Probably never would have thought she would win a "fashion" award, but Apparel Search has selected Ruth Bader Ginsburg as the 2020 Fashion Woman of the Year.
Supporting women's rights is always in fashion.
Ruth was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death on September 18, 2020.
Ginsburg was born and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. Her older sister died when she was a baby, and her mother died shortly before Ginsburg graduated from high school. She earned her bachelor's degree at Cornell University and married Martin D. Ginsburg, becoming a mother before starting law school at Harvard, where she was one of the few women in her class. Ginsburg transferred to Columbia Law School, where she graduated joint first in her class.
Ginsburg spent much of her legal career as an advocate for gender equality and women's rights, winning many arguments before the Supreme Court.
Striking Down Male-only Admissions
Ginsburg authored the court's opinion in United States v. Virginia, 518 U.S. 515 (1996), which struck down the Virginia Military Institute's (VMI) male-only admissions policy as violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. For Ginsburg, a state actor could not use gender to deny women equal protection, therefore VMI must allow women the opportunity to attend VMI with its unique educational methods. Ginsburg emphasized that the government must show an "exceedingly persuasive justification" to use a classification based on sex.
Gender Pay Gap
Ginsburg dissented in the court's decision on Ledbetter v. Goodyear, 550 U.S. 618 (2007), a case where plaintiff Lilly Ledbetter filed a lawsuit against her employer claiming pay discrimination based on her gender under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In a 5–4 decision, the majority interpreted the statute of limitations as starting to run at the time of every pay period, even if a woman did not know she was being paid less than her male colleague until later. Ginsburg found the result absurd, pointing out that women often do not know they are being paid less, and therefore it was unfair to expect them to act at the time of each paycheck. She also called attention to the reluctance women may have in male-dominated fields to making waves by filing lawsuits over small amounts, choosing instead to wait until the disparity accumulates.[90] As part of her dissent, Ginsburg called on Congress to amend Title VII to undo the court's decision with legislation. Following the election of President Barack Obama in 2008, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, making it easier for employees to win pay discrimination claims, became law. Ginsburg was credited with helping to inspire the law.
Abortion Rights
Ginsburg discussed her views on abortion and gender equality in a 2009 New York Times interview, in which she said, "the basic thing is that the government has no business making that choice for a woman." Although Ginsburg consistently supported abortion rights and joined in the court's opinion striking down Nebraska's partial-birth abortion law in Stenberg v. Carhart, 530 U.S. 914 (2000), on the 40th anniversary of the court's ruling in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), she criticized the decision in Roe as terminating a nascent democratic movement to liberalize abortion laws which might have built a more durable consensus in support of abortion rights. Ginsburg was in the minority for Gonzales v. Carhart, 550 U.S. 124 (2007), a 5–4 decision upholding restrictions on partial birth abortion. In her dissent, Ginsburg opposed the majority's decision to defer to legislative findings that the procedure was not safe for women. Ginsburg focused her ire on the way Congress reached its findings and with the veracity of the findings. Joining the majority for Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, 579 U.S. 15-274 (2016), a case which struck down parts of a 2013 Texas law regulating abortion providers, Ginsburg also authored a short concurring opinion which was even more critical of the legislation at issue. She asserted the legislation was not aimed at protecting women's health, as Texas had said, but rather to impede women's access to abortions.
Search and Seizure
Although Ginsburg did not author the majority opinion, she was credited with influencing her colleagues on the case Safford Unified School District v. Redding, 557 U.S. 364 (2009). The court ruled that a school went too far in ordering a 13-year-old female student to strip to her bra and underpants so female officials could search for drugs. In an interview published prior to the court's decision, Ginsburg shared her view that some of her colleagues did not fully appreciate the effect of a strip search on a 13-year-old girl. As she said, "They have never been a 13-year-old girl."
Above are only a few of her many impressive achievements.
She was dubbed "The Notorious R.B.G.", and she later embraced the moniker.
In 2002, Ginsburg was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. Ginsburg was named one of 100 Most Powerful Women (2009), one of Glamour magazine's Women of the Year 2012, and one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people (2015).
Ginsburg died from complications of pancreatic cancer on September 18, 2020, at age 87. Following the private ceremony, Ginsburg's casket was moved outdoors so the public could pay respects. Thousands of mourners lined up to walk past the casket over the course of two days. After the two days in repose at the court, Ginsburg lay in state at the Capitol. She was the first woman and first Jew to lie in state therein. On September 29, Ginsburg was buried beside her husband in Arlington National Cemetery.
You may find the following blog posts to be of interest:
Fashion Woman of the Year 2018
Fashion Woman of the Year 2017
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