EP 14-The Notorious RBG: A Mother of Modern Justice

What a month it has been celebrating some amazing women for International Women's Month. Join Kourtney and special guest Kristin as they close out the month with a chat about the one and only RUTH BADER GINSBURG. From Brooklyn to the Supreme Court, this episode dives into the extraordinary life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Her relentless fight for equality, her groundbreaking legal legacy, and the quiet strength that made her a cultural icon. She is the true mother of modern justice. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and welcome back to another episode of I've Got Something to Say. I'm your host, Courtney, and today I am joined by my beautiful wife, Kristen, and we are back for another episode during International Women's Month. Due to my unprecedented illness last week, this will conclude our month of my version of Most Important Women. I mean, this is going to be a series like I've talked about before. And the one that I'm not going to get to this month is Marie Curry. I do plan on going back to her. I want to do a whole month or a whole segment of like women and STEM because we love women and STEM. Yeah, we do. My wife is a scientist. Right? You're you're considered a scientist. Okay. Yeah, my wife's a scientist, so women and STEM are hot. Also, before we get started, I want to give a big shout out to some of my new followers. I've gotten some pretty good traction on my TikTok page. So anybody new that's listening, hello. Thank you so much for being here. We love you. I also am realizing that I'm still struggling with the schedule of this podcast because your girl's a busy lady. Tuesdays come fast. Tuesdays come fast.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

Fridays come fast. Any day of the week comes fast.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

Literally, literally. I also work a full-time job that I have to drive to. So like I'm gone from my house more than I'm home. So finding time to record and edit when you know the first quarter of this year kind of hasn't really been. It's been shit. Yeah. So so you know, we're navigating. So some weeks I might fall short on the podcast. Bear with me. Okay. Life happens. I'm doing my best to pre-record and have episodes ready ahead of schedule. Like I said, we're trying our best here. And also, this is a this is a passion project. This is a hobby for me. So it's not to make more stress on your life. Right. And that's the thing, is like I don't want to get discouraged by stressing myself out, being like, I don't have I'm we are currently recording this Monday at 6.42 p.m. 6.42 p.m. And this is supposed to go up tomorrow morning. Um it's probably gonna be up a little bit later and on Tuesday, but we'll we'll see. We'll see. Anyways, before we get started on today's topic on the special lady that we are gonna speak about today, let's go over our current obsessions. Right now, the thing that is consuming my entire life is the summer house drama that some people are comparing to Scandaval. And I if you're comparing this to Scandaval, I think you're on fucking crack. This is nowhere nearly different. This is nowhere near the level of Scandaval. What we're talking about is the Amanda Petula and Sierra drama. They might be on the outs right now because for those of you that don't know, we watch a show called Summer House, and Amanda has been married to a guy named Kyle for how long have they been married? Like six years, but they've been together for like six like six or ten years. Over ten years, and they just got a divorce. Well, prior to them getting a divorce, Sierra had a fling with another castmate, West Wilson, which I love West Wilson. And rumor has it that since Kyle and Amanda got a divorce, Amanda and West be smooching. And everyone's saying that Sierra's pissed about it. But Sierra and West have not been a thing for the past like two years. Like he screwed up with her originally that after that first summer that they were like a fling.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

And she's like not really given him a second chance, which like more power to her because he made her look like a fool once, and she's not going to be fooled again. But my thing is, I understand that Amanda and Sierra are friends, but Amanda just had to endure the past 10 plus years with Kyle, and she's like a freely divorced woman. Let her do what she wants. She can't smooch who she wants to smooch. Especially since you're saying no. Right. Like, you are you gonna gatekeep him for the rest of your life? I mean, okay, I can see it though from like a friend, like a girl code aspect. Like that would be kind of like really shitty, but like this is Amanda's time to live for herself.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

I yeah, as controversial as that might be for me to say. I don't know what that growl was, but yes, I I agree.

