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Notorious RBG summary

Name: Notorious RBG
Rating: 4.6 (29 reviews)
Author: Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik

Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik

The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg

4.6 (29 ratings)

25 mins

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Notorious RBG
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What’s in it for me? Get to know America’s most iconic Supreme Court justice.

In 2013, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, known by her fans as RBG, was 80 years old. Many said that her career was over. But then something interesting happened. Inspired by her fiery liberal dissents, millennials made RBG an internet sensation. Coauthor Shana Knizhnik, who was a young NYU law student at the time, saw a Facebook post referring to the 5-foot-tall judge as “Notorious R.B.G.” – a tongue-in-cheek comparison to the late 300-pound American rapper Notorious B.I.G. Taking the reference further, Knizhnik created a Tumblr tribute page for the judge by the same name.

Among other tributes, Notorious R.B.G. went viral. Virtually overnight, RBG became an unlikely pop icon. Yet while she gained more traction online with every dissent, many of her new fans didn’t realize that this was just one chapter in her story.

In these blinks, you’ll find out

which necklace RBG wears when reading a dissent;
why RBG kept her second pregnancy a secret from her employer; and
two pieces of advice from RBG’s mother that led to her success, in and out of the courtroom.

Born in Brooklyn, RBG had a normal childhood but experienced tragedy in her family.

Known during her childhood by her nickname Kiki, Joan Ruth Bader was born in Brooklyn’s Flatbush neighborhood on March 15, 1933 – a time when prejudiced treatment of Jews was common, even among ethnic minorities who’d also recently arrived in the United States. Still, RBG remembers her childhood fondly.

RBG’s mother, Celia Amster Bader, was a first-generation American and one of seven children whose parents had fled the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Though Celia had graduated with top grades from high school, she didn’t go on to college. Instead, she was expected to be a loving wife, and her income as a bookkeeper was partially divested to fund her brother’s college tuition at Cornell. When it came to her own daughter, she instilled a love for learning and hoped that Kiki, at least, would attend university one day.

As a young woman, the popular but quiet Kiki spent ample time at the library and was especially fond of Nancy Drew mystery novels. She admired Nancy as an independent woman with a knack for adventure and a dominant role in her romantic relationship. Kiki also attended Camp Che-Na-Wah in the Adirondacks in the summer, and played the cello. It was a fairly normal childhood – so normal that no one at the time predicted the success she would go on to achieve.

But things weren’t always easy for Kiki. When she was two years old, her sister Marylyn died from meningitis, and her mother was diagnosed with cervical cancer when she was 13. Not wanting her friends to feel sorry for her, Kiki kept these facts about her family a secret. She also knew that she could make her mother happy by focusing on her studies. The work paid off, and Kiki was accepted into Cornell with multiple scholarships to her name. But Kiki didn’t end up attending graduation. The night before the ceremony, her mother tragically passed away.

Despite her early death, Celia remained an important inspiration throughout Kiki’s life. Kiki particularly held onto two pieces of advice from her mother: The first was to be a lady – meaning that she should never let herself be overcome by pointless emotions like anger or envy. The other lesson her mother had often repeated was to be independent. As it turns out, Kiki’s mother had exercised her own independence by saving an additional US$8,000 for her daughter’s education.

As a student at Cornell, Kiki’s future husband was the first boy to appreciate her intelligence.

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.

In spite of setbacks, RBG made the Law Review at both Harvard and Columbia.

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 became a lawyer at a time when women were disregarded by most legal institutions.

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 found her life’s work in the fight against gender discrimination.

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.

RBG’s dedicated work and supportive husband led to her appointment to the Supreme Court in 1993.

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.

RBG’s relationships were defined by mutual respect, both on and off the bench.

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.

RBG began a streak of fiery dissents after the Supreme Court swung right during Bush’s presidency.

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.

Since 2013, RBG has become an unlikely pop icon who has refused to retire in spite of her age.

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.

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What is Notorious RBG about?

Notorious RBG (2015) chronicles the life story of US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. From her childhood in Brooklyn – when she was known by her nickname, Kiki – to capturing the public imagination with her scathing dissents on the bench, these blinks portray one woman’s relentless fight to give American women and men equal rights under the country’s legislation.

New York Times Bestseller

Who should read Notorious RBG?

Millennials interested in the life of America’s most unassuming pop icon
Students of US history, law, and politics
Social activists and feminists looking for inspiration

About the Author

Irin Carmon is an Israeli-American journalist and commentator. She is a CNN contributor, a senior correspondent at New York Magazine, and was previously a national reporter at MSNBC.

Shana Knizhnik is an American lawyer and author from Philadelphia. In 2013, she created the viral Notorious R.B.G. Tumblr, where she chronicled memes and articles about Justice Ginsberg.

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