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Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:01:03,780 --> 00:01:07,873 Michael Savage: This witch. This evildoer. This monster. 2 00:01:08,014 --> 00:01:10,137 Mark Levin: She has no respect for the traditions 3 00:01:10,173 --> 00:01:11,884 of our Constitution, none. 4 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:15,939 Donald Trump: An absolute disgrace to the Supreme Court. 5 00:01:15,975 --> 00:01:18,863 Rick Wiles: She's one of the most vile human beings. 6 00:01:18,899 --> 00:01:20,307 Scott Lively: She's very wicked, yeah. 7 00:01:20,342 --> 00:01:22,045 Michael Savage: She's anti-American. 8 00:01:22,081 --> 00:01:23,681 Bill O'Reilly: She's a zombie. 9 00:01:23,717 --> 00:01:25,986 The woman's a zombie, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 10 00:01:32,826 --> 00:01:36,178 I ask no favor for my sex. 11 00:01:36,615 --> 00:01:38,865 All I ask of our brethren... 12 00:01:39,584 --> 00:01:42,865 is that they take their feet off our necks. 13 00:02:08,116 --> 00:02:13,530 Twenty-six, 25, 24, 23, 21, 20, 19 14 00:02:22,376 --> 00:02:25,110 Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 15 00:02:34,662 --> 00:02:39,208 - How's your health? - Uh, I'm feeling just fine. 16 00:02:40,715 --> 00:02:43,123 Here now to comment is Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 17 00:02:45,647 --> 00:02:48,990 It's an amazing thing to see somebody in her 80s 18 00:02:49,030 --> 00:02:52,388 - become such an icon. - Do you mind signing this copy? 19 00:02:52,707 --> 00:02:56,186 I am 84 years old and everyone wants to take a picture with me. 20 00:02:56,498 --> 00:02:59,482 She is really when you come right down to it, 21 00:02:59,647 --> 00:03:01,755 the closest thing to a superhero, I know. 22 00:03:06,677 --> 00:03:09,670 They call her Notorious RBG, that's her rap name. 23 00:03:09,759 --> 00:03:11,392 - Notorious R... - RBG. 24 00:03:11,474 --> 00:03:16,000 Yeah, no, no, RGB... RBG right. 25 00:03:17,763 --> 00:03:18,892 Supreme Court Justice, 26 00:03:18,927 --> 00:03:20,894 Ruth Bader Ginsburg getting a lot of attention 27 00:03:20,930 --> 00:03:23,113 after she delivered a scathing dissent. 28 00:03:23,149 --> 00:03:25,566 Whether you agree with her or not, you got to acknowledge 29 00:03:25,602 --> 00:03:27,269 she's been a force on that Court. 30 00:03:27,305 --> 00:03:29,210 Liberal hero, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 31 00:03:29,246 --> 00:03:30,675 As much as people admire her, 32 00:03:30,711 --> 00:03:32,111 they don't even know the half of it. 33 00:03:32,888 --> 00:03:34,820 She was the queen. 34 00:03:34,914 --> 00:03:36,263 Ruth knew what she was doing 35 00:03:36,298 --> 00:03:37,855 in laying the foundation. 36 00:03:38,117 --> 00:03:41,867 To put women on exactly the same plane as men. 37 00:03:42,023 --> 00:03:43,370 Ruth Bader Ginsburg 38 00:03:43,406 --> 00:03:47,008 quite literally changed the way the world is for American women. 39 00:03:47,234 --> 00:03:52,891 Twelve, 11, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five... 40 00:03:53,531 --> 00:03:56,607 Today the Senate judiciary committee welcomes 41 00:03:56,643 --> 00:03:58,410 judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 42 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:01,225 the president's nominee to be associate justice 43 00:04:01,261 --> 00:04:03,508 of the 'United States Supreme Court'. 44 00:04:14,633 --> 00:04:18,292 Judge do you swear the testimony you are about to give 45 00:04:18,328 --> 00:04:20,668 will be the whole truth and nothing but the truth, 46 00:04:20,704 --> 00:04:21,742 so help you God? 47 00:04:21,895 --> 00:04:24,422 - I do, Mr. Chairman. - Thank you. 48 00:04:26,104 --> 00:04:30,086 I am a Brooklynite, born and bred... 49 00:04:31,234 --> 00:04:34,945 a first-generation American on my father's side... 50 00:04:35,609 --> 00:04:38,611 barely second-generation on my mother's. 51 00:04:39,774 --> 00:04:42,915 What has become of me could happen... 52 00:04:43,364 --> 00:04:45,297 only in America. 53 00:04:53,825 --> 00:04:57,318 Neither of my parents had the means to attend college, 54 00:04:57,818 --> 00:05:01,066 but both taught me to love learning... 55 00:05:01,980 --> 00:05:03,915 to care about people... 56 00:05:04,552 --> 00:05:09,497 and to work hard for whatever I wanted or believed in. 57 00:05:11,669 --> 00:05:15,012 My father was from Odessa 58 00:05:15,048 --> 00:05:17,082 and during his growing up years, 59 00:05:17,279 --> 00:05:20,719 Jews were no longer admitted to the Russian schools. 60 00:05:21,755 --> 00:05:24,189 Education was terribly important. 61 00:05:25,786 --> 00:05:28,943 My mother was loving but also very strict, 62 00:05:29,536 --> 00:05:34,154 making sure I that I did my... homework, practice the piano, 63 00:05:34,251 --> 00:05:37,310 didn't stay out jumping rope too long. 64 00:05:39,860 --> 00:05:41,818 I loved to do the things that boys did, 65 00:05:41,854 --> 00:05:43,099 when I was growing up. 66 00:05:43,599 --> 00:05:46,529 One of our favorite things was climbing garage roofs 67 00:05:46,822 --> 00:05:48,981 from one roof to another, leaping... 68 00:05:50,125 --> 00:05:51,292 leaping over. 69 00:05:51,974 --> 00:05:54,591 Justice Ginsburg, we cannot call Ruth. 70 00:05:54,927 --> 00:05:56,888 - Right. - We call her Kiki. 71 00:05:57,902 --> 00:05:59,182 She was beautiful. 72 00:05:59,380 --> 00:06:02,336 Big beautiful blue eyes, which you really can't see 73 00:06:02,372 --> 00:06:06,224 very well behind her glasses, very soft brown hair. 74 00:06:07,099 --> 00:06:09,458 She had this kind of quiet magnetism 75 00:06:09,795 --> 00:06:11,919 even though she was not effusive. 76 00:06:11,974 --> 00:06:14,298 You always thought that she wasn't listening 77 00:06:14,333 --> 00:06:16,505 and that she didn't know what was going on 78 00:06:16,579 --> 00:06:18,443 but she knew what was going on. 79 00:06:18,551 --> 00:06:20,700 - She didn't do small talk. - No, no small talk. 80 00:06:20,736 --> 00:06:23,891 And she didn't do girl chat and she didn't get on the phone 81 00:06:23,927 --> 00:06:26,512 and talk with us about what happened on the weekend. 82 00:06:26,548 --> 00:06:28,185 She's a deep thinker. 83 00:06:30,013 --> 00:06:31,207 - She's an only child. - No... 84 00:06:31,243 --> 00:06:33,978 She had a sister, I didn't know her sister. 85 00:06:34,380 --> 00:06:36,349 - Her sister passed away. - Right. 86 00:06:37,107 --> 00:06:39,380 But she and her mom were very close, 87 00:06:39,521 --> 00:06:41,233 very, very close. 88 00:06:42,411 --> 00:06:46,038 My mother died when I was 17. 89 00:06:47,036 --> 00:06:49,990 I wish I could've had her... longer. 90 00:06:53,138 --> 00:06:56,341 Well, her mother must have been a very steely person 91 00:06:56,377 --> 00:06:59,450 because she had cancer a long time 92 00:07:00,082 --> 00:07:01,818 and... and lived 93 00:07:01,966 --> 00:07:05,357 trying to get her child through high school. 94 00:07:06,599 --> 00:07:09,466 We were supposed to be at graduation. 95 00:07:09,849 --> 00:07:13,610 And then the night before we got a message 96 00:07:13,646 --> 00:07:16,266 that she would not be able to be part of this. 97 00:07:16,302 --> 00:07:19,107 We knew then that her mother had passed away. 98 00:07:20,341 --> 00:07:26,111 She had two... lessons that she repeated over and over. 99 00:07:26,876 --> 00:07:28,513 "Be a lady..." 100 00:07:28,979 --> 00:07:31,281 and "be independent." 101 00:07:32,005 --> 00:07:36,446 "Be a lady" meant don't allow yourself to be overcome 102 00:07:36,482 --> 00:07:39,625 by useless emotions like anger. 103 00:07:40,693 --> 00:07:43,228 And by "independent," she meant... 104 00:07:44,536 --> 00:07:47,789 it would be fine if you met prince charming 105 00:07:47,825 --> 00:07:51,002 and lived happily ever after. But... 106 00:07:52,449 --> 00:07:54,521 be able to fend for yourself. 107 00:07:56,896 --> 00:08:02,102 In my lifetime, I expect to see three, four, 108 00:08:02,138 --> 00:08:05,927 perhaps even more women on theHigh Court bench. 109 00:08:06,404 --> 00:08:09,240 Women not shaped from the same mold, 110 00:08:09,646 --> 00:08:12,123 but of different complexions. 111 00:08:13,740 --> 00:08:17,200 I surely would not be in this room today... 112 00:08:18,224 --> 00:08:20,466 without the determined efforts 113 00:08:20,943 --> 00:08:26,338 of men and women who kept dreams of equal citizenship alive. 114 00:08:28,357 --> 00:08:32,043 I have had the great good fortune to share life... 115 00:08:32,565 --> 00:08:34,154 with a partner. 116 00:08:35,138 --> 00:08:38,450 Truly extraordinary for his generation... 117 00:08:40,419 --> 00:08:44,267 a man who believed at age 18, when we met, 118 00:08:45,120 --> 00:08:47,188 that a woman's work, 119 00:08:47,333 --> 00:08:50,560 whether at home or on the job... 120 00:08:51,259 --> 00:08:54,904 is as important as a man's. 121 00:08:56,794 --> 00:09:00,605 I became a lawyer... in days... 122 00:09:01,485 --> 00:09:03,500 when women were not wanted 123 00:09:03,536 --> 00:09:06,378 by most members of the legal profession. 124 00:09:07,990 --> 00:09:12,435 I became a lawyer because Marty supported that choice... 125 00:09:12,743 --> 00:09:14,083 unreservedly. 126 00:09:20,393 --> 00:09:22,419 So what was it about Marty? 127 00:09:30,599 --> 00:09:34,368 Marty and I met when I was 17, he was 18. 128 00:09:34,818 --> 00:09:36,615 I was in college. 129 00:09:39,216 --> 00:09:41,911 Cornell was a preferred school for... 130 00:09:42,352 --> 00:09:43,685 for daughters. 131 00:09:49,224 --> 00:09:54,529 In those days, there was a strict quota for women. 132 00:09:55,099 --> 00:09:58,463 There were four men to every woman... 133 00:09:59,849 --> 00:10:03,990 so for parents, Cornell was the ideal place to send a girl. 134 00:10:05,263 --> 00:10:08,275 If she couldn't find her man there, she was hopeless. 135 00:10:10,801 --> 00:10:16,029 My first semester at Cornell, I never did a repeat date. 136 00:10:22,310 --> 00:10:24,615 But then I met Marty, and there was something 137 00:10:24,651 --> 00:10:26,865 amazingly wonderful about this man. 138 00:10:27,880 --> 00:10:32,164 He was the first boy I ever knew who cared that I had a brain. 139 00:10:32,825 --> 00:10:36,185 Most guys in the '50s didn't. 140 00:10:38,121 --> 00:10:41,071 One of the sadnesses about the brilliant girls 141 00:10:41,107 --> 00:10:45,122 who attended Cornell is that they kind of suppressed 142 00:10:45,552 --> 00:10:47,107 how smart they were. 143 00:10:47,942 --> 00:10:52,438 But Marty was so confident of his own ability... 144 00:10:53,263 --> 00:10:55,427 so comfortable with himself, 145 00:10:55,849 --> 00:10:59,841 that he never regarded me as any kind of a threat. 146 00:11:00,818 --> 00:11:05,388 We all were struck by the tremendous difference 147 00:11:05,427 --> 00:11:08,255 between Marty... and Ruth. 148 00:11:09,333 --> 00:11:14,240 Marty was the most gregarious, outgoing, life-of-the-party. 149 00:11:15,581 --> 00:11:18,349 Ruth was a really quite... 150 00:11:19,310 --> 00:11:20,912 recessive in a way... 151 00:11:22,474 --> 00:11:28,349 shy, quiet, soft voice but they worked, they worked. 152 00:11:39,363 --> 00:11:41,531 Oh, he's so young. 153 00:11:43,877 --> 00:11:45,672 Meeting Marty... 154 00:11:45,708 --> 00:11:49,372 was by far the most fortunate thing that ever happened to me. 155 00:11:50,068 --> 00:11:53,240 Marty was a man blessed with a wonderful sense of humor. 156 00:11:53,693 --> 00:11:55,677 I tend to be rather sober. 157 00:11:59,505 --> 00:12:03,911 In those days, it was not a great time for our country. 158 00:12:04,396 --> 00:12:07,880 There was a red scare abroad in the land. 159 00:12:08,184 --> 00:12:09,833 Are you a member of the communist party 160 00:12:10,104 --> 00:12:12,629 or have you ever been a member of the communist party? 161 00:12:13,318 --> 00:12:15,883 It's unfortunate and tragic that I have to teach 162 00:12:15,919 --> 00:12:18,499 this committee the principles of Americanism. 163 00:12:18,535 --> 00:12:20,246 That's not the question. 164 00:12:20,403 --> 00:12:22,458 I had a government professor 165 00:12:22,544 --> 00:12:26,427 and he wanted me to see that our country was straying 166 00:12:26,463 --> 00:12:28,730 from its most basic values 167 00:12:28,965 --> 00:12:30,375 by some of our politicians 168 00:12:30,411 --> 00:12:33,465 who were seeing a communist in every closet. 169 00:12:33,784 --> 00:12:35,539 But that there were lawyers, 170 00:12:35,575 --> 00:12:38,997 who were defending the rights of these people to think, 171 00:12:39,036 --> 00:12:41,825 to speak, to write freely. 172 00:12:42,367 --> 00:12:44,296 Stand away from the stand! 173 00:12:44,332 --> 00:12:46,218 Fight for the bill of rights you're trying to destroy. 174 00:12:46,253 --> 00:12:48,386 Officer, take this man away from the stand. 175 00:12:50,012 --> 00:12:53,682 And then I got the idea that you could do something 176 00:12:53,839 --> 00:12:57,175 that would make your society a little better. 177 00:12:58,856 --> 00:13:01,862 My family had some reservations about this... 178 00:13:02,862 --> 00:13:07,667 but then when I married at the end of college, 179 00:13:07,737 --> 00:13:11,523 my family said, if she wants to be a lawyer let her try. 180 00:13:12,245 --> 00:13:14,345 If she can't succeed... 181 00:13:14,716 --> 00:13:17,495 she will have a husband to support her. 182 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:23,469 That's me waiting to get my diploma, very happy. 183 00:13:24,004 --> 00:13:27,231 - Yeah, see? That's a nice one. - That's cute. Yeah. 184 00:13:27,832 --> 00:13:30,994 So, we have a whole slew of pictures. 185 00:13:31,434 --> 00:13:33,794 They took them from every possible angle. 186 00:13:34,620 --> 00:13:35,840 You know who that is? 187 00:13:36,616 --> 00:13:37,049 No. 188 00:13:37,084 --> 00:13:40,934 - It's Dean Minow. - Oh. Dean Minow is so small. 