SPEAKER_00 4:41

And also, I just I said it literally two weeks ago before all of this news broke because West has been like on Amanda's side this whole season with like how like like whenever Kyle's been treating Amanda shitty, and I'm like, I I want Amanda and West to kiss, and then it turns out that they they be kissing, allegedly. It's not been confirmed yet. So that's been my has been all over my for you page. It's been like my ruminating thought at night on being like, I hope they are smooching because I love it, I stand, I ship it. Oh my god, I heard this quote the other day. Okay, actually, I can't I can't quote it. Why? Because it was quoted by none other than Jax Taylor. So I'm rewatching Vanderpump Rules right now, but he was saying something that was like, Some ships are made out of steel, some ships are made out of wood. The only ships that stand the tail of time or something like that is friendships. I said, Oh, that's so cute.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

But I feel like a steel ship also stands the tails of time. Okay, well, what was the Titanic made out of? Well, a Titanic was the fuck up.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

Okay, but unsinkable ships sink. I've been listening to a lot of 90s country, also. That's been my hyperfixation. Like I'm really. Kiss, kiss, no, kiss! Different song, but same genre, same same time period. Uh no, I'm listening to this like 90s, early 2000s country women's music or whatever, and I'm just like, have you gotten that TikTok girl singing Brenda K music that I've been showing you?

SPEAKER_01 6:28

I'm sh I think it's AI, but I have no idea. It's so funny. I've never heard of it. She is like a 60-year-old. And she.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

Oh God. I I'll show you. Okay. Okay. I'm scared though. It's funny. I will you never know what's gonna come up on Kristen's for you, Paige.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

Yeah, it's very random. Very random. I got onto bog TikTok. I don't know. There's a lot of dead bodies in bogs.

SPEAKER_00 6:57

Bogs? What are bogs?

SPEAKER_01 7:00

Like wetlands. Like the swamp marsh, like a marsh. Why are there dead bodies there? Because like the Native Americans, like way long ago, that was their burial ground. Is they would stake people in like a teepee underwater so then they couldn't float back up. And it preserved them. No, like their funeral. Oh. Like they were clothed in like a funeral cloth.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

Interesting.

SPEAKER_01 7:31

Yeah. It is pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 7:33

Okay, I have a question. This this might this might start us off on a problematic topic. Native Americans. Yes. Do you consider them indigenous?

SPEAKER_01 7:47

Indigenous means from somewhere else? I don't know. I let me look up let I'm not really good on dictionary definitions. Let me look up the word indigenous.

SPEAKER_00 7:57

I just like have always heard that like Native Americans like like true Native Americans that like still exist today, like that are like live on what is it called?

SPEAKER_01 8:10

Oh, indigenous refers to peoples, cultures, or objects native to a specific region. Okay, okay. Representing the original inhabitants.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

Okay, so I had someone argue with me today, or to not today, this weekend, that indigenous people like Native Americans are not indigenous. That they came from Russia.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

What and I said person a Mago. Yes. Okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:43

End of conversation.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

Right there.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

Okay. I just like wanted to make, but I just like like I've always called them indigenous. I think same with like Polynesians. Polynesians are also indigenous. Yes. They are considered indigenous to like Hawaii and like the islands, and like same with aren't like Polynesians like like populated in like the Philippine Philippines. Like Australia. Like Tasmania area. Probably. I don't know. I'm not good at geography. But like I thought it was like not Australia, maybe like New Zealand. Wait, is New Zealand close to Australia? Yes. It's the island right off of it. The Ma it's like M-A-U-A-U. Maori. Oh, Maori. The Maori track. Yes, yes. Yeah, New Zealand. Okay, okay, okay. I glad I'm I'm glad when you fact-checked me and I'm not like a hundred percent like wrong. Proud of you.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

Thank you. I've listened I have the most random tidbits of information that come to my brain or are like said to me, and then my brain just keeps them and stores them. And then randomly I'll need that later. Yeah, and then randomly I want to say it at another time. And I'm like, it did I make that up? Yeah. Also, still apologizing for not knowing that Japan was a part of World War II. It's really bothering you. No, I know. I just thought that that was a whole separate war. Completely different. Yeah, I thought that was a whole separate war. So I have decided that I'm probably gonna do a whole deep dive into World War II and understand the ins and outs of it because I hate feeling like an idiot.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

So yeah, I mean, also it was so many years ago, it doesn't really matter now.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

It does, it does matter now. It does matter because it was it was huge in our history. That is one of the most pivotal times in history. I don't like history. And we apparently did not learn our lesson. True.

