Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Her Life, Dissents, and Legacy

Born: March 15, 1933 · Died: September 18, 2020 · Supreme Court Tenure: 1993–2020 · Known For: Women’s rights, dissents, iconic collars · Spouse: Martin D. Ginsburg (m. 1954–2010)

Eight key facts about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, one pattern: her life bridged legal advocacy and cultural influence across decades.

What was so special about Ruth Bader Ginsburg?

Ruth Bader Ginsburg took her seat on August 10, 1993 (Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center), becoming the second woman ever appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court (Supreme Court of the United States (official biography)). Before that, she co-founded the Women’s Rights Law Reporter and the ACLU Women’s Rights Project, winning landmark gender equality cases that changed the legal landscape.

“Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the second woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.”

— Supreme Court of the United States, official biography

Who did not vote to confirm Ruth Bader Ginsburg?

• Her confirmation was nearly unanimous: 96–3. The three senators who voted no were Don Nickles (R-OK), Robert C. Smith (R-NH), and Jesse Helms (R-NC) (U.S. Senate Roll Call Vote Database (official record)).

What were Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s political views?

• She consistently voted in favor of abortion rights, LGBTQ+ equality, and affirmative action (Oyez (Supreme Court media archive)).
• She described herself as a “moderate liberal” and believed in strict separation of church and state (Encyclopaedia Britannica (biography)).

The pattern: confirmation was the easy part; the harder fight came years later, over her place in American politics.

What ethnicity is Ruth Bader Ginsburg?

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was born in Brooklyn, New York, on March 15, 1933, to Jewish parents of Polish and Austro-Hungarian descent (Federal Judicial Center (judge biography)). She married Martin D. Ginsburg in 1954 and remained married to him until his death in 2010.

How many husbands did Ruth Ginsburg have?

• She had one husband: Martin D. Ginsburg, a noted tax attorney. They were married for 56 years (Supreme Court of the United States (official biography)).

Did Ruth Bader Ginsburg believe in God?

• She identified as Jewish but was not observant. She believed in the separation of church and state and once stated she was not “a practicing religionist” (The New York Times (profile interview)).

The takeaway: Ginsburg’s heritage informed her public career, but she refused to let personal faith dictate constitutional judgment.

What famous words did Ruth Bader Ginsburg always say?

Ginsburg’s most famous utterance was “I dissent” — a phrase she wielded in court and in public appearances. She also often said that women belong in all places where decisions are being made, and famously remarked about the number of women on the Supreme Court: “When there are nine, there will be enough” (Encyclopaedia Britannica (famous quotes)).

“Women belong in all places where decisions are being made.”

— Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Why did RBG wear collars?

• She wore a black jabot with gold trim to signify dissenting opinions, and a separate gold collar for majority opinions. The collars became a symbol of her judicial philosophy (NPR (cultural report)).

What this means: Ginsburg treated symbols as arguments, and the public treated her symbolism as a legal education.

Why did RBG wear collars?

Ginsburg began wearing special collars to differentiate her opinions after noticing that male justices often wore contrasting shirt collars under their robes. She adopted a black velvet jabot for dissents and a gold-lace collar for majority opinions (The New York Times (fashion analysis)).

• The collars were a deliberate visual cue: the “dissent collar” signaled to the world when she disagreed with the majority (NPR (cultural report)).

The implication: the dissent collar gave non-lawyers a courtroom signal that votes alone could not convey.

Why did people not like RBG?

Conservatives criticized Ginsburg for her liberal rulings on abortion, LGBTQ+ rights, and affirmative action. In a 2015 interview, she called Donald Trump “a faker,” drawing fire for violating judicial impartiality norms (The New York Times (2016 interview)). She also refused to retire under President Obama in 2013–2014, a decision that later allowed Trump to replace her with Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

What did Ruth Ginsburg say about Donald Trump?

• In an interview with the New York Times, she said “I think he is a faker” and later apologized for the comment (The New York Times (2016 interview)).

Why didn’t Ruth Bader Ginsburg retire under Obama?

• She stated that she believed the Court still needed her voice and that she wanted to prove that a liberal justice could serve until old age (NPR (retirement explanation)).

The consequence: Ginsburg’s choices became part of the judiciary’s political story, not just her personal biography.

What happened when Ruth Bader Ginsburg died?

Ginsburg died on September 18, 2020 from complications of pancreatic cancer. She lay in state at the U.S. Capitol and at the Supreme Court — the first woman ever to do so (University of California Press (obituary coverage)). She was buried at Arlington National Cemetery next to her husband Martin, who was a WWII veteran.

Why is RBG buried at Arlington?

• Eligibility for burial at Arlington National Cemetery is based on service as a federal judge and on her husband’s military service. Martin D. Ginsburg served in the U.S. Army during World War II (Arlington National Cemetery (official record)).

1. 1933: Born in Brooklyn, New York (Supreme Court of the United States (official biography))
2. 1954: Married Martin D. Ginsburg (Supreme Court of the United States (official biography))
3. 1959: Graduated from Columbia Law School (Supreme Court of the United States (official biography))
4. 1972: Co-founded the Women’s Rights Law Reporter (Supreme Court of the United States (official biography))
5. 1980: Appointed to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals (Supreme Court of the United States (official biography))
6. 1993: Appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Clinton (Supreme Court of the United States (official biography))
7. 2010: Husband Martin died (Supreme Court of the United States (official biography))
8. 2016: Called Donald Trump ‘a faker’ (The New York Times (2016 interview))
9. 2020: Died from pancreatic cancer complications (Supreme Court of the United States (official biography))

The pattern: from Brooklyn to Arlington, Ginsburg’s chronology shows a life where legal and personal chapters kept intersecting.

How does her legacy stand?

Ginsburg’s legal achievements are undisputed: she argued landmark gender equality cases, co-founded the ACLU Women’s Rights Project, and served 27 years on the Supreme Court. Yet her posthumous reputation is split — she is both a feminist icon and a figure blamed for the conservative Court shift. For liberal supporters, the lesson is clear: legacy requires not just winning battles, but timing your exit. For historians, her life represents a rare blend of legal doctrine and popular culture, a justice who used symbols as arguments and won the public’s imagination.

For future judicial nominees, the implication is plain: your vote on the Court matters for decades, but so does your sense of when to step aside.

Frequently asked questions

The through-line: the questions people ask about Ginsburg reveal how her legal record and cultural symbolism converged.

Related reading

• Mojtaba Khamenei: Biography and Rise to Supreme Leader — explore another story of leadership and power.
• Xi Jinping: Leadership, Term Limits, and Power Structure — a comparison of executive power dynamics.

The contrast: Ginsburg’s authority flowed from legal reasoning and public persuasion, while the leaders in these related stories hold power through institutional command.