189 00:13:41,288 --> 00:13:42,856 We're the same height! 190 00:13:42,892 --> 00:13:45,051 She's not that small, she's probably taller than you. 191 00:13:45,087 --> 00:13:46,224 There's somebody in there. 192 00:13:46,260 --> 00:13:48,703 My brother and cousins and I all call her bubbe. 193 00:13:48,739 --> 00:13:51,450 It's the Yiddish word for grandmother. 194 00:13:51,544 --> 00:13:54,028 It's what we've always called bubbe. 195 00:13:54,201 --> 00:13:56,028 - Bubbe! - Yes? 196 00:13:56,203 --> 00:13:59,840 Do you know if you have fake sugar like Splenda 197 00:14:00,019 --> 00:14:03,481 - or sweet and low? - Yes, it should be someplace... 198 00:14:03,677 --> 00:14:04,848 That's helpful. 199 00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:06,366 I feel like I have 200 00:14:06,434 --> 00:14:09,468 my grandmotherly relationship with her but also somewhat 201 00:14:09,504 --> 00:14:12,739 of a student scholarly relationship to her as well now. 202 00:14:12,981 --> 00:14:15,221 She taught me that the way to win an argument 203 00:14:15,256 --> 00:14:16,536 is not to yell. 204 00:14:16,614 --> 00:14:19,945 Because often that will turn people away more so, 205 00:14:19,981 --> 00:14:21,629 than bringing them to your table. 206 00:14:21,737 --> 00:14:24,304 I don't know what that says... 207 00:14:25,064 --> 00:14:25,731 I can't tell if... 208 00:14:25,766 --> 00:14:29,083 for extraordinary dedication to the Harvard Law School 209 00:14:29,197 --> 00:14:30,833 and efforts on its behalf. 210 00:14:30,926 --> 00:14:33,434 You know, this was the 200th year of Harvard. 211 00:14:33,715 --> 00:14:36,973 So, it took 200 years for us... We were the first class 212 00:14:37,009 --> 00:14:38,642 that was 50/50 women. 213 00:14:39,278 --> 00:14:41,715 So 50 percent men... we were the first class. 214 00:14:42,273 --> 00:14:44,419 It takes 200... no. Yeah. 215 00:14:53,137 --> 00:14:55,928 Women did not come into the Harvard Law School 216 00:14:55,963 --> 00:14:57,997 until the very early '50s. 217 00:14:58,793 --> 00:15:02,134 Two percent was about what it was back then. 218 00:15:02,887 --> 00:15:06,762 How did it feel to be one of nine women in a class of... 219 00:15:08,415 --> 00:15:10,238 over 500 men? 220 00:15:14,473 --> 00:15:17,216 You felt you were constantly on display. 221 00:15:17,777 --> 00:15:19,718 So if you were called on in class, 222 00:15:20,301 --> 00:15:22,902 you felt that, if you didn't perform well, 223 00:15:23,488 --> 00:15:26,725 that you were failing not just for yourself but for all women. 224 00:15:27,340 --> 00:15:29,328 You also had the uncomfortable feeling 225 00:15:29,363 --> 00:15:31,324 that you were being watched. 226 00:15:32,432 --> 00:15:33,819 American antitrust policy... 227 00:15:33,855 --> 00:15:35,000 Harvard was a Socratic method. 228 00:15:35,035 --> 00:15:36,769 So the professor would ask a question 229 00:15:36,804 --> 00:15:39,340 and then you would be called on to answer. 230 00:15:39,785 --> 00:15:42,209 The way it worked with women was they didn't call on us. 231 00:15:42,245 --> 00:15:43,989 I think they were afraid, we would sort of wither 232 00:15:44,024 --> 00:15:46,553 if we were subjected to that kind of questioning. 233 00:15:47,887 --> 00:15:50,613 When I was sent to check a periodical, in Lamont Library 234 00:15:50,649 --> 00:15:53,678 in the old periodical room. 235 00:15:54,313 --> 00:15:55,396 There was... 236 00:15:55,670 --> 00:15:58,420 a man at the door and he said, "you can't come in." 237 00:15:58,631 --> 00:16:00,967 "Well, why can't I come in?" "Because you're a female." 238 00:16:01,163 --> 00:16:05,545 There was nothing I could say, this was a university employee, 239 00:16:05,599 --> 00:16:08,358 you can't come into that room. 240 00:16:09,459 --> 00:16:11,830 And then there was the Dean's famous dinner 241 00:16:11,866 --> 00:16:13,906 for the women in the first year class. 242 00:16:14,639 --> 00:16:18,959 He asked each of us to stand up and tell him what we were doing 243 00:16:19,464 --> 00:16:20,810 taking a seat... 244 00:16:21,498 --> 00:16:23,577 that could be occupied by a man. 245 00:16:25,338 --> 00:16:27,639 There were many indignities 246 00:16:27,678 --> 00:16:31,397 that one took as just part of the scenery the way it was. 247 00:16:37,489 --> 00:16:38,690 When I got to Harvard Law School 248 00:16:38,725 --> 00:16:41,010 and I'm really intimidated first year, 249 00:16:41,046 --> 00:16:42,064 Marty was saying, 250 00:16:42,100 --> 00:16:44,681 "Oh my wife. She's going to be on the 'Law Review'." 251 00:16:44,717 --> 00:16:48,764 There was a woman in the class ahead of mine and she said, 252 00:16:49,491 --> 00:16:51,713 "this husband of yours is boasting" 253 00:16:51,749 --> 00:16:53,045 that you're going to be on the 'Law Review', 254 00:16:53,080 --> 00:16:54,780 "you look like a little twerp!" 255 00:16:55,467 --> 00:16:58,392 To make the' Law Review', in those days you had to be 256 00:16:58,428 --> 00:17:04,209 in the top 25 academically, of 530, 540. 257 00:17:05,077 --> 00:17:07,936 Her second year she makes the 'Law Review'. 258 00:17:08,357 --> 00:17:12,663 So the mere fact marked her as something special. 259 00:17:14,313 --> 00:17:15,639 It turned out, 260 00:17:15,936 --> 00:17:19,638 that I did very well the first year and I attributed 261 00:17:20,209 --> 00:17:23,609 to having something very important in my life 262 00:17:23,644 --> 00:17:25,944 that wasn't the law books. 263 00:17:28,686 --> 00:17:32,920 I came to Harvard as the mother of a 14 month old child. 264 00:17:34,020 --> 00:17:36,303 I'd go to school... 265 00:17:36,856 --> 00:17:38,314 study as hard as I can, 266 00:17:38,350 --> 00:17:41,994 in a very concentrated way, I didn't waste any time. 267 00:17:42,733 --> 00:17:45,772 Four o'clock in the afternoon our babysitter left 268 00:17:46,100 --> 00:17:47,366 and that was... 269 00:17:47,936 --> 00:17:50,530 my child's hours till she went... 270 00:17:51,404 --> 00:17:52,413 to sleep. 271 00:17:54,504 --> 00:17:56,249 Playing with my daughter 272 00:17:56,803 --> 00:17:57,985 gave me a respite 273 00:17:58,021 --> 00:18:01,631 from the kind of work I was doing at law school... 274 00:18:02,615 --> 00:18:05,030 and I think made me more sane. 275 00:18:09,025 --> 00:18:11,021 We knew that Marty was ill. 276 00:18:11,795 --> 00:18:14,727 We just knew he had his own battle 277 00:18:15,444 --> 00:18:19,295 and Ruth is now caring for both Marty and Janey. 278 00:18:21,053 --> 00:18:23,811 Marty in his third year of law school 279 00:18:24,418 --> 00:18:26,194 had a virulent cancer 280 00:18:27,053 --> 00:18:29,994 in days when there was no chemotherapy, 281 00:18:30,030 --> 00:18:32,155 there was only massive radiation. 282 00:18:34,850 --> 00:18:36,618 He'd go for the radiation, 283 00:18:37,232 --> 00:18:38,828 wake up about midnight 284 00:18:38,864 --> 00:18:41,975 when the only food that he ate for the day 285 00:18:42,851 --> 00:18:44,567 he could manage. 286 00:18:46,163 --> 00:18:49,995 And then I started typing the notes that his classmates 287 00:18:50,030 --> 00:18:51,697 had given me from his classes, 288 00:18:52,358 --> 00:18:56,384 reading whatever cases I would read for the next day 289 00:18:56,420 --> 00:18:59,116 and maybe I got two hours sleep. 290 00:19:00,239 --> 00:19:01,784 She did her own work, 291 00:19:01,820 --> 00:19:03,405 helped her husband with his work, 292 00:19:03,545 --> 00:19:06,413 organized his friends so they could help him with his work 293 00:19:06,506 --> 00:19:08,670 and took care of her two year old child. 294 00:19:09,615 --> 00:19:11,772 Fortunately Marty lived... 295 00:19:12,303 --> 00:19:15,944 but it's when she learned how to burn the candle at both ends. 296 00:19:32,725 --> 00:19:35,188 One of the memories of my childhood would be 297 00:19:35,224 --> 00:19:37,002 waking up in the middle of the night 298 00:19:37,038 --> 00:19:39,627 and there mom would be spread out over the dining room table 299 00:19:39,663 --> 00:19:45,314 with her legal pads, uh, and, uh, the coffee in one hand, 300 00:19:45,350 --> 00:19:47,117 and the box of prunes at the other. 301 00:19:47,499 --> 00:19:52,891 She will work until two, three, four, five in the morning 302 00:19:52,926 --> 00:19:55,561 sometimes even, uh, later, 303 00:19:56,124 --> 00:19:58,416 then she will get up, she has a sitting 304 00:19:58,452 --> 00:20:01,233 she would have to be at the Court before nine, 305 00:20:01,900 --> 00:20:03,936 and then she sleeps the entire weekend. 306 00:20:05,023 --> 00:20:06,286 So she catches up. 307 00:20:09,069 --> 00:20:11,643 The sweet thing about working for a justice 308 00:20:11,678 --> 00:20:13,189 who works extremely hard 309 00:20:13,225 --> 00:20:16,428 is that we saw Marty come to chambers often... 310 00:20:16,964 --> 00:20:19,032 to lure her home. 311 00:20:19,952 --> 00:20:23,322 He would say, "Ruth, it's time to come home to dinner." 312 00:20:23,874 --> 00:20:27,178 She sometimes had to be physically brought home. 313 00:20:30,139 --> 00:20:33,232 Marty graduated from the Harvard Law School 314 00:20:33,631 --> 00:20:36,602 and was going to a firm in New York. 315 00:20:37,288 --> 00:20:40,014 That was when Ruth finished her second year, 316 00:20:40,761 --> 00:20:41,761 given Marty, 317 00:20:41,842 --> 00:20:45,319 given his recent illness, they had to remain together, 318 00:20:45,379 --> 00:20:47,212 and the logical place was New York 319 00:20:47,247 --> 00:20:49,381 and the best option was Columbia. 320 00:20:52,014 --> 00:20:54,319 When I graduated from Columbia law school 321 00:20:54,355 --> 00:20:55,874 in 1959, 322 00:20:56,553 --> 00:21:00,147 not a law firm in the entire city of New York 323 00:21:00,299 --> 00:21:01,686 would employ me. 324 00:21:03,163 --> 00:21:06,564 Four of us from my class, Marty's class, 325 00:21:06,600 --> 00:21:07,866 went to the same law firm 326 00:21:08,475 --> 00:21:11,342 and two of us went to the hiring partner 327 00:21:12,108 --> 00:21:13,538 and said... 328 00:21:14,030 --> 00:21:16,174 we had somebody on the Harvard Law Review 329 00:21:16,209 --> 00:21:18,710 that we think is the cat's meow, 330 00:21:18,999 --> 00:21:21,592 we think this firm should hire her. 331 00:21:22,709 --> 00:21:25,491 As soon as I used the "she" pronoun... 332 00:21:26,881 --> 00:21:29,786 the senior partner looked at me and says, "young man..." 333 00:21:30,374 --> 00:21:32,444 you don't seem to understand. 334 00:21:32,975 --> 00:21:34,795 "This firm doesn't hire women." 335 00:21:35,508 --> 00:21:37,975 She hadn't quite figured out, 336 00:21:38,190 --> 00:21:40,235 why it was that there were these barriers. 337 00:21:40,271 --> 00:21:43,368 It wasn't until later that this all came together 338 00:21:43,403 --> 00:21:46,138 - and became her life's work in, - yes. 339 00:21:46,399 --> 00:21:48,896 In fighting these injustices. 340 00:21:50,451 --> 00:21:53,599 Being a woman was an impediment. 341 00:21:57,516 --> 00:21:59,151 We did not have equal rights 342 00:21:59,186 --> 00:22:02,654 and equal recognition in the law at all. 343 00:22:03,801 --> 00:22:07,491 There were not hundreds but thousands of state 344 00:22:07,527 --> 00:22:11,691 and federal laws all over this country that discriminated 345 00:22:11,732 --> 00:22:12,965 on the basis of gender. 346 00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:16,268 Typical laws of the time like, 347 00:22:16,770 --> 00:22:23,108 "the husband is the master of the community." 348 00:22:23,660 --> 00:22:27,488 He shall choose where the family will live 349 00:22:28,069 --> 00:22:31,965 "and the woman is obliged to follow him." 350 00:22:54,805 --> 00:22:57,474 There's no aspect of American life 351 00:22:57,715 --> 00:23:00,045 in which you were not treated differently. 352 00:23:00,301 --> 00:23:01,762 The idea was that... 353 00:23:02,488 --> 00:23:05,645 men were the breadwinners that counted 354 00:23:06,087 --> 00:23:07,707 and women were... 355 00:23:08,454 --> 00:23:10,145 pin money earners. 356 00:23:10,923 --> 00:23:14,872 So women woke up and complained. 357 00:23:16,150 --> 00:23:21,177 ♪ One of these mornings ♪ 358 00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:29,400 ♪ You're gonna rise, rise up singing ♪ 359 00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:37,554 ♪ You're gonna spread your wings, ♪ 360 00:23:37,644 --> 00:23:43,358 ♪ Child and take, take to the sky ♪ 361 00:23:43,460 --> 00:23:46,570 ♪ Lord, the sky ♪ 362 00:23:46,973 --> 00:23:51,270 There came to be such a mass and a majority of women really 363 00:23:51,551 --> 00:23:55,239 who understood that they were not crazy, 364 00:23:55,278 --> 00:23:56,703 the system was crazy. 365 00:23:56,739 --> 00:24:00,070 Now, thanks to the spirit of equality in the air, 366 00:24:00,106 --> 00:24:03,241 I no longer accept society's judgment 367 00:24:03,424 --> 00:24:05,379 that my group is second class. 368 00:24:07,122 --> 00:24:09,447 But marching and demonstrating 369 00:24:09,483 --> 00:24:11,168 just wasn't Ruth's thing. 370 00:24:11,770 --> 00:24:15,497 Her thing was to use the skills she had and put them to work 371 00:24:15,922 --> 00:24:18,028 and those were her legal skills. 372 00:24:18,184 --> 00:24:22,094 In 1963, she started at Rutgers as a law professor. 373 00:24:22,613 --> 00:24:25,079 And really inspired by her students, 374 00:24:25,137 --> 00:24:26,707 she agreed to teach a course 375 00:24:26,801 --> 00:24:29,201 in this new subject of gender and law. 376 00:24:29,236 --> 00:24:30,936 In the late 60's, 377 00:24:31,676 --> 00:24:35,278 some of the students wanted a course in women and the law. 378 00:24:35,876 --> 00:24:37,840 That's also when... 379 00:24:37,997 --> 00:24:41,580 she began dealing with sex discrimination cases. 380 00:24:42,231 --> 00:24:46,062 And that was her entré into becoming a litigator. 