SPEAKER_01 10:44

That's why it that's why it is patterns repeat themselves. Yes. I'm sorry, I'm a scientist, not a historian.

SPEAKER_00 10:50

Okay, well, I'm trying to be historic.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

Historic. I'm trying to be historic. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:56

Anyways, on to wait, do you have any not really?

SPEAKER_01 11:00

I haven't really been anything been into anything. I started Real Housewives of Potomac, which Potomac? Potomac?

SPEAKER_00 11:08

It's definitely not Potomac.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

It's potomac. Potomac. Potomac. Yeah. Not Potomac. No, Potomac. Anywho, I've been started. I started that series and whatever. I mean, it's just a show. I really do like the girls on there because usually it takes me a couple episodes to get into it. This this series I was in from the start. Really? Oh, yeah. No, it started with this one girl. I'm not good with names, so get into my. So one girl came. Okay, restart. One of the housewives has a crab boil. Crab boil? Is that what they're called? Crab fish boil? A seafood boil. Seafood boil. I don't something. And another housewife came over to prepare the crab, to help prepare the crab. And she happens to bring her hairstylist question mark, who also happens to be like a really good friend. So the real housewife who's hosting the party is all up in her panties. Is that a has her panties up in a bunch because she's like she's like, this girl brought somebody I don't know, like a man I don't know over, whatever. And she goes upstairs to her bedroom to start getting ready. And apparently at some point she's like, Your friend can help curl my hair. I don't know if it was ever said or not, but at one point, the other housewife that's helping goes upstairs with the hairstylist. They're like going up the stairs, hooting and hollering for this girl. And she's like, Oh my god, never in my life. And she gave somebody a book on etiquette.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

She gave them a literal book?

SPEAKER_01 12:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

Oh my god, I love that.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

Yeah. No, she's like the queen of etiquette, and she's just Was it the one with the beauty mark?

unknown 13:06

Yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 13:08

What's her name? What's her name? I have no idea.

SPEAKER_01 13:09

Oh, Karen, yes, Karen. Karen. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 13:12

Who was the other one?

SPEAKER_01 13:13

I couldn't tell you. I want to say is Giselle.

SPEAKER_00 13:16

I can see that. Also, can you hand me my DC?

SPEAKER_01 13:20

Mine is good today. They got the syrup ratio on point. McDonald's Coke sponsori.

SPEAKER_00 13:29

Yeah, if anybody wants to sponsor us, hit up the line. Also, I had my first email. What did it say? It was a it was a meme of uh Princess Diana. And it says, P.S. I forgot to tell you, I really like your new thumbnail artwork. Oh, cute. Okay, so now that we've talked about our current obsessions, this week for our International Women's History Month, we are going to be talking about one of my favorite women to ever exist. The woman, the myth, the legend, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. For those of you that don't know who Ruth Bader Ginsburg is, she was a Supreme Court justice for many, many years, and she did so much, so much for gender equality rights. RBG, RBG.

unknown 14:25

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 14:28

Thank you. Thank you for that, Terry. You're welcome. Joan Ruth Bader was born March 15th, 1933, in Brooklyn, New York.

SPEAKER_01 14:39

Joan.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

Yes. Ruth is actually her middle name.

SPEAKER_01 14:42

Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 14:44

Her father was a Jewish immigrant from Ukraine, and her mother was born in New York to Jewish parents from Poland. Although not devout, her family belonged to East Midwood Jewish Center, a conservative synagogue. When Ruth reached the age of 12, she was not allowed to have a bot mitzvah ceremony because of the orthodox res orthodox orthodox restrictions on women reading from the Torah, which greatly upset Ruth as she was active in her Jewish community. And the reason why I wanted to make note of that is because from her childhood, Ruth experienced gender discrimination. And I think that this is what caused her to fight the fights that she did. She experienced gender discrimination herself in various aspects. This is quite literally the first. All throughout her career, she experienced gender discrimination. And I think that's why she made it so important to her studies and her work in the judicial system to end gender discrimination. So after she graduated high school, Ruth attended Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. This is where she met her future husband, Martin D. Ginsberg. While at Cornell, she studied under Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nobokov, who she later identified as a major influence on her writing. On June 23rd, 1954, she graduated from Cornell with a Bachelor of Arts degree in government, and she was the highest ranking female student in her graduating class. Hell yeah. Right? One month after she graduated college is when she got married. So one month after she became Ruth Bader-Ginsburg.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

Damn.

