Ruth Bader Ginsburg Dissents

by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Linda Greenhouse (Foreword)

A collection of key dissenting and majority opinions from U.S. Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

During her 27 years as an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, Ruth Bader Ginsburg became well known for her strongly worded dissenting opinions against the decisions of the conservative majority. Ginsburg was a fierce supporter of women’s rights whose personal experiences helped shape her into a feminist icon who employed logical, well-presented arguments to show that gender discrimination was harmful to all members of society. Ruth Bader Ginsburg Dissents features 15 legal opinions and briefs, including majority and dissenting opinions that Ginsburg drafted during her time on the U.S. Supreme Court and briefs from her career before she was appointed to the court in 1993.

Genres: Nonfiction

434 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 19, 2022

About the author

Ruth Joan Bader Ginsburg (LL.B., Columbia University, 1960; B.A., Government, Cornell University, 1954) was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Ginsburg was appointed by President Bill Clinton and took the oath of office on August 10, 1993. She was the second female justice (after Sandra Day O'Connor) and served alongside two of the women currently serving on the Supreme Court, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

Reviews

[Stacey B · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have unwavering respect for this women.
This is a most interesting read pertaining to fifteen topics RBG wrote as legal briefs and opinions that were formatted into a book- before 1993.

[Rachael Dockery · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Great Trees Fall

When great trees fall,
rocks on distant hills shudder,
lions hunker down
in tall grasses,
and even elephants
lumber after safety.

When great trees fall
in forests,
small things recoil into silence,
their senses
eroded beyond fear.

When great souls die,
the air around us becomes
light, rare, sterile.
We breathe, briefly.
Our eyes, briefly,
see with
a hurtful clarity.
Our memory, suddenly sharpened,
examines,
gnaws on kind words
unsaid,
promised walks
never taken.

Great souls die and
our reality, bound to
them, takes leave of us.
Our souls,
dependent upon their
nurture,
now shrink, wizened.
Our minds, formed
and informed by their
radiance,
fall away.
We are not so much maddened
as reduced to the unutterable ignorance
of dark, cold
caves.

And when great souls die,
after a period peace blooms,
slowly and always
irregularly. Spaces fill
with a kind of
soothing electric vibration.
Our senses, restored, never
to be the same, whisper to us.
They existed. They existed.
We can be. Be and be
better. For they existed.

By: Maya Angelou

[Michelle Hyatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a non lawyer who works in the legal field, so this wasn't exactly easy reading for me. But I'm so glad I pushed through. These dissents are on interesting cases, many regarding women and minorities who receive disparate treatment under the law. Also her dissent in Bush v Gore (1998-do we all remember the hanging chads? Lol that's not what it's about tho). RGB writes beautifully, even if she sometimes uses words and phrases most lawyers would have to look up (faute de mieux, for one). And I found the millions of footnotes in tiny print to be really distracting, even if they did contribute to the narrative). So again, I recommend this one for anyone who has an interest in the law, but give yourself plenty of time and bring a dictionary.