My Own Words

by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Mary Hartnett (Editor), Wendy W. Williams (Editor)

Overview

The New York Times bestselling book from Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg—“a comprehensive look inside her brilliantly analytical, entertainingly wry mind, revealing the fascinating life of one of our generation's most influential voices in both law and public opinion” (Harper’s Bazaar).

My Own Words “showcases Ruth Ginsburg’s astonishing intellectual range” (The New Republic). In this collection Justice Ginsburg discusses gender equality, the workings of the Supreme Court, being Jewish, law and lawyers in opera, and the value of looking beyond US shores when interpreting the US Constitution. Throughout her life Justice Ginsburg has been (and continues to be) a prolific writer and public speaker. This book’s sampling is selected by Justice Ginsburg and her authorized biographers Mary Hartnett and Wendy W. Williams, who introduce each chapter and provide biographical context and quotes gleaned from hundreds of interviews they have conducted.

Witty, engaging, serious, and playful, My Own Words is a fascinating glimpse into the life of one of America’s most influential women and “a tonic to the current national discourse” (The Washington Post).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501145254
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	08/07/2018
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	6,501
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933–2020) was Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Born in Brooklyn, New York, she received her BA from Cornell University, attended Harvard Law School, and received her LLB from Columbia Law School. From 1959 to 1961, Ginsburg served as a law clerk to the Honorable Edmund L. Palmieri, Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. She was a professor of law at Rutgers University School of Law (1963–1972) and at Columbia Law School (1972–1980). She was appointed a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1980. President Clinton nominated her as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, and she took her seat on August 10, 1993.

Mary Hartnett is an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown Law, focusing on international women’s human rights.

Wendy W. Williams is Professor Emerita at Georgetown Law, best known for her work in the area of gender and law, especially concerning issues of work and family.

Read an Excerpt

My Own Words


ELEANOR ROOSEVELT had been the first lady throughout most of Ruth Bader’s childhood. Ruth’s mother, who deeply admired the first lady, often read Mrs. Roosevelt’s “My Day” newspaper columns aloud to Ruth. Eight months after President Roosevelt’s death, Eleanor Roosevelt was appointed by President Truman as a U.S. delegate to the newly established United Nations General Assembly. The UN Charter, in its preamble, declared as one of its aims “to regain faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small.” Eleanor Roosevelt, pursuant to that goal, became in April 1946 the first chairperson of the newly created U.N. Commission on Human Rights. In the wake of World War II, Ruth and her mother followed closely as Eleanor Roosevelt led the efforts that would result, in 1948, in the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document Roosevelt celebrated as “the international Magna Carta for all mankind.”

Two months after Eleanor Roosevelt was chosen to head the UN Commission on Human Rights, Ruth Bader, by then a thirteen-year-old eighth grader and editor of her school newspaper, the Highway Herald, wrote a column of her own. Her column, the first piece in this collection, was a sign of things to come. While other students wrote about the circus, school plays, and the glee club, Ruth discussed the Ten Commandments, Magna Carta, Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence, and United Nations Charter.

Highway Herald, June 1946

Published by Pupils of Elementary Public School 238, Brooklyn, New York

Editorial by Ruth Bader, Grade 8B1

Since the beginning of time, the world has known four great documents, great because of all the benefits to humanity which came about as a result of their fine ideals and principles.

The first was the Ten Commandments, which was given to Moses while he was leading the Israelites through the wilderness to the land of Canaan. Today people of almost every religion respect and accept them as a code of ethics and a standard of behavior.

Up until the thirteenth century, conditions under the kings of Europe were unbearable for the commoners. Taxation was high, living conditions poor and justice unknown. It was then, in 1215 AD, that the barons and peers of England met and drew up a charter called the Magna Carta. After forcing King John to sign it, the document was declared the governing law of the land. This gave the English peasants the first rights ever granted to them.

When William of Orange, a Dutchman, was offered the English throne, his chief ambition was to use the military powers of Britain to aid his beloved Holland in its war with Spain. In accepting this offer, he had to grant certain concessions to the English people. So, in 1689, he signed the Bill of Rights. This limited the King’s powers and gave much of the government control to parliament, another important stride in the history of the world.

The Declaration of Independence of our own U.S. may well be considered one of the most important steps in the shaping of the world. It marked the birth of a new nation, a nation that has so grown in strength as to take its place at the top of the list of the world’s great powers.

And now we have a fifth great document, the Charter of the United Nations. Its purpose and principles are to maintain international peace and security, to practice tolerance, and to suppress any acts of aggression or other breaches of peace.

It is vital that peace be assured, for now we have a weapon that can destroy the world. We children of public school age can do much to aid in the promotion of peace. We must try to train ourselves and those about us to live together with one another as good neighbors for this idea is embodied in the great new Charter of the United Nations. It is the only way to secure the world against future wars and maintain an everlasting peace.