SPEAKER_00 16:44

I think it's also really important that she kept her maiden name. So in the fall of 1956, she enrolled at Harvard Law School, where she was only one of nine women in a class of about 500 men. The Dean of Harvard, Erwin Griswold, reportedly invited all of the women in the class to a dinner at his family home and asked the women, including Ruth, why are you at Harvard Law School taking the place of a man? Wow. The misogyny. Could you imagine going to college? Not even going to college. This is going to like grad school, right? You are accepted at Harvard Law School, which means that you have made a name for yourself academically. You have the scores and the GPA to get into Harvard Law School. And you are one of nine women out of 500 men. And the dean says, I'm going to invite you guys over. And while I catch you guys all off guard because you think I'm being nice to you, because I'm inviting you over for dinner at my house, I'm now going to interrogate you on why you think it's necessary for you to attend Harvard Law School and take the spot that could have gone to a man. That's ridiculous. A man who apparently didn't have a good enough GPA to beat me out of going to Harvard Law School. So I understand that 1956 was a different time, but quite literally, that's fucked. Anyway, so again, she is no stranger to gender discrimination. When Martin took, which Martin is her husband, Martin Ginsburg, took a job in New York City. That same dean denied Ginsburg's request to complete her third year towards a Harvard law degree at Columbia. So Ginsburg transferred to Columbia and became the first woman to be on two major law reviews, both at Harvard and Columbia. In 1959, she earned her law degree at Columbia and tied for first in her class. So sincerely, Erwin Griswold. Suck a dick. A major dick. And that is in the most disrespectful way. Yes. At the start of her career, Ginsburg encountered difficulty finding employment. In 1960s, Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter rejected Ruth for a clerkship because of her gender, despite a strong recommendation from Albert Martin Sachs, who was a professor and later dean at Harvard. Columbia law professor Gerald Gunther also pushed for Judge Edmund Palmeri to hire Ruth as a law clerk and even threatened to never recommend another Columbia student if he did not give her the opportunity. Later that year, Ruth began her clerkship for Judge Palmary and held that position for two years. So for Ruth to not only get into Harvard Law School, but then also get into Columbia Law School and then tie for first. Be the top. Be literally the top. She's still saying she still struggled to find a position in her career solely because she was a woman.

SPEAKER_01 20:23

That's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_00 20:24

And I can't remember. I think I might have it might be in here later, but I it might not be. I might have crossed it out. However, at one point, she was told or yeah, she was told that she didn't need to make as much in her her position because her husband had a good job. What does her husband's finances it has nothing to do with it? That doesn't disqualify, like that doesn't make her less qualified to be given the pay that she deserves. Yeah. Again. Still happening today, unfortunately. Unfortunately. And also, what the fuck? Yeah. What the fuck? Anyways. Okay. So now we're gonna go into her academia. So from 1961 to 1963, Ginsberg was a research associate for a Columbia Law School project on international procedure. Oh, this was really interesting. During this time, Ruth learned Swedish to co-author a book with Anders Brazilius on civil procedure in Sweden. The time and research she did while in Sweden with Brazilius, Brazilius's family, influenced her thinking on gender equality. At this time in Sweden, so at the same time, so in the 60s in Sweden, women made up 20 to 25% of law students. We love. One of the judges who Mr observed for research was eight months pregnant and still working, which in America would have been unheard of. They can barely get jobs. Jobs within the judicial system, let alone be pregnant and working. They would have been like forced out. Ginsberg's first position as a professor was at Rutgers Law School in 1963, where she was said, Oh, this is this is where it is, where she was paid significantly less than her male colleagues and was told it was because your husband has a very good job. At this time, Ruth was one of less than 20 female law professors across the entire United States. Not just New York, the entire United States.

