Notorious RBG summary

When Kiki arrived at Cornell in Ithaca, New York in 1950, the university had a ratio of four men to every woman. Kiki found that though many of her female peers at Cornell were smarter than their male counterparts, they often suppressed their intelligence. Instead of a career, they were after what was known as a “MRS. degree” – in other words, finding a husband.

Kiki was different. She was in the Alpha Epsilon Phi sorority but avoided parties; instead, she’d smuggle books into the bathroom to study while her peers celebrated. She chose to major in government, studying constitutional law from the acclaimed professor Robert E. Cushman. She began to observe things about the United States she hadn’t noticed before – like the fact that the American army was segregated until the end of World War II.

Like Marty, RBG was accepted at Harvard Law School. Before RBG enrolled, however, the couple had to spend two years at Fort Sills US Army base in Oklahoma, while Marty – who had been in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps during college – taught at the artillery school. Her career as a lawyer would have to wait, but she was determined to make the best of her time as an army wife.

In Oklahoma, RBG took the civil service exam in order to work for the government. One day, on a trip to the Social Security office, she mentioned in passing that she was pregnant. What she didn’t realize was that being pregnant meant that she was immediately dropped to the lowest ranking position in the government – and forbidden from attending any job training that might’ve resulted in a promotion.

RBG graduated from Columbia Law School at the top of her class, but she wasn’t surprised when she was refused a clerkship by Supreme Court Associate Justice Felix Frankfurter after being recommended by her professors. After all, she was well aware that law wasn’t the most welcoming profession for women.

Still, her Columbia constitutional law professor Gerald Gunther was adamant about getting her a job. He promised Edmund L. Palmieri – the federal judge for the Southern District of New York – to find a male replacement if RBG couldn’t keep up with her responsibilities while taking care of her child. His stipulation was that if the judge didn’t hire her, Gunther would never recommend a clerk again.

RBG was characteristically one to keep her head down and pick her battles. It wasn’t her style to go out and protest during the women’s movement in the 1970s. Instead, she began her own kind of fight for women’s rights – using her skills as a lawyer.

Inspired by her students’ involvement in the women’s rights movement, RBG offered a course about gender in law. And as a volunteer lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU – a nonprofit organization defending the liberties and rights of American citizens – she began looking into letters of complaint written by women.

In 1972, RBG accepted Columbia Law School’s offer to become a tenured professor – a first for women at that institution. But the fact that Columbia was her alma mater didn’t stop her from taking on the institution for its own shortcomings in gender descrimination. Immediately after being hired, she helped female employees at Columbia win a class-action lawsuit to get equal pension benefits and pay.

In 1980, RBG’s career took a turn when President Jimmy Carter nominated her to the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. During her time as a judge on the D.C. Circuit, RBG became widely known as a moderate who focused on finding compromises wherever possible. The work was often relatively boring, but the position was known as a path to becoming a Supreme Court justice.

With over 30 years’ experience, RBG knew that the only way to convince her fellow justices of the equal stature of women was by keeping her cool throughout the process. Her calm demeanor wasn’t only successful in the court; it also created the foundation of her five decades of marriage.

Marty and RBG had a lifelong relationship characterized by mutual respect. Just as RBG had left Harvard to support her husband’s career, he too left his career in New York when she was appointed to the D.C. Circuit. His support for her career didn’t end there. When RBG crashed her car, Marty began driving her to the court every day until she was appointed a driver. He also cooked her dinner – a department in which he had the greater talent – and kept her on track during grueling work days by reminding her to sleep.

Nowadays, when people see RBG wearing a bib necklace made of glass beads on velvet, they know what card she’s about to pull. The Banana Republic necklace, which she received in a gift bag at Glamour’s Women of the Year event in 2012, is her designated dissent necklace.

Contrary to her public image today, RBG wasn’t always a dissenter. In fact, she only ever argued when she deemed it completely necessary. But as history would have it, her voice was destined to maintain the balance of the court.

Historically, one of the main reasons to dissent was in hopes that the public outside of the court would listen. And thanks to the internet, when it came to RBG’s dissents, they did.

The June 2013 ruling to dismantle key provisions in the Voting Rights Act drove many progressives to despair. Thousands of polling places have since closed, and access to early voting was curtailed in areas that disproportionately affect minority communities.