Table of Contents

A Note on Sources 11

Preface Ruth Bader Ginsburg 13

Timeline 23

Part 1 Early Years and Lighter Side

Introduction 29

1 Editorial for the School Newspaper (Highway Herald) 39

2 One People (Editorial, East Midwood Bulletin) 45

3 Wiretapping: Cure Worse than Disease? (Letter to the Editor, Cornell Daily Sun) 54

4 Marty Ginsburg's Favorite Subject (Remarks Introducing Justice Ginsburg) 61

5 Law and Lawyers in Opera 71

6 Remembering Justice Scalia 80

7 The Scalia/Ginsburg Opera 87

8 The Lighter Side of Life at the Supreme Court 104

Part 2 Tributes to Waypavers and Pathmarkers

Introduction 115

1 Belva Lockwood 117

2 Women's Progress at the Bar and on the Bench 123

3 From Benjamin to Brandeis to Breyer: Is There a Jewish Seat on the United States Supreme Court? 137

4 Three Brave Jewish Women 149

5 Sandra Day O'Connor 154

6 Gloria Steinem 161

7 Remembering Great Ladies: Supreme Court Wives' Stories 163

Part 3 On Gender Equality: Women and the Law

Introduction 187

1 Women and the Law: A Symposium Introduction 195

2 How the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals Got My Wife Her Good Job 206

3 The Frontiero Reply Brief 213

4 The Need for the Equal Rights Amendment 225

5 The VMI Bench Announcement 241

6 Advocating the Elimination of Gender-Based Discrimination 247

Part 4 A Judge Becomes a Justice

Introduction 277

1 Rose Garden Acceptance Speech 285

2 Senate Confirmation Hearing Opening Statement 294

Part 5 The Justice on Judging and Justice

Introduction 317

1 Workways of the Supreme Court 329

2 Judicial Independence 349

3 Tribute to Chief Justice Rehnquist 359

4 The Madison Lecture: Speaking in a Judicial Voice 368

5 "A Decent Respect to the Opinions of [Human]kind": The Value of a Comparative Perspective in Constitutional Adjudication 400

6 Human Dignity and Equal Justice Under Law

a Brown v. Board of Education in International Context 417

b Remarks on Loving v. Virginia 426

c Remarks on the Value of Diversity: International Affirmative Action 431

7 The Role of Dissenting Opinions 443

a Remarks on the Role of Dissenting Opinions 446

b Bench Dissent Announcements (Ledbetter, Vance, Shelby County, Fisher, National Federation of Independent Business, Hobby Lobby, Carhart) 460

8 Highlights of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2015-16 Term 509

Conclusion 531

Acknowledgments 537

Notes 541

Illustration Credits 577

Editorial Reviews

08/29/2016
This collection of Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg’s writings, spanning 70 years, is an excellent introduction to this Renaissance woman and will whet readers’ appetites for her forthcoming biography by coauthors Hartnett and Williams. No one will be surprised that it contains cogent, well-reasoned, and accessible entries on subjects of general interest, such as equal rights for women and judicial independence. Even those who have followed the octogenarian jurist over her long and distinguished tenure on the Supreme Court will find plenty of less expected items to relish, including an editorial Ginsburg wrote as an eighth grader in 1946 for her Brooklyn elementary school newspaper on the importance of the new U.N. Charter. Her passion for operas is expressed in remarks she made on the radio in 2015, analyzing how law and lawyers have been portrayed in them. At a time of bitter political partisanship, her respect and affection for colleagues with different views, as displayed in posthumous tributes to fellow justices Rehnquist and Scalia, are very welcome. The variety of subjects is impressive, and Ginsburg’s gift for concision enables her to discuss them in enough detail to engage interest while leaving the reader wanting more. Agent: Esther Newberg, ICM. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"The Notorious RBG makes it even harder to ponder her eventual absence with a look at gender inequality, the Supreme Court’s inner workings, and the too-little-remarked-upon intersections of law and opera."

New York Magazine

"A comprehensive look inside her brilliantly analytical, entertainingly wry mind, revealing the fascinating life of one of our generation's most influential voices in both law and public opinion."

Harper's Bazaar

"Much recommended as a Christmas gift for smart, ambitious nieces. And nephews, too."

The Guardian

No sitting Supreme Court justice has the adoring fan base Ruth Bader Ginsburg has. . . . the amicus briefs, and, later, bench announcements included here are recognizably impressive, even to civilians, in their lucidity, calm persuasiveness, and avoidance of jargon on one side and distracting captiousness on the other. The more informal writings in My Own Words share those qualities while adding charm.

Bookforum

At the heart of My Own Words is an abiding commitment to civility, to institutional norms, to the infinite possibilities of dialogue and cooperation, and to the now-dubious notion that protecting outsiders and others is a core American value. . . . Above all, always in her own methodical way, what shines through these essays is Ruth Bader Ginsburg, feminist, who truly could not conceive of a world without meaningful gender parity in the 1970s . . . as a collection of thoughtful writing about perseverance and community and the law, it is a tonic to the current national discourse.