SPEAKER_01 22:38

That's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_00 22:39

Only 20. Insane. In 1970, she co-founded the Women's Rights Law Reporter, the first law journal in the U.S. to focus exclusively on women's rights. She went on to become Columbia Law School's first tenored woman when she taught there from 1972 to 1980. Well, at Columbia, she co-authored the first law school course book on sex discrimination and taught the first legal seminar on sex discrimination. So this is where she really starts to dip her toes in the water on making it a more equal place. Do we know about like roughly how old she is at this point? I know that's a good question. So she was born in in 33, and this is 72. So almost 30.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

Almost 40. So like 38.

SPEAKER_00 23:29

Yeah. So going on to litigation and advocacy, in 1972, Ginsburg co-founded the Women's Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU. And in 1973, she became the project's counsel. By 1974, they participated in over 300 gender discrimination cases. With Ruth going on to argue six gender discrimination cases before the Supreme Court between 73 and 76, winning five of them. So she only lost one. I wish I would have done research on what that one was. I did not write that down. Legal scholars and advocates credit RBG's body of work with making significant legal advances for women under the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. Taken together, Ginsburg's legal victories discouraged legislators from treating women and men differently under the law. She continued to work on the ACLU's Women's Rights Project until her appointment to the federal bench in 1980. So prior to her actually becoming part of the judicial government branch, she was already making major strides when it comes to sex discrimination. I actually have you ever watched the movie on the basis of sex? No. Okay, so it's a movie about her. I want to say this time period where she was like fighting these cases. Very, very interesting. Very interesting. She was a very, very pristine woman, and she truly, truly paved the way for women's rights. You know, all of the women that we've talked about so far this this month have done amazing things. Amazing things for women all across the world. I have a very special spot in my heart for Ruth Bader-Ginsburg because she was fighting it from the inside. Yeah. I think that was that was so important because I'm sure that she had so many hard, hard days at the very beginning of her career, just being completely underminded and discouraged and swept to the side. And she at any point could have given up and she didn't, and she continued to persevere. And because she did, we as women have so many more rights, like just as humans. We have so many more human rights because of her. Because of the things that she did and the fights that she fought. Yeah. And she, and what I like about her is that she was very level-headed, and she, and I I do talk a little bit later about some of the things that she stood for on the Supreme Court and the way that she voted on some things, and some things that like personally I would have like wanted her to push one way. Like she knew when she needed to fight, and she knew when she needed to take the back seat on things. And I feel like she was a very equal, like she really rode the the line at like seeing both sides and doing what was best for the greater good. Yeah. And I feel like that's really important, and I don't feel like we have a lot of that in politicians these days. Yeah. On either side. So I again, like I said, major, major soft spot for her and my heart. So going on to her U.S. Court of Appeals appointment. Omnibus Judgeship Act of 1978 was passed by Congress, increasing the number of federal judges by 117 in district courts and another 35 to be added to the circuit courts. The law placed an emphasis on ensuring that the judges included women and minority groups, a matter that was important to the president Jimmy Carter, who had been elected two years before. In 1979, Ruth filled out the questionnaire for possible nominees for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and another for the District of Columbia Circuit. Ginsburg was nominated by President Carter on April 14th, 1980, to a seat on DC Circuit vacated by Judge Harold Leventhal. Upon his death, she was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 18, 1980, and received her commission later that day. Her service ended on August 9, 1993, due to the evaluation of the United States Supreme Court, and she was replaced by Judge David Taytell. President Bill Clinton nominated Ginsburg as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court on June 22nd, 1993, to fill the seat vacated by retiring Justice Byron White. At the time of her nomination, she was viewed as having been a moderate and consensus builder in her time on the appeals court. Clinton was reportedly looking to increase the court's diversity. She was the second female and the first Jewish female justice of the Supreme Court. The American Bar Association's Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary rated Ginsburg as well qualified. It's the highest rating for a prospective justice. The United States Senate confirmed her by a 96 to 3 vote on August 3rd, 1993. She received her commission on August 5, 1993, and took her judicial oath on August 10th, 1993. Ginsburg characterized her performance on the court as a cautious approach to adjudication. Legal scholar Cass Sustein characterized Ginsburg as a rational minimalist, a jurist who seeks to build cautiously on president rather than pushing the constitution toward her own version. And that is what I was talking about. That is so important, I think, is like you when you when you are elected or when you are selected to represent the United States as a whole, if you are sitting on the Supreme Court and you are representing the people, that is not your time to push your own agenda. Yeah. That is the time to weigh the good, the pros and cons of every situation, of every side, of every battle, and decide what is best for the greater good. Not just your people, not just your opinions, not just your family, but for every family, for every person, for every group. And that is why I think it was so important that she had such a great run on the Supreme Court, was because she she did that. She had a very moderate approach to things. She considered herself to be democratic, but she rode the line because she knew it wasn't just about her opinions.