381 00:24:46,848 --> 00:24:49,965 The emergence of a women's rights movement 382 00:24:50,207 --> 00:24:54,707 had the possibility of playing the role in the 1970s 383 00:24:54,778 --> 00:24:58,029 that the black civil rights movement had played 384 00:24:58,064 --> 00:24:59,262 in the 1960s. 385 00:24:59,575 --> 00:25:03,869 And so I was particularly eager to create a special project 386 00:25:03,904 --> 00:25:05,762 dealing with women's rights. 387 00:25:05,918 --> 00:25:09,707 I got a call from the WACLU asking me if I would consider 388 00:25:09,747 --> 00:25:11,461 running the women's rights project 389 00:25:11,497 --> 00:25:13,661 with professor Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 390 00:25:13,864 --> 00:25:15,814 Whom I had heard of but I did not know. 391 00:25:16,450 --> 00:25:18,457 I met Ruth the first day I was there. 392 00:25:18,551 --> 00:25:23,188 She seemed very polite and quiet and reserved. Not a firebrand. 393 00:25:23,918 --> 00:25:27,661 She wouldn't speak up a great deal during meetings. 394 00:25:27,879 --> 00:25:30,715 She always addressed whatever point there was. 395 00:25:30,770 --> 00:25:34,012 There wasn't any peripheral element of it. 396 00:25:34,590 --> 00:25:36,590 - No small talk. - No small talk. 397 00:25:37,003 --> 00:25:38,450 None that I can recall. 398 00:25:40,072 --> 00:25:42,109 At that point in time, 399 00:25:42,145 --> 00:25:45,143 Ruth was developing her philosophy to take cases 400 00:25:45,178 --> 00:25:46,645 that would make good law. 401 00:25:46,997 --> 00:25:50,176 If the case is going to be on its way to the Supreme Court, 402 00:25:50,450 --> 00:25:53,185 we wanted to be involved and we wanted to... 403 00:25:53,220 --> 00:25:55,453 Frankly, take over the case. 404 00:25:56,205 --> 00:25:57,573 She was following in the footsteps 405 00:25:57,608 --> 00:25:59,958 of the great civil rights lawyer Thurgood Marshall, who was 406 00:26:00,395 --> 00:26:03,528 the architect of the battle for racial equality 407 00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:06,298 basing it on the clause of the Constitution 408 00:26:06,333 --> 00:26:09,403 that guarantees equal protection of the law. 409 00:26:09,918 --> 00:26:13,801 She wanted it to apply to equal protection for women. 410 00:26:15,442 --> 00:26:18,465 My first argument before the U.S. Supreme Court 411 00:26:18,745 --> 00:26:21,418 was in Frontiero v. Richardson. 412 00:26:29,161 --> 00:26:33,317 I was, way back in the 1970s, a... 413 00:26:33,848 --> 00:26:35,629 second lieutenant in the air force. 414 00:26:37,504 --> 00:26:40,899 I went in the military because I needed the money. 415 00:26:41,809 --> 00:26:44,375 Who says a woman has to settle for a routine job 416 00:26:44,411 --> 00:26:45,918 just because she's a woman? 417 00:26:46,012 --> 00:26:49,754 Discover the United States air force and you'll discover the world. 418 00:26:50,309 --> 00:26:53,421 I was newly out of college, this was a new job, 419 00:26:53,457 --> 00:26:56,497 I had just married, so it was the start of 420 00:26:57,106 --> 00:26:58,351 new everything. 421 00:27:00,739 --> 00:27:05,507 It became clear pretty quickly that the men I was working with 422 00:27:05,543 --> 00:27:07,742 who were married got a housing allowance 423 00:27:07,778 --> 00:27:10,328 and I wasn't getting paid a housing allowance 424 00:27:10,363 --> 00:27:12,106 'cause I was a woman. 425 00:27:13,332 --> 00:27:15,200 I assumed it was a mistake 426 00:27:16,020 --> 00:27:20,411 so I went off to the pay office to correct the mistake. 427 00:27:21,145 --> 00:27:23,341 "You're lucky we let you in here at all. 428 00:27:24,028 --> 00:27:27,979 You're lucky that the air force allows you to serve," 429 00:27:28,528 --> 00:27:31,239 was what I heard right off the bat. 430 00:27:31,418 --> 00:27:33,250 It took me aback and then I figured, 431 00:27:33,286 --> 00:27:37,968 well you know, here's one bigot, so I'll just keep asking around 432 00:27:38,004 --> 00:27:39,958 and it became very clear very quickly 433 00:27:39,993 --> 00:27:42,193 that there was no different story. 434 00:27:42,942 --> 00:27:46,351 So we went to see a lawyer and I still thought it was 435 00:27:46,387 --> 00:27:49,520 a matter of getting a lawyer to write a letter for me. 436 00:27:49,731 --> 00:27:52,031 Just write a letter, have the right information. 437 00:27:52,067 --> 00:27:54,817 I'm clearly in the same category as these other men. 438 00:27:55,343 --> 00:27:56,641 The lawyer said to me, 439 00:27:56,676 --> 00:27:58,848 "this isn't an administrative error." 440 00:27:59,098 --> 00:28:00,126 This is the law 441 00:28:00,473 --> 00:28:02,879 and it's going to have to be rectified with a lawsuit 442 00:28:03,121 --> 00:28:05,424 "and if you're willing, we'll take you on." 443 00:28:05,997 --> 00:28:08,090 Ruth and I heard about it 444 00:28:08,457 --> 00:28:12,324 and immediately let the lawyer for Sharron frontiero 445 00:28:12,359 --> 00:28:13,817 know we were interested. 446 00:28:13,957 --> 00:28:17,067 It was very important to us to have a part in that case. 447 00:28:17,855 --> 00:28:19,695 Nice girls didn't file lawsuits. 448 00:28:19,731 --> 00:28:23,902 Particularly after they had been let into the service at all. 449 00:28:23,937 --> 00:28:25,500 You know, what more did I want? 450 00:28:25,536 --> 00:28:28,231 Well, I just wanted to be treated like everybody else did. 451 00:28:28,278 --> 00:28:31,231 But there was the sense and there still is the sense, 452 00:28:31,301 --> 00:28:33,122 that nice girls don't speak up, 453 00:28:33,507 --> 00:28:35,707 nice girls don't make demands. 454 00:28:37,416 --> 00:28:39,303 Ah well, 455 00:28:40,207 --> 00:28:41,293 too bad. 456 00:28:42,467 --> 00:28:45,036 It went to the District Court in Alabama. 457 00:28:45,325 --> 00:28:49,728 We lost and the next Court to go to was the Supreme Court. 458 00:28:50,426 --> 00:28:53,786 Ruth and I set to work to write the brief. 459 00:28:54,028 --> 00:28:57,046 I would write a section and Ruth would take it 460 00:28:57,082 --> 00:29:00,832 and it would come back in a wonderfully brilliant fashion. 461 00:29:01,090 --> 00:29:02,984 Every word of it was carefully... 462 00:29:03,020 --> 00:29:05,668 I mean Ruth went over every single word. 463 00:29:08,984 --> 00:29:11,965 What we wanted was a review of cases 464 00:29:12,348 --> 00:29:15,253 that the Court would say, sex discrimination doesn't work. 465 00:29:16,028 --> 00:29:19,059 And it would be a broad command basically to legislatures 466 00:29:19,179 --> 00:29:22,793 to get rid of statutes that discriminate on the basis 467 00:29:23,023 --> 00:29:24,957 of... of gender. 468 00:29:25,442 --> 00:29:29,489 But she also added to make the point much more poignant, 469 00:29:29,567 --> 00:29:32,028 the history of women and the way we were treated 470 00:29:32,078 --> 00:29:34,872 throughout America and its beginnings. 471 00:29:53,407 --> 00:29:56,343 She captured for the male members of the Court 472 00:29:56,379 --> 00:29:58,465 what it was like to be a second class citizen. 473 00:30:13,670 --> 00:30:16,059 Frontiero went to the Court. 474 00:30:16,575 --> 00:30:18,616 Ruth Ginsburg, for the first time, 475 00:30:18,651 --> 00:30:20,231 made an oral argument. 476 00:30:20,316 --> 00:30:22,585 She split her time with the lawyer, 477 00:30:22,661 --> 00:30:25,786 the man who had begun the case in Alabama. 478 00:30:28,984 --> 00:30:31,262 It was an afternoon argument. 479 00:30:32,049 --> 00:30:34,012 So I was first up in the afternoon 480 00:30:34,048 --> 00:30:36,994 and I didn't dare have lunch that day. 481 00:30:37,704 --> 00:30:39,286 She seemed nervous. 482 00:30:39,363 --> 00:30:42,160 Her eyes were wide with sort of anticipation. 483 00:30:47,090 --> 00:30:52,848 It's very intense and austere and important 484 00:30:53,386 --> 00:30:54,593 and very male 485 00:30:54,629 --> 00:30:56,286 and it's the whole thing feels like. 486 00:30:57,176 --> 00:30:59,754 I was... I was really kind of scared. 487 00:31:01,418 --> 00:31:03,466 We sat down at the counsel table 488 00:31:03,770 --> 00:31:06,364 and had all these huge casebooks 489 00:31:06,399 --> 00:31:08,566 for me to help her with cites. 490 00:31:08,965 --> 00:31:12,036 And the Court began with the " Oyez! Oyez!" 491 00:31:12,072 --> 00:31:14,391 and the "here we are." 492 00:31:15,106 --> 00:31:18,582 Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! 493 00:31:19,217 --> 00:31:20,629 All persons having business 494 00:31:20,665 --> 00:31:22,562 before the Supreme Court of the United States 495 00:31:22,598 --> 00:31:25,450 are admonished to draw near and give their attention 496 00:31:25,485 --> 00:31:27,348 for the Court is now sitting. 497 00:31:29,918 --> 00:31:33,458 - Mrs. Ginsburg. - I was terribly, terribly 498 00:31:33,494 --> 00:31:35,293 nervous but then I looked up 499 00:31:35,777 --> 00:31:37,293 at the justices 500 00:31:38,332 --> 00:31:41,379 and I thought, "I have a captive audience." 501 00:31:42,222 --> 00:31:44,623 I knew that I was speaking to men, 502 00:31:44,770 --> 00:31:46,804 who didn't think there was any such thing 503 00:31:46,840 --> 00:31:49,307 as gender-based discrimination. 504 00:31:49,950 --> 00:31:53,653 And my job was to tell them it really exists. 505 00:32:51,075 --> 00:32:55,615 There was not a single question. I just went on speaking 506 00:32:55,942 --> 00:32:57,927 and I, at the time... 507 00:32:59,099 --> 00:33:00,462 wondered, 508 00:33:00,498 --> 00:33:04,561 "are they just indulging me and not listening" 509 00:33:05,536 --> 00:33:07,396 or am I telling them something 510 00:33:08,044 --> 00:33:09,620 they haven't heard before 511 00:33:09,656 --> 00:33:11,591 "and are they paying attention?" 512 00:33:13,685 --> 00:33:16,419 The justices were just glued to her. 513 00:33:16,696 --> 00:33:18,161 I don't think they were 514 00:33:18,271 --> 00:33:21,318 expecting to have to deal with something as powerful 515 00:33:21,357 --> 00:33:26,391 as a sheer force of her argument that was just all-encompassing 516 00:33:26,427 --> 00:33:28,641 and they were there to talk about a little statute 517 00:33:28,677 --> 00:33:31,541 in the government code. I mean, it was just... 518 00:33:31,615 --> 00:33:35,200 we seized the moment to change American society. 519 00:33:37,021 --> 00:33:39,250 In asking the Court to declare sex 520 00:33:39,285 --> 00:33:41,386 a suspect criterion... 521 00:33:42,274 --> 00:33:47,302 we urge a position forcibly stated in 1837 by Sara Grimke, 522 00:33:47,922 --> 00:33:49,189 noted abolitionist 523 00:33:49,853 --> 00:33:52,234 and advocate of equal rights for men and women. 524 00:33:53,118 --> 00:33:54,151 She said, 525 00:33:54,273 --> 00:33:57,371 "I ask no favor for my sex." 526 00:33:58,313 --> 00:34:00,453 "All I ask of our brethren" 527 00:34:01,236 --> 00:34:04,797 "is that they take their feet off our necks." 528 00:34:11,119 --> 00:34:13,021 We were told about the decision 529 00:34:13,057 --> 00:34:14,703 when a reporter called us up 530 00:34:14,739 --> 00:34:17,488 and said, "it went in your favor today, how do you feel?" 531 00:34:17,911 --> 00:34:20,489 I said, "I feel fine, thank you very much!" 532 00:34:20,590 --> 00:34:22,407 We were both happy that we won the case. 533 00:34:22,443 --> 00:34:24,629 Let's be clear about it, we won the case. But... 534 00:34:25,380 --> 00:34:28,849 we lost the standard of review that we wanted by one vote. 535 00:34:29,614 --> 00:34:32,513 She tried to make the case, 536 00:34:33,114 --> 00:34:34,906 that sex discrimination should be treated 537 00:34:34,941 --> 00:34:36,357 like race discrimination. 538 00:34:37,146 --> 00:34:40,745 Four justices signed onto that idea. 539 00:34:41,077 --> 00:34:42,950 The problem was you need five. 540 00:34:44,166 --> 00:34:45,349 I said... 541 00:34:47,185 --> 00:34:48,886 it's too soon. 542 00:34:49,955 --> 00:34:52,497 My expectation, to be candid, 543 00:34:52,810 --> 00:34:55,677 was that I would repeat that kind of argument... 544 00:34:57,662 --> 00:34:59,669 maybe half a dozen times. 545 00:34:59,958 --> 00:35:03,935 I didn't expect it to happen in one fell swoop. 546 00:35:04,654 --> 00:35:08,583 I think generally in our society, real change... 547 00:35:10,224 --> 00:35:13,529 enduring change, happens one step at a time. 548 00:35:13,669 --> 00:35:17,148 The legal strategy of one step at a time in the '70s 549 00:35:17,183 --> 00:35:19,282 was a conservative strategy 550 00:35:19,318 --> 00:35:22,997 but the goal was equality and civil rights 551 00:35:23,474 --> 00:35:26,318 and that's who she always was and who she is now. 552 00:35:33,427 --> 00:35:37,701 She is very disciplined but she has passions 553 00:35:37,737 --> 00:35:39,888 that she really enjoys. 554 00:35:40,663 --> 00:35:41,943 She loves the opera. 555 00:35:44,833 --> 00:35:46,982 She goes to multiple opera festivals 556 00:35:47,018 --> 00:35:49,154 and the whole family will go with her. 557 00:35:50,068 --> 00:35:52,774 I think it is a place of tranquility 558 00:35:52,810 --> 00:35:56,193 that is outside of the demands of her job. 559 00:36:11,131 --> 00:36:14,221 When I am at an opera... 560 00:36:14,894 --> 00:36:16,774 I get totally carried away. 561 00:36:17,573 --> 00:36:21,276 I don't think about the case that's coming up next week, 562 00:36:21,391 --> 00:36:23,589 or the brief that I'm in the middle of. 563 00:36:26,935 --> 00:36:30,979 I'm overwhelmed by the beauty of the music, the drama. 564 00:36:32,263 --> 00:36:34,619 And the sound of the human voice... 565 00:36:35,370 --> 00:36:38,386 it's like an electric current going through me. 566 00:36:56,420 --> 00:37:00,862 Justice and mercy, they're all in opera. 567 00:37:01,344 --> 00:37:03,722 Very grand emotions. 568 00:37:13,751 --> 00:37:16,370 A young man had a tragic experience. 