It is said with great sadness that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died at the age of 87 on Friday, Sept. 18, in Washington DC. The Supreme Court announced that her death was because of complications of metastatic pancreas cancer.
She was born on March 15, 1933, in Brooklyn, New York, and was surrounded by her family at her home in Washington, DC when she passed. A private interment service will be held at Arlington National Cemetery.
Though Ginsburg was appointed in 1993 by President Bill Clinton, she spent her entire life pushing for some of the most pressing social issues, including abortion rights, same-sex marriage, voting rights, immigration, health care and affirmative action.
She was the second woman appointed to the Court and served more than 27 years. As for her work within the Supreme Court, she has been serving as the most senior member of the court's liberal wing in the most recent years. She is very well known for her opinion she wrote in United States v. Virginia, a decision that held that the all-male admissions policy at the state-funded Virginia Military Institute was unconstitutional for its ban on women applicants.
"The constitutional violation in this case is the categorical exclusion of women from an extraordinary educational opportunity afforded men," she wrote in 1996.
Ginsburg was very special in her ability to write her true opinions despite having to persevere roaring disapprovals throughout her life and career.
Ginsburg was simply relentless; she had not missed a single day of oral arguments until the 2018 term, not even when she was undergoing chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer, after surgery for colon cancer, or the day after her husband passed away in 2010.
Cases she argued in included:
Duren v. Missouri (1978), Califano v. Goldfarb (1976), Edwards v. Healy (1974), Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld (1974), Kahn v. Shevin (1973), and Frontiero v. Richardson (1972).
"She led an amazing life. What else can you say?" President Donald Trump said Friday evening upon hearing about her death. "She was an amazing woman whether you agree or not; she was an amazing woman who led an amazing life."
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