SPEAKER_01 31:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:03

I mean, obviously, anybody would want the world to look and think the exact same way that that person does, but that's what's so great about humans is that everybody thinks differently.

SPEAKER_01 31:16

We all bring a oh sorry. We all bring something different to this mixing pot. Right.

SPEAKER_00 31:22

I just love her so much. So, anyways, so now we're really gonna break down her work in gender discrimination. Ginsburg authored the court's opinion in US versus Virginia in 1996, which struck down the Virginia Military Institute's male-only admission policy as violating the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. Ginsburg emphasized that the government government must show an exceedingly persuasive justification to use classification based on sex. I remember reading in this paragraph, the Virginia Military Institute countered that they would create or build a women's school. And Ruth was like, that still defeats the purpose because we're not about segregating genders either. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:21

Like we just beat segregation, literally. Right. And now we're gonna bring it in for men and women.

SPEAKER_00 32:30

Right. So she said that that defeats the purpose. In 2007, RBG dissented in the court's decision on Ledbetter versus Goodyear, in which plaintiff Lily Ledbetter sued her employer, claiming discrimination based on her gender in violation of the Title Seven. Seven. Thank you. In the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In a 5-4 decision of the majority, interpreted the statue of limitations. I put in parentheses because I didn't know what statue of limitations meant, but it means the prospective period after the event to proceed with legal cases. So, like they're basically saying that she took too long to sue her work. Boo! Ginsberg found the result absurd, pointing out that women often do not know they are being paid less than the male colleagues. She also called attention to the reluctance women may have in a male-dominated field to making waves by filing lawsuits over small amounts instead to wait until the disparity accumulates. Till it grows bigger. Right. So, like those are two very good points. One, you're not that's one of those You don't want to fight over a hundred dollars. You want to fight over a thousand dollars. Yeah, right. But then also, you're not supposed to talk about your wages at work. So how is a woman supposed to know that they're getting paid less and then they catch wind of it, and they didn't know for the past five years they were getting paid less than someone that was hired the same day with the same amount of qualifications? Yeah. So how is she supposed to know when she had like what time frame she was supposed to sue them when she didn't even know that she was being paid less? Following the election of President Barack Obama in 2008, the Lily Led Better Fair Pay Act passed, making it easier for employees to win pay discrimination claims became law. Ruth was credited with helping to inspire the law. So this is uh goes back to fair pay. I mean, we're we're still not there. Yeah. According to studies and research, you know, we still make what is it 81 to 85 cents for every dollar earned by a man.

SPEAKER_01 34:54

And which is unfortunate because I know I've experienced yeah. The inequality.