569 00:37:17,089 --> 00:37:20,206 His wife Hadan entirely healthy pregnancy, 570 00:37:20,440 --> 00:37:24,011 and he was told that he had a healthy baby boy 571 00:37:24,047 --> 00:37:26,081 but his wife had died. 572 00:37:27,042 --> 00:37:29,764 The problem was amniotic embolism 573 00:37:29,800 --> 00:37:32,917 and at that particular point nobody had ever survived that. 574 00:37:33,323 --> 00:37:35,542 They did keep her alive for about four hours 575 00:37:36,022 --> 00:37:37,956 but by 3:30 in the afternoon, 576 00:37:38,042 --> 00:37:40,534 the code blue came along and she died. 577 00:37:44,129 --> 00:37:46,769 Jason was a very easy child. 578 00:37:47,651 --> 00:37:50,276 My attitude towards raising a child is that, 579 00:37:50,526 --> 00:37:53,550 a child is not there for me, I'm there for him! 580 00:37:53,773 --> 00:37:55,394 And that's what my job was. 581 00:37:55,667 --> 00:37:57,408 He determined that he was going to be 582 00:37:57,443 --> 00:38:00,120 a care-giving parent to that child. 583 00:38:01,073 --> 00:38:03,764 He went to the local social security office 584 00:38:03,800 --> 00:38:06,636 and asked about the benefits he thought... 585 00:38:08,026 --> 00:38:10,386 a sole surviving parent could get. 586 00:38:11,167 --> 00:38:12,034 And he was told, 587 00:38:12,070 --> 00:38:14,269 "well, that benefit is called a mother's benefit," 588 00:38:15,514 --> 00:38:17,299 and he didn't qualify. 589 00:38:18,096 --> 00:38:20,464 So, he wrote a letter to the editor 590 00:38:20,503 --> 00:38:22,581 "of his local newspaper. And he said," 591 00:38:22,628 --> 00:38:26,104 "I have heard a lot about women's lib. Let me tell you my story." 592 00:38:26,940 --> 00:38:28,089 "To the editor." 593 00:38:28,125 --> 00:38:30,075 It has been my misfortune to discover 594 00:38:30,323 --> 00:38:32,743 that a male cannot collect social security benefits 595 00:38:32,778 --> 00:38:33,894 as a woman can. 596 00:38:34,019 --> 00:38:35,948 Had I been paying into the social security system 597 00:38:36,026 --> 00:38:39,317 and had I died, she would have been able to receive a benefit. 598 00:38:39,484 --> 00:38:41,017 But male homemakers cannot. 599 00:38:41,302 --> 00:38:43,792 I wonder if Gloria Steinem knows about this. 600 00:38:47,511 --> 00:38:52,612 Ruth took a case in which a man was discriminated against 601 00:38:52,648 --> 00:38:54,081 in order to show... 602 00:38:54,761 --> 00:38:58,792 the depth and the importance of sex discrimination. 603 00:38:59,741 --> 00:39:01,976 Very intelligent thing to do. 604 00:39:02,979 --> 00:39:06,573 We appeared in the U.S. Supreme Court in 1975. 605 00:39:08,144 --> 00:39:10,581 When we got to the courtroom, she sat me down 606 00:39:10,616 --> 00:39:11,917 at the table with her, 607 00:39:12,448 --> 00:39:15,401 she just wanted a male presence to be at that table 608 00:39:15,464 --> 00:39:18,190 so that the justices would have something to identify with. 609 00:39:18,745 --> 00:39:20,628 That was a part of her strategy. 610 00:39:21,065 --> 00:39:22,565 She was trying to convince 611 00:39:22,908 --> 00:39:24,862 members of the Supreme Court who 612 00:39:25,237 --> 00:39:29,323 were mostly white, male, privileged class at that time. 613 00:39:48,615 --> 00:39:50,616 She knew exactly what she was doing 614 00:39:50,698 --> 00:39:52,761 and it was a very shrewd strategy. 615 00:39:53,992 --> 00:39:59,030 That case resulted in a unanimous judgment 616 00:39:59,065 --> 00:40:01,532 in Stephen Wiesenfeld's favor. 617 00:40:02,100 --> 00:40:04,115 His case was the perfect example 618 00:40:04,151 --> 00:40:09,276 of how gender-based discrimination hurts everyone. 619 00:40:10,433 --> 00:40:13,537 Ruth's conception of the strategy led 620 00:40:13,573 --> 00:40:16,667 to a whole string of litigation for the next decade. 621 00:40:17,729 --> 00:40:23,167 She wanted to build the idea of women's equality 622 00:40:23,214 --> 00:40:26,819 step by step to use each case 623 00:40:27,495 --> 00:40:29,979 to move things forward. 624 00:40:30,206 --> 00:40:32,706 It was like knitting a sweater. 625 00:41:17,386 --> 00:41:18,357 They didn't get it. 626 00:41:18,393 --> 00:41:21,145 They didn't understand the issues that women were facing 627 00:41:21,181 --> 00:41:23,914 or they didn't see them as issues. 628 00:41:24,440 --> 00:41:27,511 'Cause women had, in their minds women had a place 629 00:41:27,878 --> 00:41:29,211 and it wasn't... 630 00:41:30,026 --> 00:41:33,104 where Ruth Ginsburg was suggesting that it ought to be. 631 00:41:46,112 --> 00:41:48,339 When they would say things like this, 632 00:41:48,374 --> 00:41:50,261 how did you respond? 633 00:41:50,347 --> 00:41:53,477 Well, never in anger, as my mother told me. 634 00:41:53,565 --> 00:41:56,113 That would've been self-defeating. 635 00:41:56,148 --> 00:42:00,317 Always as an opportunity to teach. 636 00:42:00,776 --> 00:42:03,287 I did see myself as kind of a kindergarten teacher, 637 00:42:03,323 --> 00:42:06,183 in those days, because the judges... 638 00:42:07,144 --> 00:42:10,354 didn't think sex... sex discrimination existed. 639 00:42:11,722 --> 00:42:15,003 Well, one of the things I tried to plant in their minds was... 640 00:42:15,886 --> 00:42:19,436 think about how you would like the world to be 641 00:42:19,472 --> 00:42:21,464 for your daughters and granddaughters. 642 00:42:30,261 --> 00:42:33,714 One of the things that I'm struck by, as I look back on it, 643 00:42:33,964 --> 00:42:37,688 is how unprepared the defendants were to fight back. 644 00:42:37,886 --> 00:42:40,487 We won because the strategy was brilliant, 645 00:42:40,565 --> 00:42:44,225 we won because we were smart and prepared and we fought hard. 646 00:42:44,261 --> 00:42:47,598 You couldn't miss what Ruth was doing during the '70s. 647 00:42:47,784 --> 00:42:53,667 She was creating a legal landscape. 648 00:43:01,683 --> 00:43:04,886 She was doing something that was... 649 00:43:05,450 --> 00:43:07,065 incredibly important 650 00:43:07,101 --> 00:43:10,519 to American women whether they knew it or not. 651 00:43:14,729 --> 00:43:17,690 Just the thought that I might catch a glimpse of her is... 652 00:43:17,896 --> 00:43:19,196 overwhelming. 653 00:43:19,471 --> 00:43:21,717 I have a mug of her in my room it says, 654 00:43:21,753 --> 00:43:22,904 "her story in the making." 655 00:43:22,940 --> 00:43:24,584 I have her sticker on my computer! 656 00:43:24,620 --> 00:43:26,479 I just ordered tons of merch. 657 00:43:26,808 --> 00:43:30,464 Notorious RBG. We're here to get our books signed. 658 00:43:30,808 --> 00:43:33,440 I think it's easy to take for granted 659 00:43:33,542 --> 00:43:38,912 the position that young women can have in today's society. 660 00:43:38,948 --> 00:43:42,901 And that's a lot in thanks to justice Ginsburg's work. 661 00:43:44,440 --> 00:43:47,658 Who is more disdained or told to go away 662 00:43:47,693 --> 00:43:48,815 than an older woman? 663 00:43:48,870 --> 00:43:51,962 But here's an older woman who people really want to hear 664 00:43:51,997 --> 00:43:53,800 everything that she has to say. 665 00:43:55,472 --> 00:43:57,390 I have been given questions from the students 666 00:43:57,425 --> 00:44:00,037 about what it's like to be justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 667 00:44:00,550 --> 00:44:02,253 - Do you have a smartphone? 668 00:44:02,490 --> 00:44:06,248 Yes, the answer is yes. 669 00:44:06,284 --> 00:44:09,139 I had, in fact, two until they took 670 00:44:09,448 --> 00:44:11,443 the BlackBerry away from me saying, 671 00:44:11,479 --> 00:44:13,009 "nobody uses that anymore." 672 00:44:14,383 --> 00:44:17,347 Uh, what do I use it for? Not for selfies. 673 00:44:20,124 --> 00:44:22,287 You have said in public many times, 674 00:44:22,323 --> 00:44:24,828 that the ideal number of women for the Supreme Court 675 00:44:24,863 --> 00:44:26,430 of the United States is nine. 676 00:44:26,535 --> 00:44:28,042 Yes, of course... 677 00:44:29,166 --> 00:44:30,808 - Uh... - Why not? 678 00:44:31,050 --> 00:44:35,172 Nine men was a satisfactory number until 1981. 679 00:44:35,722 --> 00:44:39,065 But the change in the federal judiciary as a whole 680 00:44:39,101 --> 00:44:40,972 has been enormous. 681 00:44:41,479 --> 00:44:43,180 But it wasn't until... 682 00:44:43,440 --> 00:44:45,308 Jimmy Carter became president, 683 00:44:46,112 --> 00:44:48,752 he looked around at the federal judiciary, 684 00:44:49,308 --> 00:44:50,370 and he said, 685 00:44:50,708 --> 00:44:52,604 "don't they all look like me?" 686 00:44:53,292 --> 00:44:57,292 "But that's not how the great United States looks." 687 00:44:59,112 --> 00:45:01,897 When president Carter was elected, he said, 688 00:45:01,933 --> 00:45:04,428 "there are almost no women and there are almost" 689 00:45:04,464 --> 00:45:07,026 no African Americans on the federal bench 690 00:45:07,065 --> 00:45:09,573 "and I am determined to change that." 691 00:45:10,972 --> 00:45:14,175 Justice Ginsburg and I were two of the people 692 00:45:14,783 --> 00:45:17,112 who benefitted from that promise. 693 00:45:19,104 --> 00:45:22,854 Ruth was nominated in 1980 and we became colleagues 694 00:45:22,956 --> 00:45:25,892 on the U.S. Court of appeals for the DC circuit. 695 00:45:26,994 --> 00:45:29,463 Judge Ginsburg did you always want to be a judge? 696 00:45:31,572 --> 00:45:36,166 The law is something that I think I deal with well. 697 00:45:36,499 --> 00:45:37,499 Uh... 698 00:45:38,119 --> 00:45:41,438 I don't have the kind of talent that could make one say 699 00:45:41,473 --> 00:45:43,822 a great opera singer. 700 00:45:52,849 --> 00:45:56,016 I wanted to be active in the law. 701 00:45:56,541 --> 00:45:59,580 The law is a consuming, 702 00:46:00,152 --> 00:46:01,152 uh, 703 00:46:01,801 --> 00:46:03,505 love for me. 704 00:46:04,841 --> 00:46:06,809 When she first started on the bench, 705 00:46:06,845 --> 00:46:10,392 after we hear cases we go into a conference room 706 00:46:10,447 --> 00:46:13,556 and the three judges confer and we think about 707 00:46:13,872 --> 00:46:15,739 how we should decide the cases. 708 00:46:16,572 --> 00:46:19,853 Ruth was sufficiently confident in herself in the early days. 709 00:46:20,236 --> 00:46:22,775 "She would say," this is a very straightforward case. 710 00:46:22,900 --> 00:46:24,915 I have a prepared judgment for us" 711 00:46:24,950 --> 00:46:28,298 and this was before we conferred on the case 712 00:46:28,400 --> 00:46:30,753 and initially, we were all taken aback like, 713 00:46:31,111 --> 00:46:33,228 "no wait, wait, Ruth, you can't do that." 714 00:46:33,691 --> 00:46:34,491 She was always right, 715 00:46:34,526 --> 00:46:36,527 the judgments that she had prepared were right. 716 00:46:37,369 --> 00:46:40,544 But we said, "no, we have to go through the motions" 717 00:46:40,580 --> 00:46:44,134 of talking first before you give us the result." 718 00:46:45,359 --> 00:46:48,562 When I was appointed to the DC circuit, 719 00:46:48,658 --> 00:46:51,239 "so often people would come up to me and say," 720 00:46:51,275 --> 00:46:54,755 "it must be hard for you commuting back and forth to New York." 721 00:46:55,248 --> 00:46:59,502 They couldn't imagine that a man would leave his work 722 00:46:59,852 --> 00:47:02,072 to follow his... his wife. 723 00:47:03,377 --> 00:47:07,291 He... had been extraordinarily successful 724 00:47:07,326 --> 00:47:09,908 as a practicing lawyer in New York. 725 00:47:10,229 --> 00:47:12,083 There were people who would say, 726 00:47:12,119 --> 00:47:14,864 he was the best tax lawyer in the city of New York 727 00:47:14,900 --> 00:47:17,181 and believe me, that is saying something. 728 00:47:17,370 --> 00:47:18,662 He was... 729 00:47:19,837 --> 00:47:21,900 okay playing second fiddle. 730 00:47:22,064 --> 00:47:24,963 In fact, he would make a joke of it always, he would say, 731 00:47:25,384 --> 00:47:28,178 "I moved to Washington because my wife got a good job." 732 00:47:28,673 --> 00:47:31,486 How much advice do you give each other? 733 00:47:38,336 --> 00:47:39,503 Well... 734 00:47:41,142 --> 00:47:44,094 Marty was the funny one in the family and she loved it 735 00:47:44,884 --> 00:47:47,831 and you could see the twinkle in her eye when he would do 736 00:47:47,866 --> 00:47:49,838 his funny little quips and jokes. 737 00:47:49,968 --> 00:47:51,223 As a general rule, 738 00:47:51,259 --> 00:47:54,822 my wife does not give me any advice about cooking 739 00:47:54,861 --> 00:47:57,541 and I do not give her any advice about the law. 740 00:47:57,884 --> 00:48:00,634 This seems to work quite well on both sides. 741 00:48:02,189 --> 00:48:06,294 My father was very outgoing, very fun person, 742 00:48:06,330 --> 00:48:08,400 and I think he helped, uh, 743 00:48:09,001 --> 00:48:12,666 temper some of mom's seriousness at times which I think was 744 00:48:12,702 --> 00:48:14,052 to everybody's benefit. 745 00:48:14,088 --> 00:48:16,560 We used to keep a book called mommy laughed. 746 00:48:16,735 --> 00:48:19,478 Which had parsimonious entries. 747 00:48:20,689 --> 00:48:22,365 You are giving me constant advice. 748 00:48:22,401 --> 00:48:24,931 It's starts calling about, uh... 749 00:48:25,861 --> 00:48:30,056 7:00, it's time to come home for dinner and then 7:30 750 00:48:30,572 --> 00:48:35,312 and somewhere between 7:30 and 9:00, we generally make it. 751 00:48:35,955 --> 00:48:38,259 And the other thing is time for you to go to sleep. 752 00:48:39,159 --> 00:48:40,778 Those are the daily... 753 00:48:40,814 --> 00:48:42,564 um, that's the daily advice, 754 00:48:43,442 --> 00:48:44,275 that I get. 755 00:48:44,361 --> 00:48:47,958 Well, it's not that bad advice you have to eat one meal a day 756 00:48:47,993 --> 00:48:49,853 and you have to go to sleep sometime. 757 00:48:50,861 --> 00:48:55,832 He allowed Ruth to be who she was, that is, 758 00:48:56,330 --> 00:49:00,439 a relatively reserved, serious person, 759 00:49:00,916 --> 00:49:04,556 who focused on her law work and loved doing that. 760 00:49:04,736 --> 00:49:07,711 And the relationship was just magnificent to watch. 