By Guadalupe Alvarado
Milner and Markee, LLP
On September 18, 2020, our nation lost Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Ever since her passing, there have been many articles that have highlighted her significant accomplishments despite numerous obstacles that she faced in every step of her life. She faced discrimination as a woman when not a single law firm in New York City wanted to hire her primarily because of her gender. She faced employment discrimination when she became a law professor at Rutgers Law School and was paid less than her male counterparts. Despite numerous obstacles, Justice Ginsburg became the first woman to make it to the Harvard Law Review and Columbia Law Review, graduated first in her class, became the first tenured female professor, prevailed on five gender discrimination cases before the Supreme Court, became a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and was confirmed with a vote of 96-3 to the United States Supreme Court where she served for the next 27 years.
As a young woman in her era, she had immaculate accomplishments and an overwhelming number of articles have successfully highlighted these. Therefore, this article is rather a tribute to the legacy she has left behind for future legal advocates that will use her dissent for many decades to come. There is no doubt that, as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Justice Ginsburg will be remembered for her life changing opinions and powerful concurrences. However, it is her famous dissents that are particularly important for many generations ahead of us. In fact, one of her most famous quotes states – “the dissenter’s hope: that they are not writing for today but for tomorrow.”
On that note, it is relevant to address that Justice Ginsburg became famously known for the collars she wore with her judicial robes. As the only two females on the bench, Justice Ginsburg and Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wanted to add a feminine touch to their attire and together came up with the idea of wearing a collar. In fact, Justice Ginsburg specifically wore a collar when delivering majority opinions as well as dissenting opinions. Indeed, she made a statement with her dissent, her dissenting collar, and inspired many young women.
Justice Ginsburg inspired many young women who are still currently fighting for equal pay and reproductive rights today. She has also encouraged female law students in the classroom aspiring to be future attorneys and wanting to change the American society in the same manner that she did. Further, she has inspired young attorneys like myself to utilize her dissents as a tool to fight issues that our nation is currently facing.
As a new and young advocate fighting for underrepresented communities and giving a voice to the voiceless, I can relate to Justice Ginsburg in many ways. To illustrate, Justice Ginsburg has commented that neither of her parents had the means to attend college, but taught her to “love learning, to care about people, and to work hard for whatever she believed in.” During her confirmation hearing, she stated, “what has become of me could happen only in America.” These words are very meaningful to many young females like myself in the legal profession. As an immigrant, female, Latina, first person in my family to graduate high school, college, and law school – Justice Ginsburg has inspired me in every sense of the word and has made a huge impact on my life. To illustrate, she has taught me that with grit, tenacity, and perseverance we can overcome our life’s obstacles and turn them into our life’s work. Therefore, it is the responsibility of new attorneys like myself to use her dissent to continue to change the future of America. We are still living in a world with many unresolved issues including, racism, violence, sexual assault against women, homelessness, and veterans living with PTSD, to name a few. We must keep her legacy alive by utilizing her dissent as a tool to keep fighting for social justice.
Most recently, under the current administration, Justice Ginsburg did not stop fighting and continued to stand for what she believed. She defended the immigrant community when she helped overturn the Trump’s administration decision to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, better known as DACA. She also defended immigrants by placing limitations on prolonged immigration detention. There is no doubt that Justice Ginsburg gave a voice to the voiceless and defended underprivileged communities. Indeed, she once stated, “[o]ne lives not just for oneself, but for one’s community.”
Justice Ginsburg loved the law. She was a great force on the Court. She will continue to live through the meaningful work she left behind, particularly her dissents, that will continue to pave the way for many and become the law of tomorrow for many decades to come.
In her very own words, Justice Ginsburg would like to be remembered in the following manner: “I would just like people to think of me as a judge who did the best she could with whatever limited talent I had to keep our country true to what makes it a great nation and to make things a little better than they might have been if I hadn’t been there.” Let us remember her as such and keep her legacy alive by utilizing her dissent to keep fighting for our nation and our people.