SPEAKER_00 35:00

Right. Okay, so this actually is gonna go into abortion rights. So we're gonna talk a little bit about the different things that Ruth fought for during her time in Supreme Court on the Supreme Court. In a 2009 New York Times interview, Ruth discussed her views on abortion, stating the basic thing is that the government has no business making that choice for a woman. Although RGB consistently supported abortion rights, she criticized Roe as terminating a nascent democratic movement to liberalize abortion laws. Ginsburg was in the minority for the Gonzales versus Carhartt, a 5-4 decision upholding restrictions on partial birth abortion. In her dissent, Ginsburg opposed the majority's decision to defer the legislative findings that the procedure was not safe for women. Ginsburg focused her ire on the way Congress reached its findings and with her veracity joining the majority for the whole women's health versus Hellerstedt, a case which struck down parts of a 2013 Texas law regulating abortion providers. Ginsburg also authored a short concurring opinion, which was even more critical to the legislation at issue. She asserted the legislation was not aimed at protecting women's health, as Texas had said, but rather impede women's access to abortions. And I feel like that's something that they do often when it comes to women's health care.

SPEAKER_01 36:39

Yes, because there are cases where it is healthier for the women to get an abortion, unfortunately. Right. Right. That's what I'm saying. I took a I took a an ethics class in college, and one of the topics were it was abortion, and it really opened your eyes.

SPEAKER_00 36:56

Yeah, but they like tailor it in the in the media to say that we're we're looking out for the greater kind the greater good of women and their health, and we want healthy women, but really what they're doing is taking away their bodily autonomy.

SPEAKER_01 37:11

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 37:12

Which should never be the goal. And the fact that women's health care is a political topic is absolutely absurd. Um, it is 2026. Let's stop talking about women's bodies.

SPEAKER_01 37:25

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 37:26

So, in regards to religious freedom, on June 28th, 2010, Ginsburg wrote the majority opinion in Christian Legal Society versus Martinez relating to a campus policy of acceptance of all students, regardless of status or belief, and becoming an officially recognized student group. Ginsburg ruled that a religious-based group stood at odds with an all-comers campus policy by singling out a religious group for exclusion in a manner at odds with the limited public forum of the campus. Such a public forum was thus legally obligated to provide equal access via open membership and was determined to not be required to officially recognize a student group at odds with it. So, I mean, those are three pretty important topics that I think that she fought for. And, you know, she experienced gender discrimination. She experienced religious discrimination. Well, she just I guess I guess what I referenced earlier was gender discrimination within religion, not necessarily religion discrimination, but I'm sure that she did experience some religious discrimination throughout her life being Jewish. I think that those are topics, and then just as being women, I think talking about women's healthcare is just that was just something that was important to her. But unfortunately, on September 18th, 2020, Ginsburg died from complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer at age 87. She died on the eve of Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah. And according to Rabbi Richard Jacobs, one of the themes of Rosh Hashanah suggests that very righteous people would die at the very end of the year because they were needed until the very end. After I just got goosebumps. After the announcement of her death, thousands of people gathered in front of the Supreme Court building to lay flowers, light candles, and leave messages. Five days after her death, the eight Supreme Court justices, Ginsburg's children and other family members, held a private ceremony for Ginsburg in the court's Great Hall. Following the private ceremony, due to COVID-19's pandemic conditions prohibiting the usual lying and repose in the Great Hall, Ginsburg's casket was moved outdoors to the court's west portico so that the public could pay respects. Thousands of mourners lined up to walk past the casket over the course of two days. After the two days in repose at the court, Ginsburg lay in state at the Capitol. She was the first woman and the first Jew to lie in state therein. On September 29th, Ginsburg was buried beside her husband in the Arlington National Cemetery. Ginsburg's death opened a vacancy on the Supreme Court about six weeks before the 2020 presidential election, initiating controversies regarding the nomination and confirmation of her successor. Days before her death, Ginsburg dictated a statement to her granddaughter, Clarice Sapera, as heard by Ginsburg's doctor and others in the room at the time. Her wish was not honored as President Trump's pick to replace her, Amy Coney Barrett, was confirmed by the Senate and sworn in on October 26th. The Ruth Bader-Ginsburg, I'm literally gonna cry. The Ruth Bader-Ginsburg Medal, established by the World Jurist Association, was first presented in 2021. It aims to recognize prominent female jurists and several awards are given each year. The U.S. Navy announced on March 31st, 2022, that it will name one of its John Lewis class replenishment oilers, the USNS Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In August 2022, Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hall, a residence hall at Cornell University, opened its doors to the class of 2026. An elementary school in Chicago was named to honor her in 2024. In March 2023, a special memorial session of the Supreme Court honored Ginsburg. Also in 2023, Ginsburg was featured on the USPS Forever stamp. The stamp was designed by art director Ethel Kessler using an oil painting by Michael J. Diaz based on a photograph by Philip Birmingham. In May 2023, Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospital, New York City's first new public hospital in over 40 years, opened in her native borough of Brooklyn. It houses a seven-foot-tall bronze statue of her in the new building's lobby.