761 00:49:08,424 --> 00:49:11,814 And when Marty was starting out in law practice 762 00:49:12,084 --> 00:49:13,825 and eager to make partner, 763 00:49:13,861 --> 00:49:16,019 I was responsible for the lion's share 764 00:49:16,055 --> 00:49:17,814 of taking care of the home. 765 00:49:18,377 --> 00:49:21,658 But when the women's movement came alive and Marty appreciated 766 00:49:21,693 --> 00:49:24,736 the importance of the work I was doing, 767 00:49:25,134 --> 00:49:29,433 then I became the person whose career came first. 768 00:49:29,728 --> 00:49:31,392 What was she like as a mom? 769 00:49:31,428 --> 00:49:32,463 Exigent. 770 00:49:32,517 --> 00:49:33,841 What do you mean by that? 771 00:49:33,877 --> 00:49:38,549 "Do your homework, clean your room, don't disappoint us." 772 00:49:41,838 --> 00:49:44,252 Helping a lot with, uh, schoolwork, 773 00:49:44,616 --> 00:49:47,250 commenting, pulling out the red pen. 774 00:49:47,963 --> 00:49:51,388 Our dear daughter Jane, all smiles, 775 00:49:51,547 --> 00:49:53,744 volunteered to the press. 776 00:49:53,963 --> 00:49:58,439 She had grown up in a home in which responsibility 777 00:49:58,797 --> 00:50:00,595 was equally divided. 778 00:50:00,720 --> 00:50:03,869 Her father did the cooking, she explained, 779 00:50:04,041 --> 00:50:06,228 and her mother did the thinking. 780 00:50:09,056 --> 00:50:11,475 So is she really such a horrible cook? 781 00:50:11,650 --> 00:50:12,919 - Yes. - Oh yeah. 782 00:50:12,955 --> 00:50:14,947 To this day I still can't eat swordfish... 783 00:50:15,603 --> 00:50:17,322 after what she did to it. 784 00:50:18,017 --> 00:50:20,250 It wasn't until I was 14 that I encountered 785 00:50:20,285 --> 00:50:21,533 a live vegetable. 786 00:50:22,564 --> 00:50:25,488 Ruth is no longer permitted in the kitchen... 787 00:50:26,502 --> 00:50:29,994 ...this by the demand of our children, who have taste. 788 00:50:41,627 --> 00:50:44,330 This is a book that Tata, 789 00:50:45,150 --> 00:50:47,444 he collected letters about me 790 00:50:47,588 --> 00:50:48,924 for my 50th birthday. 791 00:50:49,283 --> 00:50:51,799 - Tata organized all this. - It was his idea. 792 00:50:52,117 --> 00:50:54,584 Tata, my... her husband, my grandfather, 793 00:50:54,619 --> 00:50:56,231 he was especially doting, 794 00:50:56,267 --> 00:50:59,456 so they almost had a bad cop, good cop relationship, 795 00:50:59,491 --> 00:51:01,258 when it came to the grandkids. 796 00:51:01,634 --> 00:51:04,603 Tata was more often the good cop I would say, 797 00:51:04,720 --> 00:51:07,664 uh, mostly because bubbe was often buried in her work 798 00:51:07,699 --> 00:51:09,192 so if we really wanted something, 799 00:51:09,228 --> 00:51:12,236 we felt like we could nag tata more often for it. 800 00:51:13,237 --> 00:51:14,283 "Dear Ruth," 801 00:51:14,533 --> 00:51:17,541 I have little doubt that you are proud, rightly so, 802 00:51:17,955 --> 00:51:20,400 of all you have achieved as a judge 803 00:51:20,447 --> 00:51:22,799 and as a spouse and a parent as well. 804 00:51:22,845 --> 00:51:24,581 But I conceive no way you can take 805 00:51:24,616 --> 00:51:28,452 "greater pride than I do. Love, Tata." 806 00:51:28,487 --> 00:51:30,205 - Nice. - Very nice. 807 00:51:31,861 --> 00:51:34,384 - Do you read these often? - No, I never read them. 808 00:51:34,447 --> 00:51:36,593 You should, they are very nice, if you ever need a boost 809 00:51:36,628 --> 00:51:38,150 of self-confidence. 810 00:51:38,994 --> 00:51:41,164 So much of the shape of America is a work 811 00:51:41,199 --> 00:51:42,236 of the U.S. Supreme Court 812 00:51:42,272 --> 00:51:44,049 and so the makeup of that Court 813 00:51:44,158 --> 00:51:45,739 is one of the enduring legacies 814 00:51:45,775 --> 00:51:48,916 of a president who has an opportunity to appoint justices. 815 00:51:49,002 --> 00:51:50,794 And tonight this new president 816 00:51:50,830 --> 00:51:53,380 has his first chance to make it a Clinton Court. 817 00:51:53,416 --> 00:51:57,214 This president has a very clear idea of what he wants in this justice. 818 00:51:58,080 --> 00:52:01,322 I really did want to put Governor Cuomo on the Court, 819 00:52:01,939 --> 00:52:04,283 but he didn't want to do it so I started looking around. 820 00:52:04,611 --> 00:52:08,330 He kept moving from his favorite person of the week 821 00:52:08,377 --> 00:52:10,267 to the next favorite person of the week 822 00:52:10,650 --> 00:52:13,553 and judge Ginsburg was sort of old 823 00:52:13,589 --> 00:52:14,998 to be a nominee. 824 00:52:15,189 --> 00:52:17,463 She was in her early 60s. 825 00:52:17,963 --> 00:52:19,989 Most people, I think, thought 826 00:52:20,025 --> 00:52:22,049 she was out of the running for that reason 827 00:52:22,408 --> 00:52:24,975 and Marty was just not gonna accept that. 828 00:52:25,010 --> 00:52:27,525 We're talking about Ruth 829 00:52:27,806 --> 00:52:30,313 and we must remember how shy she was. 830 00:52:30,908 --> 00:52:36,525 I can't think of anyone less likely to toot her own horn 831 00:52:37,172 --> 00:52:38,330 than Ruth. 832 00:52:40,279 --> 00:52:43,611 So Marty had to play the New York Philharmonic. 833 00:52:55,573 --> 00:52:57,255 No question about it, 834 00:52:57,291 --> 00:52:59,650 people who observed at the time, said, 835 00:52:59,759 --> 00:53:01,595 "well, Ruth would have been on a list," 836 00:53:01,631 --> 00:53:04,361 "maybe she would be 22 or 23" 837 00:53:04,843 --> 00:53:07,299 but it was Marty who made her number one. 838 00:53:09,455 --> 00:53:12,916 He had a little book of people that he contacted. 839 00:53:13,351 --> 00:53:14,424 They were... 840 00:53:16,056 --> 00:53:19,094 He had lots of contacts in the business community, 841 00:53:19,336 --> 00:53:21,667 lots of contacts in the legal community, 842 00:53:21,703 --> 00:53:25,402 in the academic community, among the women she had helped. 843 00:53:25,937 --> 00:53:30,190 And he... I don't even know all the things he did. 844 00:53:30,226 --> 00:53:34,289 He was so in love with his wife and so respected her 845 00:53:34,805 --> 00:53:37,347 as a real giant in the legal profession, 846 00:53:37,382 --> 00:53:38,862 he felt it would be an outrage 847 00:53:38,898 --> 00:53:40,961 if she wasn't seriously considered. 848 00:53:41,140 --> 00:53:43,854 And look, he wasn't the only one that was campaigning 849 00:53:43,889 --> 00:53:45,488 for somebody to be on the Court. 850 00:53:45,765 --> 00:53:47,445 He had some pretty stiff opposition... 851 00:53:48,344 --> 00:53:50,906 but it was her interview that did it. 852 00:53:54,758 --> 00:53:56,917 We arranged for her to come to the white house. 853 00:53:56,953 --> 00:53:58,672 I wanted to see how her mind worked. 854 00:53:59,027 --> 00:54:00,793 So I engaged her in this conversation. 855 00:54:01,273 --> 00:54:03,690 And all of a sudden, I wasn't the president interviewing her 856 00:54:03,726 --> 00:54:06,237 for the Supreme Court anymore, we were two people having 857 00:54:06,273 --> 00:54:08,912 an honest discussion about what's the best way 858 00:54:09,305 --> 00:54:12,789 in the moment and for the future to make law. 859 00:54:13,750 --> 00:54:17,469 Ruth Ginsburg, as quiet and kind of withdrawn 860 00:54:17,883 --> 00:54:21,558 and almost timid as she can be, she is a performer 861 00:54:22,187 --> 00:54:24,484 and she walked in that room and he fell for her. 862 00:54:24,531 --> 00:54:27,063 Literally, within 15 minutes, I decided 863 00:54:27,098 --> 00:54:28,464 I was going to name her. 864 00:54:32,797 --> 00:54:35,570 I'm proud to nominate this path-breaking attorney, 865 00:54:35,726 --> 00:54:39,209 advocate, and judge to be the 107th justice 866 00:54:39,680 --> 00:54:41,844 to the United States Supreme Court. 867 00:54:49,851 --> 00:54:53,320 When I was nominated back in 1993, 868 00:54:53,359 --> 00:54:55,656 senator Biden chaired the committee. 869 00:54:56,219 --> 00:54:59,663 The leading republican member was Orrin Hatch. 870 00:55:00,305 --> 00:55:01,865 Do you have any concerns right now? 871 00:55:01,900 --> 00:55:03,116 There are always concerns 872 00:55:03,152 --> 00:55:05,519 because these are very important positions. 873 00:55:05,555 --> 00:55:08,195 And so there will be a lot of questions asked. 874 00:55:13,297 --> 00:55:16,713 Day two of the Ruth Bader Ginsburg confirmation hearings. 875 00:55:16,748 --> 00:55:18,526 Judge Ginsburg did something 876 00:55:18,562 --> 00:55:21,058 no recent High Court nominee has done, 877 00:55:21,094 --> 00:55:24,242 spoke at length about her support for abortion rights. 878 00:55:24,680 --> 00:55:28,953 It is essential to women's equality with man... 879 00:55:30,070 --> 00:55:33,945 that her choice... that she be the decision maker. 880 00:55:35,101 --> 00:55:38,578 This is something central to a woman's... 881 00:55:39,336 --> 00:55:41,204 life, to her dignity. 882 00:55:41,859 --> 00:55:44,805 And when government controls that decision for her, 883 00:55:45,336 --> 00:55:49,211 she is being treated as less than a fully adult... 884 00:55:49,714 --> 00:55:51,601 human responsible for... 885 00:55:52,748 --> 00:55:54,549 her own choices. 886 00:55:55,117 --> 00:55:57,624 She was put on the Court by a liberal president, 887 00:55:58,490 --> 00:56:01,234 uh, as a liberal justice. 888 00:56:02,039 --> 00:56:04,239 And that's the way this country works. 889 00:56:04,687 --> 00:56:06,529 I disagree with you on a number of things, 890 00:56:06,564 --> 00:56:08,665 and I am sure you disagree with me. 891 00:56:08,700 --> 00:56:10,273 But that isn't the issue, is it? 892 00:56:10,422 --> 00:56:12,130 And frankly, I admire you. 893 00:56:12,656 --> 00:56:14,175 You've earned the right, 894 00:56:14,211 --> 00:56:16,531 in my opinion, to be on the Supreme Court. 895 00:56:16,877 --> 00:56:18,750 She was confirmed 96-3. 896 00:56:18,890 --> 00:56:21,664 Now, you could argue that it was not as partisan a time 897 00:56:21,700 --> 00:56:23,734 as it is now but it was pretty partisan. 898 00:56:36,679 --> 00:56:38,714 Promising to defend the Constitution, 899 00:56:38,805 --> 00:56:41,131 pioneering women's rights advocate Ruth Bader Ginsburg 900 00:56:41,166 --> 00:56:43,099 has been sworn in as the second woman, 901 00:56:43,134 --> 00:56:44,901 on the U.S. Supreme Court bench. 902 00:56:45,287 --> 00:56:48,055 I will well and faithfully discharge. 903 00:56:48,273 --> 00:56:51,180 The duties of the office on which I am about to enter. 904 00:56:51,750 --> 00:56:55,612 The duties of the office on which I am about to enter. 905 00:56:55,953 --> 00:56:59,148 - So help me God. - So help me God. 906 00:57:02,484 --> 00:57:04,711 It was extremely exciting 907 00:57:05,015 --> 00:57:08,101 because this powerful little woman 908 00:57:08,211 --> 00:57:09,562 was going on the Supreme Court, 909 00:57:09,627 --> 00:57:12,328 and that meant there were going to be two. 910 00:57:23,953 --> 00:57:27,180 The standard robe is made for a man, 911 00:57:27,258 --> 00:57:31,681 because it has a place for the shirt to show and the tie. 912 00:57:32,390 --> 00:57:36,190 So Sandra Day O'Connor and I, thought it would be appropriate 913 00:57:36,226 --> 00:57:39,633 if we included as part of our robe, 914 00:57:39,846 --> 00:57:42,469 something typical of a woman. 915 00:57:44,337 --> 00:57:46,180 During my long tenure here, 916 00:57:46,279 --> 00:57:48,367 I was not the most quote, 917 00:57:48,484 --> 00:57:50,238 liberal justice on the Court. 918 00:57:50,492 --> 00:57:53,219 From the beginning, I think what she was looking for 919 00:57:53,404 --> 00:57:55,523 was to build consensus. 920 00:57:56,586 --> 00:57:58,597 Even though chief justice Rehnquist 921 00:57:58,633 --> 00:58:01,558 and Sandra day O'Connor were conservative justices. 922 00:58:01,594 --> 00:58:04,479 They were still justices with which, 923 00:58:04,515 --> 00:58:06,633 Ginsburg was able to find common ground. 924 00:58:07,452 --> 00:58:08,828 That was her style. 925 00:58:09,039 --> 00:58:12,489 She really wanted to be able to convince her fellow justices 926 00:58:12,703 --> 00:58:14,789 to move her way even if it means 927 00:58:15,023 --> 00:58:17,680 conceding certain things and compromising. 928 00:58:32,023 --> 00:58:33,367 To start out, 929 00:58:33,461 --> 00:58:36,890 I thought you might like to know a little about the 930 00:58:37,226 --> 00:58:39,328 gentlemen who are surrounding us. 931 00:58:40,156 --> 00:58:43,242 These are the first set of chief justices 932 00:58:43,278 --> 00:58:44,742 of the Supreme Court. 933 00:58:45,711 --> 00:58:48,375 John Marshall is the 4th chief justice and 934 00:58:48,753 --> 00:58:50,011 what he said was, 935 00:58:50,261 --> 00:58:52,312 that this Constitution 936 00:58:52,896 --> 00:58:54,964 is the highest law of the land. 937 00:58:55,750 --> 00:58:57,203 The 14th amendment 938 00:58:57,680 --> 00:59:00,312 has a clause that you all should know about 939 00:59:01,161 --> 00:59:04,039 and I'll read it to you. It says... 940 00:59:06,210 --> 00:59:09,883 "And nor shall any state deny to any person 941 00:59:10,640 --> 00:59:13,953 the equal protection of the laws." 942 00:59:14,885 --> 00:59:17,265 So if Congress passes a law 943 00:59:17,570 --> 00:59:20,703 or the president issues an executive order 944 00:59:20,937 --> 00:59:23,336 that is in conflict with the Constitution, 945 00:59:24,094 --> 00:59:27,469 the Constitution must prevail. 946 00:59:48,265 --> 00:59:51,867 VMI was a 150 year old, 947 00:59:52,354 --> 00:59:54,812 all-male military college. 948 00:59:55,648 --> 00:59:59,562 It had a tremendous endowment, well-connected alumni, 949 00:59:59,597 --> 01:00:01,237 four star generals. 950 01:00:01,273 --> 01:00:04,390 When you came out of VMI that was something. 951 01:00:04,453 --> 01:00:06,465 Virginia military institute was the last 952 01:00:06,500 --> 01:00:08,409 all-male state supported school in the country. 953 01:00:08,445 --> 01:00:12,805 157 years of school tradition as an all-male military academy. 