Appendix E really was: a hit list.

“The decision whether or not to bear a child is central to a woman’s life, to her well-being and dignity,” she said simply.

“It is a decision she must make for herself. When government controls that decision for her, she is being treated as less than a fully adult human responsible for her own choices.”

“I have been supportive of my wife since the beginning of time, and she has been supportive of me. It’s not sacrifice; it’s family.” —Marty Ginsburg, 1993

For some reason, people repeatedly have asked RBG when she thought there

would be enough women on the court. The question is asinine, her answer effective: “When there are nine.”

Bryant Johnson still gets asked if the justice actually does “girl push-ups,” with her knees down. He rejects that term (and anyway, she doesn’t). “A push-up is a push-up is a push-up,” he says. “I don’t look at the fact that they’re a woman by limiting what they can do.”