SPEAKER_01 42:35

Damn.

SPEAKER_00 42:37

What an awesome lady. She was an amazing woman. She did so much for women. She did so much for the people. And it makes me sad sometimes to think that it's only been six years since she's passed away. And in those six years, there have been so many attacks on women and the rights that we should have as women, uh, the rights to our bodies, the rights to just overall things that she fought so hard for. Sometimes it feels and I know I I know I'm getting political. I I know I'm being political, and I know that not everybody believes the same things that I do, but I feel so passionate. And if you know me and you and you know how big my heart is, these are the reasons why I feel so passionate about the things that I do, is because there were people that came before us that fought so hard for the simple rights that we should have as women. Yeah. And sometimes it's it's really hard to to just think about what's going on in the world and see that, in my opinion, I I feel like there are a lot of things that we're going backwards on. Yeah. And I don't Want her work to go to waste. You know, it's not going to waste. But I I'm saying, like, I don't want her work to be forgotten because she was a trailblazer. She was a trailblazer for women. And I think that she, in my opinion, is one of the greatest women.

SPEAKER_01 44:17

She's not sure if she's the mother.

SPEAKER_00 44:18

She's one of the greatest women in history, in my opinion. I think that she she did great work. And I I there I know that there are probably people that do not like her or think differently and and and to each their own. But to me, I she's a very important lady. Yeah. I agree. And I loved doing research. I honestly, this was the I took the longest amount of time doing research on her compared to any other person that I did research on. And I knew the most about her. But the more I read, the more I wanted to know. And I I just I had I enjoyed it so much. And I love I I truly, throughout this whole month, I loved learning about the important women in history, whether they came back in ancient times or in today's world, or you know, if they were from across the ocean, there were so many important women all of the all over the world since the beginning of time, truly. And I really, really enjoyed doing all of my research on them.

SPEAKER_01 45:32

I looked up some fun facts about her. Do you want to know? I I would love to. Okay, there's only two. She was a massive fan of opera. Okay. Pop off queen. Love that. She was known for her intense workout routine.

SPEAKER_00 45:48

You know, I could see that. I could see that. She definitely, like when I look back at like pictures of her, like younger her, she looked like a fit bitch. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:58

She also had five cancer five times. Powerful, strong bitch. She did it. Rest in peace.

SPEAKER_00 46:07

Literally a powerful woman. I loved this one. I loved this one. Yeah, no, it was good. Well, thank you, everyone that has tuned in for this entire month of March, International Women's Month. I hope that you learned something. I hope International Women's Month. I hope that you got something out of this month. I hope that it encouraged you to look other up other strong, important women. Like I said, this is gonna be a continuous thing. If you have a hobby, look up the number one woman in your hobby. Celebrate women. But like I said, like I want to do like women in sports, women in STEM. Like I think it would be like women in literature. So like this is not the end of our women's series, but I think this was a phenomenal way to start during March. And I think we took we talked about some really important people. And if you know of anybody important that we should look up, email me.

SPEAKER_01 47:03

Yeah, email it in and we will look her up and and see how cool it is.

SPEAKER_00 47:08

Do an episode. I love I love researching, I love learning new things. So thanks again for listening and tuning in. As always, please follow me on Instagram at I've got something to say. I'm also on Facebook at I've Got SomethingToSay. I did make a TikTok as well. And then my email address if you want to send in any ideas or comments or anything at all, it is I've got something to say pod at gmail.com. Thanks again so much for listening. I hope you guys all have a great week. Bye. Bye.