954 01:00:15,101 --> 01:00:18,425 Boys can be troublesome, full of hormones and so forth, 955 01:00:18,461 --> 01:00:21,718 and I don't mean to make general gender characteristics 956 01:00:21,815 --> 01:00:25,269 or generalizations here but for some young men, 957 01:00:25,320 --> 01:00:28,609 at that time of their life they need discipline, 958 01:00:29,031 --> 01:00:31,128 they need hard work and they need 959 01:00:31,164 --> 01:00:33,664 not a lot of extra time to get into trouble. 960 01:00:33,898 --> 01:00:35,672 And VMI provided that. 961 01:00:35,711 --> 01:00:37,937 Look at the men which stand before you! 962 01:00:37,992 --> 01:00:40,851 They represent the essence of VMI! 963 01:00:42,109 --> 01:00:46,042 A female high school student wanted to attend VMI. 964 01:00:46,078 --> 01:00:50,367 So she brought a case against Virginia, claiming that 965 01:00:50,422 --> 01:00:53,273 the all-male admissions policy violated equal protection. 966 01:00:54,286 --> 01:00:55,956 It actually went from the District Court 967 01:00:55,992 --> 01:00:58,750 to the appellate Court before it came up to the Supreme Court. 968 01:00:59,359 --> 01:01:03,914 This was an extremely important case for justice Ginsburg. 969 01:01:04,163 --> 01:01:09,225 It was her first women's rights case on the Supreme Court. 970 01:01:10,286 --> 01:01:12,300 The honorable chief justice 971 01:01:12,336 --> 01:01:15,070 and the associate justices of the Supreme Court 972 01:01:15,106 --> 01:01:16,839 of the United States. 973 01:01:17,442 --> 01:01:21,081 I was very much aware of justice Ginsburg's history 974 01:01:21,117 --> 01:01:25,011 with respect to gender excluding women from an institution. 975 01:01:25,047 --> 01:01:28,394 I was very much aware of that and I was trying to fashion 976 01:01:28,430 --> 01:01:32,055 an argument that would penetrate that. 977 01:02:06,047 --> 01:02:11,960 I was dealing with a very worthy and formidable force 978 01:02:11,996 --> 01:02:14,130 at the other side of that bench. 979 01:02:27,258 --> 01:02:30,836 That was my pitch. As you know it didn't work. 980 01:03:03,513 --> 01:03:06,616 ...to aspire, achieve, 981 01:03:07,086 --> 01:03:11,453 participate in, and contribute to society... 982 01:03:12,222 --> 01:03:14,524 based on what they can do. 983 01:03:15,156 --> 01:03:18,269 The for-men only tradition of VMI became history 984 01:03:18,305 --> 01:03:21,578 with the arrival of women entering as first year cadets. 985 01:03:21,719 --> 01:03:24,400 Cadre, take charge of your rats. 986 01:03:27,724 --> 01:03:30,105 I was in the first class of women. 987 01:03:30,820 --> 01:03:34,351 We were here not to break tradition not to ruin history 988 01:03:34,631 --> 01:03:36,336 but to help grow it. 989 01:03:41,530 --> 01:03:44,519 For those four years I worked extremely hard, 990 01:03:44,555 --> 01:03:46,389 to be the best person I could be 991 01:03:46,424 --> 01:03:48,359 and to represent women as a whole. 992 01:03:48,672 --> 01:03:51,093 I wanted to be that person that stood in front of the men 993 01:03:51,128 --> 01:03:52,687 and said, "I can do it, too." 994 01:03:58,268 --> 01:04:00,820 It's most appropriate that we welcome today 995 01:04:00,856 --> 01:04:02,797 a member of our nation's highest Court, 996 01:04:03,119 --> 01:04:04,469 a notable example 997 01:04:04,734 --> 01:04:08,242 of a citizen with a lifelong dedication to public service, 998 01:04:08,515 --> 01:04:10,513 justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 999 01:04:10,572 --> 01:04:11,572 Thank you. 1000 01:04:11,661 --> 01:04:14,517 Welcome to the Virginia Military Institute. 1001 01:04:14,922 --> 01:04:17,553 VMI fought very hard to keep women out. 1002 01:04:18,156 --> 01:04:21,394 I had an alumni walk up to me, and he says, 1003 01:04:21,430 --> 01:04:23,220 "I'm not going to shake your hand. I want to know" 1004 01:04:23,255 --> 01:04:24,788 why you're here, 1005 01:04:25,500 --> 01:04:28,264 "um, and why you decided to ruin my school." 1006 01:04:28,875 --> 01:04:31,570 I know that there were some people who did not... 1007 01:04:32,797 --> 01:04:37,206 react well to the change and my response to this was, 1008 01:04:37,656 --> 01:04:41,617 "wait and see, you will be proud of the women 1009 01:04:41,913 --> 01:04:45,250 who become graduates of VMI." 1010 01:04:49,125 --> 01:04:52,862 It wasn't just about VMI, it was about the notion 1011 01:04:52,898 --> 01:04:57,933 that you cannot exclude women just because they're women. 1012 01:04:57,969 --> 01:04:59,703 You cannot say categorically, 1013 01:05:00,177 --> 01:05:02,054 "they can't handle this." 1014 01:05:02,320 --> 01:05:04,834 It's way beyond VMI, way beyond. 1015 01:05:05,484 --> 01:05:08,838 And she pulled some of the justices of that Court 1016 01:05:09,515 --> 01:05:15,125 over to see that you start, you start with an assumption 1017 01:05:16,289 --> 01:05:19,719 that you have got to treat both genders equally. 1018 01:05:20,961 --> 01:05:24,933 That majority opinion, was the culmination of Ruth's 1019 01:05:24,969 --> 01:05:28,578 dedication to the concept of equality for women. 1020 01:05:30,722 --> 01:05:33,258 Those are current cadets. 1021 01:05:36,219 --> 01:05:40,648 One wanted to be a nuclear scientist, the others engineers. 1022 01:05:41,371 --> 01:05:44,523 All very well adjusted to life at VMI. 1023 01:05:51,681 --> 01:05:53,461 So, you can see... 1024 01:05:54,578 --> 01:05:58,562 many varieties there are more up on top. 1025 01:05:59,258 --> 01:06:01,453 This is the latest one I've gotten. 1026 01:06:03,515 --> 01:06:04,985 So people just send them to you? 1027 01:06:05,020 --> 01:06:06,453 Yes. 1028 01:06:08,832 --> 01:06:10,156 What's in this one? 1029 01:06:11,086 --> 01:06:15,404 Oh this one was given to me by the University of Hawaii, 1030 01:06:15,642 --> 01:06:17,078 with French lace... 1031 01:06:17,911 --> 01:06:19,867 and the beads are from the beach. 1032 01:06:22,601 --> 01:06:27,055 It is a gift from law clerks, a few terms back. 1033 01:06:27,551 --> 01:06:29,633 And this is what I use... 1034 01:06:30,087 --> 01:06:32,758 for announcing majority opinion. 1035 01:06:33,402 --> 01:06:36,898 And this one is for dissenting opinion. 1036 01:06:43,567 --> 01:06:46,890 Every day before we sit in the Court, 1037 01:06:47,039 --> 01:06:49,508 the first thing we do is, we go around the room 1038 01:06:49,906 --> 01:06:52,992 each justice shaking hands with every other. 1039 01:06:53,922 --> 01:06:56,987 We know that collegiality is very important 1040 01:06:57,023 --> 01:06:59,382 to the effective working of the Court. 1041 01:07:00,219 --> 01:07:04,781 So we better respect each other and even like each other. 1042 01:07:05,430 --> 01:07:07,009 She did something I'm not sure I could have done, 1043 01:07:07,044 --> 01:07:09,484 she made real friendship with Scalia. 1044 01:07:09,523 --> 01:07:13,240 They are the leading voice of opposite points of views 1045 01:07:13,276 --> 01:07:15,062 on the United States Supreme Court. 1046 01:07:15,125 --> 01:07:17,125 Why don't you call us, the odd couple? 1047 01:07:19,695 --> 01:07:22,906 He is a very funny fellow. 1048 01:07:22,969 --> 01:07:24,386 She is a very nice person, 1049 01:07:24,422 --> 01:07:26,711 she likes opera, what's not to like? 1050 01:07:28,328 --> 01:07:30,937 Except her views of law of course. 1051 01:07:33,336 --> 01:07:35,094 Justice Scalia believes 1052 01:07:35,130 --> 01:07:37,307 that one should read the Constitution 1053 01:07:37,343 --> 01:07:39,995 according to its plain language, 1054 01:07:40,031 --> 01:07:44,026 according to the meanings that were ascribed, uh, 1055 01:07:44,062 --> 01:07:48,065 to those words when those words were enacted. 1056 01:07:48,101 --> 01:07:50,339 But you're saying is, let's try to figure out 1057 01:07:50,375 --> 01:07:53,320 the mindset of people back 200 years ago, right? 1058 01:07:53,570 --> 01:07:55,444 Well, it isn't the mindset, 1059 01:07:55,480 --> 01:07:58,151 it's - it's, what - what did the words mean 1060 01:07:58,187 --> 01:08:00,245 to the people who ratified the bill of rights 1061 01:08:00,281 --> 01:08:01,777 or who ratified the Constitution. 1062 01:08:01,813 --> 01:08:03,940 As opposed to what people today think it meant? 1063 01:08:03,976 --> 01:08:06,548 As opposed to what people today would like. 1064 01:08:06,584 --> 01:08:08,461 I see the Constitution, 1065 01:08:08,578 --> 01:08:11,562 as striving for a more perfect union. 1066 01:08:11,898 --> 01:08:15,124 Who were we the people in 1787? 1067 01:08:15,508 --> 01:08:17,995 You would not be among we the people, 1068 01:08:18,031 --> 01:08:21,063 African Americans would not be among the people. 1069 01:08:21,664 --> 01:08:24,144 She's this supposed famous liberal, 1070 01:08:24,180 --> 01:08:26,144 he's this supposed famous conservative. 1071 01:08:26,180 --> 01:08:29,271 She's a Jewish, he's, uh, catholic. 1072 01:08:29,765 --> 01:08:33,430 She's retiring at times, and he almost never is. 1073 01:08:33,898 --> 01:08:38,136 And yet as with many great friendships there's chemistry 1074 01:08:38,172 --> 01:08:40,542 that maybe you can't entirely explain. 1075 01:08:40,578 --> 01:08:43,917 That's thing about Ruth is that she can compartmentalize 1076 01:08:43,953 --> 01:08:46,889 better than I do. She is able to have a close friend 1077 01:08:46,924 --> 01:08:48,969 who had these outrageous views, 1078 01:08:49,429 --> 01:08:50,176 um, 1079 01:08:50,358 --> 01:08:53,063 about women and about gays and lesbians. 1080 01:08:53,573 --> 01:08:54,840 I have a little bit of trouble with that. 1081 01:08:54,875 --> 01:08:56,922 I don't have close friends who are right wing 1082 01:08:56,958 --> 01:08:57,604 nutcases. 1083 01:08:57,640 --> 01:08:59,558 Even though they had differing points of view, 1084 01:08:59,594 --> 01:09:02,104 they were dear friends. I'm sure they were... 1085 01:09:02,508 --> 01:09:04,273 picking at each other the whole time. 1086 01:09:04,338 --> 01:09:06,225 But they kind of enjoyed it. 1087 01:09:06,570 --> 01:09:09,484 Justice scalia would whisper something to me. 1088 01:09:09,609 --> 01:09:12,956 All I could do to avoid laughing out loud, 1089 01:09:12,992 --> 01:09:15,284 so I would sometimes pinch myself. 1090 01:09:15,351 --> 01:09:16,776 People sometimes ask me, 1091 01:09:16,812 --> 01:09:19,603 "well, what was your favorite scalia joke?" And I said, 1092 01:09:19,639 --> 01:09:21,633 "I know what it is, but I can't tell you." 1093 01:09:23,014 --> 01:09:24,919 They enjoyed going to the operas together, 1094 01:09:24,955 --> 01:09:27,750 and they enjoyed discussing particular operas 1095 01:09:27,801 --> 01:09:30,718 and of course, they appeared together in an opera. 1096 01:09:32,813 --> 01:09:35,484 What's the most fun thing you've ever done together? 1097 01:09:35,520 --> 01:09:38,039 Was it being on that elephant together in India? 1098 01:09:38,631 --> 01:09:40,758 That was a rather bumpy ride. 1099 01:09:40,984 --> 01:09:44,578 Some of her feminist friends gave her a hard time 1100 01:09:44,712 --> 01:09:47,747 because she rode behind me on the elephant. 1101 01:09:47,852 --> 01:09:50,062 - And that's wha... - I'm not kidding. 1102 01:09:50,117 --> 01:09:53,422 It-- it was... the driver explained it was a matter 1103 01:09:53,457 --> 01:09:55,257 of distribution of weight. 1104 01:09:57,320 --> 01:09:59,728 Washington has a reputation as being a hard town 1105 01:09:59,763 --> 01:10:01,190 to make good friendships. 1106 01:10:01,226 --> 01:10:04,140 And the Supreme Court itself is a place where your colleagues 1107 01:10:04,176 --> 01:10:06,578 on any given case are also your adversaries. 1108 01:10:06,914 --> 01:10:09,906 It was very gratifying to see the two of them together 1109 01:10:09,942 --> 01:10:11,806 and know that they had their disagreements 1110 01:10:11,851 --> 01:10:14,594 but that my father had this just really wonderful friend. 1111 01:10:16,883 --> 01:10:18,862 The presidential election is over. 1112 01:10:18,898 --> 01:10:22,492 George Bush prevails by one vote in the Supreme Court. 1113 01:10:23,812 --> 01:10:25,883 George, this effectively ends the election. 1114 01:10:25,919 --> 01:10:27,120 It has ended the election and Peter, 1115 01:10:27,155 --> 01:10:30,031 literally one of the closest elections in American history. 1116 01:10:30,164 --> 01:10:33,542 600 votes approximately separated Gore and bush 1117 01:10:33,578 --> 01:10:35,894 in the state of Florida, and now by one vote 1118 01:10:35,930 --> 01:10:38,133 on the Supreme Court, this election is over. 1119 01:10:38,765 --> 01:10:41,562 Look at the dissents and the strong language in the dissents. 1120 01:10:41,598 --> 01:10:43,722 Justice Ginsburg, "the Court's conclusion" 1121 01:10:43,758 --> 01:10:46,120 that a recount is impractical, is a prophecy 1122 01:10:46,156 --> 01:10:49,245 the Court's own judgment will not allow to be tested. 1123 01:10:49,280 --> 01:10:51,183 "Such an untested prophecy..." 1124 01:10:51,219 --> 01:10:54,250 ...should not decide the presidency 1125 01:10:54,518 --> 01:10:56,219 of the United States. 1126 01:10:57,159 --> 01:10:58,328 I dissent. 1127 01:11:00,698 --> 01:11:03,300 She was never supposed to be the great dissenter 1128 01:11:03,336 --> 01:11:06,383 but that's the course that history took her on. 1129 01:11:08,195 --> 01:11:12,167 George W. Bush was able to appoint two justices. 1130 01:11:12,859 --> 01:11:16,703 The addition of Samuel Alito and John Roberts on the Court 1131 01:11:17,074 --> 01:11:18,898 pushed it far to the right. 1132 01:11:19,695 --> 01:11:24,179 The role of an individual justice can change dramatically 1133 01:11:24,215 --> 01:11:25,614 as the Court changes. 1134 01:11:26,031 --> 01:11:28,751 With the departure of justice O'Connor 1135 01:11:29,328 --> 01:11:33,480 and with more conservatives joining the bench. 1136 01:11:33,516 --> 01:11:38,094 She found she had to really exercise her dissenting voice. 1137 01:11:40,640 --> 01:11:43,599 Of course I prefer to be in the majority 1138 01:11:43,634 --> 01:11:45,901 but if necessary... 1139 01:11:46,461 --> 01:11:49,695 I will write separately in dissent. 