The Washington Post

"What emerges is not a portrait of a take-no-prisoners advocate but a strategic legal plotter who understands how to bring her audience around to her point of view."

USA Today

Ginsburg has used her words to promote equality and stem discrimination as well as to express gratitude and to celebrate others who did so before and with her. . . . exceedingly readable, thanks to Ginsburg’s characteristically precise and unembellished prose.

Newsweek

A sort of greatest hits album....devotees will no doubt be delighted to have some 300 pages of Ginsburg all in one place.

Associated Press

"[My Own Words] reveals a more personal side of the unlikely icon who has inspired operas, tattoos, T-shirts and millions of young women who never knew that the law was once reserved for male lawyers."

CNN.COM

"Readers will gain unprecedented insight into the inner workings of the Supreme Court and garner unparalleled appreciation for one of its finest minds.

Booklist

"The selection showcases her astonishing intellectual range, from law and lawyers in opera, to tributes to Louis Brandeis, William Rehnquist, and Gloria Steinem, to the significance and form of dissenting opinions. The book also includes a number of revealing speeches Ginsburg has given about her historical heroines . . . Hartnett and Williams’s brief biographical introductions to each section show how much Ginsburg has heeded it."

The New Republic

"Readers will gain unprecedented insight into the inner workings of the Supreme Court and garner unparalleled appreciation for one of its finest minds.

Booklist

"What emerges is not a portrait of a take-no-prisoners advocate but a strategic legal plotter who understands how to bring her audience around to her point of view."

USA Today

Ginsburg has used her words to promote equality and stem discrimination as well as to express gratitude and to celebrate others who did so before and with her. . . . exceedingly readable, thanks to Ginsburg’s characteristically precise and unembellished prose.

Newsweek

A sort of greatest hits album....devotees will no doubt be delighted to have some 300 pages of Ginsburg all in one place.

Associated Press Staff

★ 10/15/2016
This compendium of Ginsburg's lectures and addresses, compiled with her official biographers Mary Harnett and Wendy W. Williams, perfectly complements the work of others on the topic of the justice's life and writing. The book consists of five illustrative parts: "Early Years and Lighter Side," "Tributes to Waypavers and Pathmarkers," "On Gender Equality: Women and the Law," "A Judge Becomes a Justice," and "The Justice on Judging and Justice." These representative pieces cogently excerpt Justice Ginsburg's writings from a high school newspaper editorial to famous Supreme Court dissents. Along the way, Ginsburg pays homage to struggles of Jewish and female attorneys and jurists. Not surprisingly, she serves as an exemplar, and her work toward gender equality is well represented in this superb book. "Workways of the Supreme Court," her remarks on the inner workings of Supreme Court practice and procedure, should be required reading for first year law students and for the rest of us as well. VERDICT Indispensable for readers of Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik's Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and invaluable to fans of the Notorious RBG and to students of Anglo-American jurisprudence. [See "Editors' Fall Picks," LJ 9/1/16, p. 29.]—Lynne Maxwell, West Virginia Univ. Coll. of Law Lib., Morgantown

Library Journal

2016-08-25
From the second woman ever appointed to the Supreme Court, a collection of writings ranging from the slight to the serious.Now 83, women’s rights icon Ginsburg nears the close of her distinguished career as a law professor, appellate advocate, judge, and justice, arguably having done more to move our law in the direction of gender equality than any living person. Now, as two Georgetown Law professors, Hartnett and Williams (emerita) prepare her official biography, they have collected Ginsburg’s speeches, lectures, articles, and opinions, some on offer here. They preface most of this material with explanatory, wholly complimentary notes and begin with a chapter of juvenilia, demonstrating Ginsburg’s early interest in human rights and in preserving individual liberties. Passages devoted to “the lighter side” of life at the Supreme Court include, for example, Ginsburg’s musings on lawyers depicted in opera, not least her own “starring” role in Scalia/Ginsburg. There follows a section on “waypavers” and “pathmarkers,” Ginsburg’s tributes to, among others, Belva Lockwood, the first woman admitted to the Supreme Court Bar, Gloria Steinem, “the face of feminism,” and Sandra Day O’Connor, the court’s first woman justice. Especially good are the author’s observations on the court’s “Jewish seat” and her charming lecture on four notable Supreme Court wives. These, and many other agreeable selections, are characterized as “remarks,” delivered and often recycled for various audiences. The collection also contains numerous bench announcements, summaries of some of Ginsburg’s most consequential opinions and dissents, and a few revealing essays that offer keys to her jurisprudence: for example, her perspective on the role of dissents, the value of consulting foreign law, and the wisdom of “measured motions” by the judiciary, wherein she mildly criticizes Roe v. Wade for provoking a backlash and halting “a political process that was moving in a reform direction.” Only the most dedicated Ginsburg fans, and there are many, will devour everything here, but most readers will find items of interest from this icon of women’s rights.

Kirkus Reviews