Raising the Bar: Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the ACLU Women's Rights Project

by Amy Leigh Campbell

Raising the Bar defines Ruth Bader Ginsburg's contribution to American constitutional law through her efforts as professor, lawyer, and women's rights advocate. Focusing on the years 1971 to 1980, it explores the decade during which Ginsburg founded and was general counsel to the ACLU Women's Rights Project. Several scholars have undertaken similar analyses in the past, but the missing ingredient has long been Ginsburg's own perspective, now available through her donation of private papers. Raising the Bar pinpoints Ginsburg's role in the progression of her complicated, multi-layered strategy to combat gender discrimination from theory to implementation.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, History

164 pages, Paperback

First published April 6, 2004

Reviews

[Feisty Harriet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not exactly a biography, but also much more than a list of cases and briefs, this short book details the theory and careful strategy of RBG and she layered case upon case to define sexual discrimination and also to outlaw it through policy and statute at the highest court in the United States. Campbell goes through her time at the ACLU and the details of each case, including commentary from RBG's private papers (housed in the Library of Congress) to show how long-seeing and calculated RBG's legal arguments were in order to sway an overly conservative court. I knew the basics of most of the cases mentioned in this book, however this is the first place I've read so many of the details from correspondence to/from RBG regarding the statue and law, as well as her opinions re: the political climate for women during the 1970's. Excellent read (and also, a lot of court law and procedure, I had to look up a couple of terms to make sure I was understanding what was going on).