1140 01:11:55,906 --> 01:11:57,569 Lilly Ledbetter: I went to work one night 1141 01:11:57,605 --> 01:11:59,484 and someone had left me a note. 1142 01:11:59,672 --> 01:12:05,281 It had my name and three men. We four had the exact same job. 1143 01:12:05,873 --> 01:12:09,275 My pay was 40 percent less than theirs. 1144 01:12:09,508 --> 01:12:12,440 I had been shortchanged for no other reason 1145 01:12:12,476 --> 01:12:16,492 than I had been born the wrong sex, I was a woman. 1146 01:12:17,476 --> 01:12:20,383 The jury found that I had been discriminated against 1147 01:12:20,437 --> 01:12:21,993 but of course, Goodyear appealed 1148 01:12:22,029 --> 01:12:23,305 and then we were notified 1149 01:12:23,340 --> 01:12:26,414 that we would be heard in the Supreme Court. 1150 01:12:28,411 --> 01:12:30,344 I looked at the Court makeup, 1151 01:12:30,531 --> 01:12:34,164 that's when justice Alito had just gone on the bench. 1152 01:12:34,328 --> 01:12:38,140 Justice Ginsburg at the time was the only female left. 1153 01:12:38,344 --> 01:12:40,402 Justice Alito read the opinion, 1154 01:12:40,859 --> 01:12:41,776 he said, 1155 01:12:41,812 --> 01:12:43,889 "I was definitely" discriminated 1156 01:12:43,994 --> 01:12:47,593 against but I had not filed my charge timely, 1157 01:12:47,789 --> 01:12:50,780 "that I'd waited too late to file my charge." 1158 01:13:25,183 --> 01:13:28,619 She's hit the nail on the head because she definitely said, 1159 01:13:28,655 --> 01:13:31,807 "they do not know what it's like in the real world." 1160 01:13:32,436 --> 01:13:35,811 Today, the ball again lies in Congress' Court... 1161 01:13:36,483 --> 01:13:40,716 "...to correct the error into which the Court has fallen." 1162 01:13:41,092 --> 01:13:44,575 She was laying down a marker for Congress and in fact 1163 01:13:44,748 --> 01:13:47,482 federal law was changed because of her dissent. 1164 01:13:47,653 --> 01:13:50,747 Three fifths of the senators having voted in the affirmative, 1165 01:13:51,196 --> 01:13:52,575 the bill has passed. 1166 01:13:57,551 --> 01:14:02,527 It is fitting that the very first bill that I sign, 1167 01:14:03,083 --> 01:14:07,727 the Lilly Ledbetter fair pay restoration act is upholding 1168 01:14:07,763 --> 01:14:10,591 one of this nation's founding principles... 1169 01:14:11,380 --> 01:14:13,549 that we are all created equal... 1170 01:14:13,903 --> 01:14:16,552 and each deserve a chance to pursue 1171 01:14:16,680 --> 01:14:18,880 our own version of happiness. 1172 01:14:29,364 --> 01:14:31,667 Ruth and I were in New York City 1173 01:14:31,702 --> 01:14:33,402 to see the play proof. 1174 01:14:33,739 --> 01:14:37,208 And as we walked down the aisle to our seats, 1175 01:14:37,247 --> 01:14:41,716 what seemed like the entire audience began to applaud, 1176 01:14:42,012 --> 01:14:45,059 many stood, Ruth beamed. 1177 01:14:45,581 --> 01:14:48,951 I beamed too, leaned over 1178 01:14:49,153 --> 01:14:51,434 and whispered loudly, 1179 01:14:51,708 --> 01:14:56,192 "I bet you didn't know there's a convention of tax lawyers in town." 1180 01:14:58,138 --> 01:15:01,773 Well, without changing her bright smile, 1181 01:15:02,044 --> 01:15:04,700 Ruth smacked me right in the stomach. 1182 01:15:05,513 --> 01:15:09,583 I give you this picture because it fairly captures 1183 01:15:09,723 --> 01:15:13,273 our nearly 50-year happy marriage. 1184 01:15:13,309 --> 01:15:16,220 During which I've offered up an astonishing 1185 01:15:16,256 --> 01:15:18,438 number of foolish pronouncements 1186 01:15:18,521 --> 01:15:21,179 and Ruth has ignored almost every one. 1187 01:15:27,857 --> 01:15:29,320 Well, I think part of the time 1188 01:15:29,356 --> 01:15:31,622 when he was sick, she was in denial. 1189 01:15:32,067 --> 01:15:34,700 He just became weaker and weaker. 1190 01:15:35,153 --> 01:15:37,513 The way people get sick when they're... 1191 01:15:37,983 --> 01:15:39,719 close to dying, but... 1192 01:15:41,247 --> 01:15:46,028 she somehow knew how to turn off those tear ducts in public. 1193 01:15:46,776 --> 01:15:48,684 She steeled herself for it. 1194 01:15:50,346 --> 01:15:53,582 I found this letter... 1195 01:15:54,083 --> 01:15:56,669 next to Marty's bed in the hospital. 1196 01:15:57,553 --> 01:15:59,254 "My dearest Ruth," 1197 01:15:59,942 --> 01:16:03,325 you are the only person I have loved in my life, 1198 01:16:03,997 --> 01:16:07,817 setting aside a bit parents and kids and their kids. 1199 01:16:08,973 --> 01:16:12,234 What a treat it has been to watch you progress 1200 01:16:12,716 --> 01:16:15,020 to the very top of the legal world. 1201 01:16:16,466 --> 01:16:18,828 I have admired and loved you 1202 01:16:18,864 --> 01:16:21,638 almost since the day we first met at Cornell, 1203 01:16:21,822 --> 01:16:23,968 some 56 years ago. 1204 01:16:26,450 --> 01:16:29,544 The time has come for me to take leave of life... 1205 01:16:30,186 --> 01:16:32,341 because the loss of quality... 1206 01:16:32,922 --> 01:16:35,872 now simply overwhelms. 1207 01:16:37,481 --> 01:16:40,356 I hope you will support where I come out... 1208 01:16:41,564 --> 01:16:43,927 and I understand you may not. 1209 01:16:46,202 --> 01:16:48,145 I will not love you... 1210 01:16:49,505 --> 01:16:51,640 "a jot less." 1211 01:16:54,802 --> 01:16:58,247 We met on a blind date in 1950. 1212 01:16:58,458 --> 01:17:03,169 The truth is it was a blind date only on Ruth's side. 1213 01:17:05,356 --> 01:17:07,067 I cheated. 1214 01:17:08,677 --> 01:17:13,169 I asked a classmate to point her out in advance. 1215 01:17:13,575 --> 01:17:17,666 "Oh, ho, she's really cute," I perceptively noticed. 1216 01:17:18,309 --> 01:17:22,216 And then after a couple of evenings out, I, uh, added, 1217 01:17:22,252 --> 01:17:25,684 "and boy she's really, really smart." 1218 01:17:26,372 --> 01:17:30,677 In the intervening 53 years, nothing changed. 1219 01:17:39,121 --> 01:17:40,329 Where are we headed? 1220 01:17:40,365 --> 01:17:42,633 We're headed to these outdoor sculptures, 1221 01:17:42,677 --> 01:17:44,381 and all the sculptures are done by contemporary 1222 01:17:44,416 --> 01:17:45,583 native American artists. 1223 01:17:46,411 --> 01:17:50,132 After a period of very justified mourning, 1224 01:17:50,403 --> 01:17:52,567 she sort of relaunched herself, 1225 01:17:52,629 --> 01:17:54,755 into her work and filled the time 1226 01:17:54,791 --> 01:17:56,359 that she would have spent 1227 01:17:56,395 --> 01:17:58,516 with my grandfather, with work 1228 01:17:58,552 --> 01:18:00,031 both to distract herself I think 1229 01:18:00,067 --> 01:18:02,844 from his absence but also to honor him. 1230 01:18:03,403 --> 01:18:07,315 This is her son, James, and this is her grandson... 1231 01:18:07,950 --> 01:18:09,672 Marty was her life. 1232 01:18:09,708 --> 01:18:12,421 And her children and grandchildren who 1233 01:18:12,456 --> 01:18:14,289 have a life of their own. 1234 01:18:14,622 --> 01:18:16,658 She's very much interested in arts 1235 01:18:16,693 --> 01:18:18,677 and loves to go to those things. 1236 01:18:18,934 --> 01:18:21,716 And then she goes home at the end of the evening 1237 01:18:21,824 --> 01:18:23,524 and works until four in the morning. 1238 01:18:23,747 --> 01:18:27,403 These two pieces are by a creek artist. 1239 01:18:27,481 --> 01:18:29,591 And what is she called, that one? 1240 01:18:29,665 --> 01:18:31,001 She's called a woman warrior. 1241 01:18:31,036 --> 01:18:34,591 Any kind of battle you bring to her, she's ready for it. 1242 01:18:38,419 --> 01:18:41,031 It's considered one of the most important pieces 1243 01:18:41,067 --> 01:18:43,731 of civil rights legislation ever passed, 1244 01:18:43,778 --> 01:18:46,555 but by 5-4 the U.S. Supreme Court today, 1245 01:18:46,591 --> 01:18:49,898 took the teeth out of a law enacted nearly 50 years ago. 1246 01:18:49,934 --> 01:18:53,255 Voting rights act has policed voting discrimination 1247 01:18:53,302 --> 01:18:56,434 but today's decision effectively puts it on hold. 1248 01:18:56,567 --> 01:18:58,227 Chief justice, John Roberts, 1249 01:18:58,263 --> 01:19:01,536 summarized his opinion with four telling words, 1250 01:19:01,571 --> 01:19:04,106 "our country has changed." 1251 01:19:13,014 --> 01:19:15,809 "...is like throwing away your umbrella..." 1252 01:19:16,622 --> 01:19:18,056 "in a rainstorm..." 1253 01:19:18,497 --> 01:19:20,528 "because you are not getting wet." 1254 01:19:20,934 --> 01:19:25,645 She called out the majority and said this makes zero sense. 1255 01:19:26,028 --> 01:19:30,427 The entire reason that racial discrimination in voting 1256 01:19:30,825 --> 01:19:35,367 is not happening is because we have this very important law. 1257 01:19:35,403 --> 01:19:39,239 I was righteously angry right alongside with her. 1258 01:19:39,395 --> 01:19:43,036 Her dissent was the introduction for many young people 1259 01:19:43,161 --> 01:19:45,927 about how important the Court is to our everyday lives. 1260 01:19:46,223 --> 01:19:48,183 I just pulled up Photoshop and did the design 1261 01:19:48,218 --> 01:19:49,356 in like 15 minutes. 1262 01:19:49,411 --> 01:19:51,062 I came up with a couple slogans 1263 01:19:51,098 --> 01:19:53,161 but the one that kept coming back to me was, 1264 01:19:53,204 --> 01:19:56,071 "you can't spell truth without Ruth." 1265 01:19:57,116 --> 01:19:59,344 A friend of mine posted on Facebook saying, 1266 01:19:59,380 --> 01:20:01,364 "Wow! Justice Ginsburg, sure can write" 1267 01:20:01,407 --> 01:20:02,797 #NotoriousRBG 1268 01:20:03,388 --> 01:20:07,035 So I started a Tumblr and I called it Notorious RBG. 1269 01:20:07,770 --> 01:20:09,825 She is known to fans the world over as, 1270 01:20:09,861 --> 01:20:12,106 the Notorious RBG. 1271 01:20:13,142 --> 01:20:16,473 ♪Yeah... This album is dedicated to all the teachers 1272 01:20:16,509 --> 01:20:18,552 that told me I'd never amount to nothing. 1273 01:20:18,622 --> 01:20:22,851 I do know where the Notorious RBG came from. 1274 01:20:23,402 --> 01:20:28,252 It... it was the rapper the Notorious B.I.G. 1275 01:20:34,263 --> 01:20:38,270 People ask me, "don't you feel uncomfortable being" 1276 01:20:38,847 --> 01:20:42,231 with a name like notorious B.I.G?" 1277 01:20:43,206 --> 01:20:46,200 Um... why should I feel uncomfortable? 1278 01:20:46,661 --> 01:20:48,536 We have a lot in common. 1279 01:20:54,098 --> 01:20:55,785 First and foremost... 1280 01:20:56,228 --> 01:20:59,309 we were both born and bred in Brooklyn, New York. 1281 01:21:01,208 --> 01:21:03,425 Young people are really craving 1282 01:21:03,460 --> 01:21:04,793 different kinds of icons. 1283 01:21:05,153 --> 01:21:07,095 Realizing that somebody like RBG 1284 01:21:07,130 --> 01:21:09,950 has been doing her job for decades 1285 01:21:10,098 --> 01:21:12,801 and being forceful and speaking truth to power 1286 01:21:12,836 --> 01:21:14,436 kind of blows my mind. 1287 01:21:14,903 --> 01:21:16,538 A big win for conservatives 1288 01:21:16,573 --> 01:21:18,388 in the hobby lobby case. 1289 01:21:24,050 --> 01:21:26,754 Justice Ginsburg has filed a dissenting opinion. 1290 01:21:38,475 --> 01:21:42,234 We were all so hungry to hear from Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 1291 01:21:42,270 --> 01:21:44,199 Every time justice Ginsburg wrote a dissent, 1292 01:21:44,234 --> 01:21:45,461 the Internet would explode. 1293 01:21:45,497 --> 01:21:47,766 Justice Ginsburg has filed a dissenting opinion. 1294 01:21:47,802 --> 01:21:50,242 Justice Ginsburg has filed a dissenting opinion. 1295 01:21:50,278 --> 01:21:52,239 My dissenting opinion. I dissent. 1296 01:21:52,275 --> 01:21:54,180 Dissent from today's decision. 1297 01:21:54,216 --> 01:21:56,510 You just had to put the words Ruth Bader Ginsburg 1298 01:21:56,546 --> 01:22:00,005 into something and it would be shared compulsively. 1299 01:22:11,458 --> 01:22:17,799 She's become such a rock star and she enjoys it. 1300 01:22:18,500 --> 01:22:19,329 To see 1301 01:22:19,365 --> 01:22:22,013 people wear Notorious RBG t-shirts 1302 01:22:22,049 --> 01:22:25,288 or other paraphernalia with her face on it. 1303 01:22:25,475 --> 01:22:27,133 It's weird honestly. 1304 01:22:27,169 --> 01:22:29,310 She gives her RBG t-shirts to people. 1305 01:22:29,513 --> 01:22:31,313 She called and laughed did you get the birthday gift? 1306 01:22:31,348 --> 01:22:33,448 I said I did I'm wearing it. 1307 01:22:33,483 --> 01:22:35,802 - Tattoos! Yeah. - Lots of tattoos. 1308 01:22:35,990 --> 01:22:38,253 I had a picture of one of the tattoos 1309 01:22:38,294 --> 01:22:41,091 and I showed it to her and she goes "uh!" 1310 01:22:41,383 --> 01:22:43,591 Why would you do something so permanent?" 1311 01:22:45,209 --> 01:22:47,740 Here now to comment is Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 1312 01:22:50,953 --> 01:22:52,587 Alright! Justice coming in hot. 1313 01:22:52,623 --> 01:22:55,804 I'm ready to rumble Mayweather, Pacquiao style. 1314 01:22:56,115 --> 01:22:58,707 I float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, 1315 01:22:58,742 --> 01:23:00,779 I clean myself like a fly. 1316 01:23:03,546 --> 01:23:04,797 It's so unlike mom, 1317 01:23:04,833 --> 01:23:07,949 but I don't think mom... an accurate imitation of mom 1318 01:23:07,984 --> 01:23:09,724 would be that funny. 1319 01:23:09,896 --> 01:23:11,857 Do you think she watches them? 1320 01:23:11,958 --> 01:23:13,388 I don't think she ever has watched television. 1321 01:23:13,423 --> 01:23:15,090 Yeah, I'm not sure she knows how to turn on... 1322 01:23:15,125 --> 01:23:17,435 No, no, she watches the NewsHour while she's working out. 1323 01:23:17,560 --> 01:23:19,995 Yeah, but that's at the Court, does she know how to turn on 1324 01:23:20,030 --> 01:23:22,107 - the television at home? - I don't think so. 1325 01:23:22,740 --> 01:23:27,068 Here to explain is Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 1326 01:23:27,103 --> 01:23:28,803 Is this' Saturday Night Live'? 1327 01:23:29,599 --> 01:23:34,042 I like my men like I like my decisions: 5-4. 