In 1960, US Supreme Court judge Felix Frankfurter was instrumental in denying a young lawyer a job as a supreme court clerk –- he refused to work with a woman. In fact, Ruth Bader Ginsburg found it hard to find a job at any prestigious law firm, despite being a graduate of both Columbia and Harvard law schools. Since then, her journey, both as a lawyer and a Supreme Court judge, was marked by milestones, each another step towards equality before law, and of opportunity. Her death last week has sparked a political storm — defying convention, President Donald Trump and Republicans in the US Senate are trying to nominate and confirm her successor, a conservative jurist in all likelihood, in an election year.
As a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, Ginsburg led the charge in a series of cases that guaranteed greater gender equality, including equal pay and abortion rights. As a judge, she was known as much for her judgments as her dissenting opinions. In United States v Virginia, Ginsburg wrote the majority opinion, which ended the Virginia Military Institute’s men-only admission policy. In Bush v Gore in 2000, her eloquence then was substituted with the impact of brevity. She wrote, simply, “I dissent”.
