A Tribute to RBG
"Women's rights are an essential part of the overall human rights agenda, trained on the equal dignity and ability to live in freedom all people should enjoy."
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
POMERANTZ MONITOR | SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2020
We owe a great deal to our notorious RBG. As co-founder of the ACLU Women’s Rights Project, she fought against sex-role stereotyping, arguing and winning five landmark cases before the Supreme Court during the 1970s. These decisions established the principle of equal treatment in the law for women and men and disposed of numerous laws that treated people differently based on outdated gender stereotypes. Later, as a Supreme Court Justice, RBG wrote strong opinions that fiercely advocated for both gender and racial equality.
RBG’s story is even more compelling because she faced gender discrimination first-hand in law school and her early career. She struggled with the demands of balancing work and family – a theme that is only too familiar to female attorneys today. As a young law student, she also nursed her husband through a bout with cancer and cared for their young daughter. I suspect RBG did not watch much TV. Instead of allowing these challenges to define and defeat her, RBG set out to redefine the law and cleared a path for future generations of women.
It was a sad irony that I learned of RBG’s passing while putting the final touches on a brief in my firm’s case against Wynn Resorts. The litigation arises from allegations that Wynn’s CEO sexually harassed and assaulted the company’s female employees for years, while senior management stood by and did nothing. The case is a stark reminder that much work lies ahead to protect RBG’s legacy and ensure truly equal treatment in the workplace. To be sure, sexual harassment must be tamped out for good, but also the less obvious forms of discrimination – such as gender pay gaps and implicit bias – are still all too prevalent and need to be eradicated.
Today, we mourn our beloved RBG. Tomorrow, we must continue her fight.
Following are brief tributes to RBG from Pomerantz attorneys and a young staff member now applying to law school.
I had the honor to appear for argument before the Supreme Court in 2007 in Stoneridge Investment Partners, LLC vs. Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. Advocates before the Court are often mere pawns; the Justices state their own views and argue their own positions to the other Justices by questioning the lawyers. It was clear from the outset that the conservative Justices were hostile to my position. But Justice Ginsburg, in her soft, measured voice, threw me a few softball questions to counter their attack. And when my adversary was on his feet, it was Justice Ginsburg who was really on the offensive, making my points better than I had done. She was formidably impressive -- as comfortable and sophisticated in analysis on a complex business case under the federal securities laws as she was with social and Constitutional matters.
“Women belong in all places where decisions are being made.” Justice Ginsburg tirelessly fought to achieve that noble goal. Faced with tremendous obstacles, she never capitulated but fought for those rights until her last breath. Justice Ginsburg inspired little girls and women alike to reach for the stars – and made that dream a reality. She “righted” many “wrongs.” Rest in Power, Justice Ginsburg.
“You can do anything--” a phrase many of us have heard, whether from loving parents or encouraging educators. It’s a phrase that implies no barriers and freedom of choice—limited only by our abilities to dream. But it’s a phrase that historically, for many women, included a large and bolded “EXCEPT.” Not for Ruth Bader Ginsburg. With three strikes against her as a woman, a mother, and a Jew, Justice Ginsburg lived a life where that “EXCEPT” pushed her to heights that others would have deemed unascertainable. Those “strikes” shaped Justice Ginsburg into the legend we all mourn today; they motivated her unfailing pursuit of equality and tireless quest against discrimination of all kinds. From successfully arguing five gender discrimination cases before the Supreme Court in the seventies to issuing landmark decisions against discrimination during decades as a Supreme Court Justice, Justice Ginsburg embodied the biblical phrase, “tzedek tzedek tirdof”—“justice justice you shall pursue,” which hung on the wall of her Supreme Court office. As a Jewish mother and a full-time lawyer— I look in awe at Justice Ginsburg’s trailblazing accomplishments. She is the proof that I, that we all, can turn what others see as deterrents into superpowers, and indeed, do anything.
No other lawyer, writer or legal mind has had as much influence on my legal career as Justice Ginsburg. I attended Rutgers University School of Law—Newark, where she taught from 1963 to 1972. Many of my professors at Rutgers were former students of hers who used her lessons, which shaped me as an attorney. As a law student, I was both a member and co-editor-in-chief of the Women’s Rights Law Reporter, the first law journal to focus exclusively on the field of women’s rights law and for which Justice Ginsburg was its first faculty advisor. From its inception to this day, the WRLR walks the trail blazed by Justice Ginsburg and focuses on developing her insights on gender and the law. I am one of many, many attorneys who would not be where I am today without Justice Ginsburg, and her influence guides every case I read, argument I make and word I write as an attorney.
I learned of the name Ruth Bader Ginsburg during my early legal studies. Whilst I found Supreme Court opinions interesting, there was something particularly fascinating when the voice was that of Justice Ginsburg, especially in her dissenting opinions. In a male-dominated profession, Justice Ginsburg was a personal role model, particularly for her courage, her strength, her devotion to justice and her commitment to equality. Her legacy will thankfully live way beyond the generations that were lucky enough to witness her make history.