1328 01:23:34,077 --> 01:23:36,711 That's a third-degree Gins-burn!! 1329 01:23:47,295 --> 01:23:49,826 It's marvelously funny. How did they... 1330 01:23:50,466 --> 01:23:51,912 Remind you of yourself? 1331 01:23:52,677 --> 01:23:54,146 Not one bit. 1332 01:23:57,800 --> 01:23:59,367 Except for the collar. 1333 01:23:59,849 --> 01:24:01,102 What about the state of the union 1334 01:24:01,137 --> 01:24:02,607 where you were caught sleeping? 1335 01:24:02,654 --> 01:24:04,739 No, I wasn't sleeping I was just giving in 1336 01:24:04,774 --> 01:24:06,716 to the weight of my glasses. 1337 01:24:11,315 --> 01:24:12,650 Watching the state of the union 1338 01:24:12,685 --> 01:24:15,758 and I notice that her head is drooping a little bit 1339 01:24:15,794 --> 01:24:19,646 and she might have dozed off for about a minute or two. 1340 01:24:19,880 --> 01:24:21,790 After that happened, I called her up and said, 1341 01:24:22,246 --> 01:24:24,241 "you know, bubbe, you were asleep during the state of the union, 1342 01:24:24,276 --> 01:24:25,204 you can't do that." 1343 01:24:25,240 --> 01:24:26,920 You went to the state of the union 1344 01:24:26,955 --> 01:24:28,187 and you fell asleep. 1345 01:24:29,858 --> 01:24:31,599 As I often do. 1346 01:24:32,099 --> 01:24:34,243 The audience for the most part is awake, 1347 01:24:34,279 --> 01:24:37,446 because they're bobbing up and down all the time... 1348 01:24:37,771 --> 01:24:40,723 and we sit there, stone faced... 1349 01:24:41,044 --> 01:24:43,211 sober judges. But we're not... 1350 01:24:43,638 --> 01:24:46,443 at least I wasn't, a hundred percent sober. 1351 01:24:49,263 --> 01:24:53,021 She does look vulnerable, she is this tiny little person 1352 01:24:53,107 --> 01:24:55,190 and that is somehow in contrast with being 1353 01:24:55,225 --> 01:25:01,248 the ferocious defender of minorities and women and... 1354 01:25:02,064 --> 01:25:03,780 certain kinds of ideals. 1355 01:25:03,816 --> 01:25:05,833 There's always I think the concern that can she 1356 01:25:05,873 --> 01:25:07,779 continue to keep up this pace? 1357 01:25:07,815 --> 01:25:10,671 Well, she's now been through 1358 01:25:10,707 --> 01:25:12,419 two different types of cancer 1359 01:25:12,455 --> 01:25:14,341 without missing a day on the bench. 1360 01:25:14,826 --> 01:25:19,514 I had my first cancer bout in 1999, 1361 01:25:19,549 --> 01:25:21,249 Colorectal cancer. 1362 01:25:21,654 --> 01:25:24,552 It was the year of first surgery 1363 01:25:24,587 --> 01:25:26,888 and then chemotherapy. 1364 01:25:27,490 --> 01:25:30,302 Ten years later, I had pancreatic cancer. 1365 01:25:31,005 --> 01:25:33,828 I think what it has left me is... 1366 01:25:34,388 --> 01:25:38,767 an enhanced appreciation of the joys of being alive. 1367 01:25:39,270 --> 01:25:41,837 What I need you to do is just grab them and just pull. 1368 01:25:42,154 --> 01:25:44,852 - Just standing up straight? - Just pull, don't lean back. 1369 01:25:44,888 --> 01:25:49,248 Good, just pull, pull, okay? Arch that back. Good. 1370 01:25:50,716 --> 01:25:52,927 - This is light. - I know, I know, 1371 01:25:53,449 --> 01:25:54,716 I got a heavier one. 1372 01:25:54,912 --> 01:25:56,985 Since it's too light, I got a heavier one 1373 01:25:57,607 --> 01:26:00,818 I started training justice Ginsburg back in 1999. 1374 01:26:01,162 --> 01:26:03,212 She had just come out of chemotherapy 1375 01:26:03,248 --> 01:26:06,732 and she wanted to build muscle and get stronger. 1376 01:26:07,747 --> 01:26:08,880 She's like a cyborg. 1377 01:26:08,994 --> 01:26:11,594 And when I say cyborg, she's like a machine. 1378 01:26:20,849 --> 01:26:24,060 Lean back. Good, yeah, and pull yourself up. 1379 01:26:24,514 --> 01:26:26,281 Exactly. Good. 1380 01:26:30,419 --> 01:26:32,987 Alright, bring chest down to the ball, good. 1381 01:26:33,271 --> 01:26:35,757 They're real push-ups right, they're not girl push-ups. 1382 01:26:35,854 --> 01:26:39,481 No, th... they are... very real, yes. 1383 01:26:40,724 --> 01:26:43,231 I've heard that she's does 20 push-ups, 1384 01:26:43,266 --> 01:26:44,533 three times a week or something. 1385 01:26:44,568 --> 01:26:46,281 I mean we can't even get off the floor. 1386 01:26:46,317 --> 01:26:47,900 We can't even get down to the floor. 1387 01:26:49,602 --> 01:26:51,140 That's true. 1388 01:26:51,693 --> 01:26:55,443 I always feel better no matter how tired I am, 1389 01:26:55,931 --> 01:26:59,123 at the end of that hour, I'm ready to go again. 1390 01:27:02,185 --> 01:27:06,208 She definitely embodies the larger than life nature 1391 01:27:06,256 --> 01:27:09,390 of the "notorious" title... 1392 01:27:09,691 --> 01:27:10,892 more and more as she gets older. 1393 01:27:10,927 --> 01:27:13,774 She's become much more public, much more vocal. 1394 01:27:13,810 --> 01:27:15,496 Especially in a time when our politics 1395 01:27:15,531 --> 01:27:17,474 are just so garbage. 1396 01:27:17,724 --> 01:27:20,168 Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg spoke fearfully 1397 01:27:20,203 --> 01:27:21,787 of a Donald Trump presidency. 1398 01:27:21,880 --> 01:27:24,704 An unusually candid political outpouring 1399 01:27:24,740 --> 01:27:26,423 calling Trump a "faker." 1400 01:27:26,459 --> 01:27:28,158 Justice Ginsburg, uh, 1401 01:27:28,194 --> 01:27:30,575 made some very, very inappropriate... 1402 01:27:30,611 --> 01:27:31,974 statements toward me. 1403 01:27:32,015 --> 01:27:33,466 I was flabbergasted. 1404 01:27:33,662 --> 01:27:37,286 It surprised me that she would comment in a derogatory way 1405 01:27:37,322 --> 01:27:40,896 about any candidate for president. It's... 1406 01:27:43,592 --> 01:27:44,692 it's inappropriate. 1407 01:27:44,728 --> 01:27:46,828 It's not just a matter of decorum... 1408 01:27:47,005 --> 01:27:49,931 it's a matter of her not understanding 1409 01:27:49,966 --> 01:27:51,297 her Constitutional role. 1410 01:27:51,333 --> 01:27:54,282 She has just come out and issued an apology. 1411 01:27:54,318 --> 01:27:57,305 You released a statement that read, "judges should avoid" 1412 01:27:57,341 --> 01:27:59,990 commenting on a candidate for public office." 1413 01:28:00,248 --> 01:28:03,645 But do you really regret the substance of what you said? 1414 01:28:03,680 --> 01:28:05,271 I think in the best, 1415 01:28:05,318 --> 01:28:08,185 the wisest course would have been to say nothing. 1416 01:28:08,482 --> 01:28:11,586 Is it wrong for Supreme Court justices to... 1417 01:28:12,052 --> 01:28:14,722 uh, to occasionally make a mistake? No. 1418 01:28:14,757 --> 01:28:16,060 They're human beings 1419 01:28:16,130 --> 01:28:18,407 and she's a human being and she apologized for it. 1420 01:28:18,443 --> 01:28:22,857 It is quite possible that many, many executive orders 1421 01:28:22,990 --> 01:28:27,029 or other things that a president has supported or done 1422 01:28:27,107 --> 01:28:29,399 are going to come before the Supreme Court 1423 01:28:29,435 --> 01:28:33,044 and that now we have a sitting justice indicating, 1424 01:28:33,107 --> 01:28:35,777 that the person has a deep antipathy, 1425 01:28:35,812 --> 01:28:38,479 uh, against the lawmaker. 1426 01:28:38,514 --> 01:28:39,781 The notion that I... 1427 01:28:40,044 --> 01:28:42,750 I don't comprehend that my job... 1428 01:28:43,107 --> 01:28:46,076 is to interpret the law fairly... 1429 01:28:47,021 --> 01:28:49,935 that I'm going to vote one way... 1430 01:28:50,809 --> 01:28:54,185 based on who I might have voted for president is just... 1431 01:28:57,264 --> 01:28:58,779 none of us... 1432 01:28:59,958 --> 01:29:01,585 even if we wanted to... 1433 01:29:02,208 --> 01:29:05,216 could be successful if that's the attitude that we had. 1434 01:29:18,951 --> 01:29:20,922 You look marvelous. 1435 01:29:21,090 --> 01:29:24,404 Knowing that we were opening on the Saturday after the election, 1436 01:29:24,646 --> 01:29:27,943 I wanted somebody who was a Washington insider 1437 01:29:28,130 --> 01:29:30,832 to play the 'Duchess of Krakenthorp'. 1438 01:29:31,037 --> 01:29:34,037 "The best of the house of Krakenthorp..." 1439 01:29:34,216 --> 01:29:38,612 There are very few operas that have speaking parts 1440 01:29:39,042 --> 01:29:42,076 and the Duchess of Krackenthorp 1441 01:29:42,290 --> 01:29:45,357 is one such part. So I wrote... 1442 01:29:46,105 --> 01:29:49,581 basically my own lines for the Duchess of Krackenthorp. 1443 01:29:59,214 --> 01:30:02,526 "The best of the house of Krakenthorp" 1444 01:30:03,029 --> 01:30:06,698 have open, but not empty minds. 1445 01:30:07,175 --> 01:30:08,908 No surprise then 1446 01:30:09,456 --> 01:30:13,241 that the most valorous krakenthorpians 1447 01:30:13,276 --> 01:30:14,691 "have been women!" 1448 01:30:18,745 --> 01:30:21,093 "A lady Krackenthorp" 1449 01:30:21,816 --> 01:30:25,319 at all times must conduct herself 1450 01:30:25,354 --> 01:30:28,189 with dignity and grace. 1451 01:30:28,667 --> 01:30:32,620 We now request certain essential documents. 1452 01:30:33,929 --> 01:30:36,761 "Have you brought your niece's birth certificate?" 1453 01:30:46,757 --> 01:30:50,300 "Ours is a family wildly trumpeted," 1454 01:30:50,862 --> 01:30:54,218 hence we must take precautions against 1455 01:30:54,801 --> 01:30:56,409 "fraudulent pretenders." 1456 01:31:13,472 --> 01:31:16,838 Justice Ginsburg, I think everyone expected you to retire soon. 1457 01:31:16,874 --> 01:31:17,948 I mean, you're 83. 1458 01:31:18,003 --> 01:31:21,058 Yeah, you're damn right. I was gonna retire. Ugh! 1459 01:31:21,283 --> 01:31:22,428 But not now. 1460 01:31:22,464 --> 01:31:24,745 Not now, now I gotta stay alive and healthy. 1461 01:31:24,780 --> 01:31:26,647 Damn it. Give me my thing. 1462 01:31:27,026 --> 01:31:29,167 Excuse me, I gotta take my vitamins. 1463 01:31:30,143 --> 01:31:32,570 Oh my god, that's... 1464 01:31:33,754 --> 01:31:35,909 ...That's... that's a packet. 1465 01:31:42,438 --> 01:31:45,741 Justice Ginsburg, let me ask you a tough question. 1466 01:31:45,878 --> 01:31:50,550 There were liberals who publicly urged you to retire, uh... 1467 01:31:51,473 --> 01:31:52,733 two or three years ago, 1468 01:31:52,769 --> 01:31:55,909 so that president Obama could name a replacement. 1469 01:31:56,776 --> 01:31:59,245 Any second thoughts about not doing that? 1470 01:32:01,769 --> 01:32:04,237 I have said many times that I will... 1471 01:32:05,042 --> 01:32:06,342 do this job... 1472 01:32:06,774 --> 01:32:10,690 as long as I can do it full steam. 1473 01:32:11,364 --> 01:32:13,466 And when I can't... 1474 01:32:14,500 --> 01:32:16,058 that will be the time, 1475 01:32:16,639 --> 01:32:18,373 I will step down. 1476 01:32:20,691 --> 01:32:23,691 She has found her voice on the Court. 1477 01:32:24,207 --> 01:32:26,175 She is a center of power... 1478 01:32:27,042 --> 01:32:29,284 on the Court and off the Court. 1479 01:32:29,394 --> 01:32:31,295 When the history books are written, 1480 01:32:31,331 --> 01:32:32,980 an enormous amount will be about 1481 01:32:33,015 --> 01:32:36,167 what she did as a very young lawyer. 1482 01:32:36,581 --> 01:32:39,537 There would not have been the legal status 1483 01:32:39,573 --> 01:32:42,730 of women today had it not been for her work in the '70s. 1484 01:32:42,932 --> 01:32:45,420 She changed everything. 1485 01:32:45,456 --> 01:32:49,401 The gender line helps to keep women not on a pedestal 1486 01:32:49,944 --> 01:32:51,110 but in a cage 1487 01:32:51,620 --> 01:32:55,436 Ruth's work made me feel as if I was protected 1488 01:32:55,472 --> 01:32:58,230 by the U.S. Constitution for the first time. 1489 01:32:58,441 --> 01:33:00,841 Men and women are persons of equal dignity 1490 01:33:00,876 --> 01:33:03,941 and they should count equally before the law. 1491 01:33:04,034 --> 01:33:07,782 She may be small but she's got a firm backbone. 1492 01:33:08,269 --> 01:33:10,326 It's been a long road for her 1493 01:33:10,362 --> 01:33:13,542 and she's fought really hard all the way down it. 1494 01:33:13,923 --> 01:33:15,489 She's not done fighting. 1495 01:33:15,980 --> 01:33:18,559 Looking back over my long life. 1496 01:33:19,128 --> 01:33:21,948 Yes, we may be in trying times... 1497 01:33:23,231 --> 01:33:25,332 but think how it was. 1498 01:33:25,714 --> 01:33:27,849 When I went to college... 1499 01:33:28,151 --> 01:33:31,439 there was a big red scare in our country. 1500 01:33:32,042 --> 01:33:35,462 Some people in our Congress saw a communist in every closet 1501 01:33:35,498 --> 01:33:37,322 and in every corner. 1502 01:33:37,566 --> 01:33:40,348 But it impressed me, that there were lawyers reminding our Congress 1503 01:33:40,383 --> 01:33:43,276 that we have freedom of speech and of the press. 1504 01:33:43,390 --> 01:33:47,194 So I thought that that was a pretty good thing to do... 1505 01:33:49,731 --> 01:33:52,237 To help keep our country in tune 1506 01:33:52,273 --> 01:33:56,300 with its most basic values. 1507 01:33:58,683 --> 01:34:01,275 Now is the busiest season for the Court. 1508 01:34:01,311 --> 01:34:04,894 All dissenting opinions have to be... 1509 01:34:05,823 --> 01:34:07,191 circulated. 1510 01:34:07,636 --> 01:34:11,245 And I have a few of those still to go. 1511 01:34:11,995 --> 01:34:15,916 One of the world's greatest jurists, judge learned hand... 1512 01:34:16,386 --> 01:34:19,304 said, that the spirit of Liberty 1513 01:34:19,340 --> 01:34:23,925 that imbues our Constitution must lie first and foremost 1514 01:34:24,094 --> 01:34:26,531 in the hearts of the men and women 1515 01:34:26,926 --> 01:34:29,223 who compose this great nation... 1516 01:34:29,558 --> 01:34:34,776 a community where the least shall be heard and considered 1517 01:34:35,004 --> 01:34:38,386 side by side with the greatest. 1518 01:34:39,414 --> 01:34:43,230 I will keep that wisdom in the front of my mind 1519 01:34:43,386 --> 01:34:46,213 as long as I am capable of judicial service. 1520 01:34:47,003 --> 01:34:52,764 Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! The Court is now sitting. 120358

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