Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death has sparked a nationwide debate
over how and when to replace her.
But for this episode, we wanted to spend some time
talking about just how irreplaceable she was.
Because, you see,
RBG wasn't just another Supreme Court justice,
she was an American icon.
Even though she served on the Supreme Court,
that does most of its work behind closed doors,
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, through her intellect,
her force of personality and her determination,
somehow became this pop culture favorite.
NEWSWOMAN: She would cross generations,
earning the nickname, "The Notorious RBG."
There were books, clothing, tattoos,
even a species of praying mantis in her honor.
Every time Justice Ginsburg wrote a dissent,
the Internet would explode.
People ask me, "Don't you feel uncomfortable
being with a name like
-"The Notorious B.I.G.," and I think... -(laughter)
uh, why should I feel uncomfortable?
We have a lot in common.
Yeah, that's right. B.I.G. and RBG
did have a lot in common.
They're both from Brooklyn,
they were both into fancy neckwear,
and they both got tired of Diddy trying to steal their spotlight.
Not to mention, we all remember RBG's campaign finance opinion
in Citizens United.
Mo' money, mo' problems.
So yes, RBG gained more cultural fame
than any Supreme Court justice before her.
And deservedly so.
Because even from the beginning of her life,
RBG didn't let societal expectations about women
hold her back.
WOMAN: Ruth Bader Ginsburg grew up in Brooklyn
in a lower-middle-class family.
When she was in high school, she was a twirler,
you know, a cheerleader with a baton.
She earned a scholarship to Cornell,
where she met a jovial sophomore
who became the love of her life.
BADER GINSBURG: He was the first boy
I ever knew who cared that I had a brain.
WOMAN: A year after Marty enrolled at Harvard Law School,
Ruth followed, one of only nine women
in a class of more than 550, with a new baby girl in tow.
During their time in law school,
Marty became very sick-- he had cancer--
and she basically took all the notes for him
and made it possible for him to graduate on time,
while, in fact, raising their baby
and being a law student herself.
Ginsburg graduated first in her class.
-Tied for first. -We'll call that first.
But she didn't get a single offer
from a New York law firm.
I had three strikes against me.
One, I was Jewish.
Two, I was a woman.
But the killer was that I was the mother
of a four-year-old child.
Damn. She was a brilliant student at the top of her class
but couldn't get a single job?
It's, like, she was a reverse Jared Kushner.
I mean, to turn down a brilliant lawyer
just because she's a mom, like,
what did those guys think was gonna happen?
We can't hire her.
She's gonna force us to finish our asparagus!
But those law firms that didn't hire RBG
lived to regret it,
because she ended up being such an incredible lawyer
that she started making history in the Supreme Court
long before she got on the Supreme Court.
WOMAN: Ruth became a law professor at Rutgers,
working towards women's rights.
In the 1970s, she founded the ACLU's Women's Rights Project.
MAN: She wanted to build the idea
of women's equality, step by step,
to use each case to move things forward.
WOMAN: Between 1973 and 1978,
Ginsburg argued six gender discrimination cases
before the Supreme Court's all-male bench.
MAN: Case after case, she slowly broke down barriers
of gender discrimination that, when you look at them today,
you almost laugh at them.
WOMAN: We couldn't have our own credit cards.
We couldn't get a mortgage without a man signing.
We couldn't buy a car.
There were hundreds, maybe even thousands
of state, local and federal laws
that, by law, barred women from jobs,
even from jury service.
That's right, people.
Before Ruth Bader Ginsburg came along,
there were laws preventing women from getting a mortgage,
serving on a jury, or even getting their own credit cards.
Which is mind-boggling.
To think this country-- this country--
ever let misogyny get in the way of something as American
as getting people into debt.
I mean, women couldn't even serve on a jury?
That's why the movie was called 12 Angry Men
and not Six Angry Men and Six Women Who Had Enough
of Their Complaining.
So, after a legal career that changed the lives
of literally every woman in America,
RBG was nominated to the Supreme Court
by President Clinton in 1993.
And she used that seat to advocate
for the equality of all people,
whether her fellow justices agreed with her or not.
WOMAN: As a justice, Ginsburg consistently voted
in favor of abortion access and civil rights.
Perhaps her best-known work on the court,
writing the 1996 landmark decision
to strike down the Virginia Military Institute's ban
on admitting women.
Ginsburg's opinions helped solidify
the constitutional protections
she'd fought so hard to establish decades earlier.
But in her later years, as the court moved to the right,
Ginsburg grew bolder in her dissents.
Ginsburg wrote a lengthy, scratching dissent...
She's pretty candid in her displeasure
with the court's decision.
"Hubris is a fit word for today's demolition
of the Voting Rights Act."
WOMAN: And in a landmark case on employment discrimination
in 2007, Ginsburg wrote a powerful dissent
that prompted Congress to amend the law.
See? That right there,
that's how you know RBG was the GOAT.
Even when she was in the minority,
they used her dissent to change the law.
Do you understand how epic that is?
That's like writing a Yelp review
so scathing and eloquent
that they let you choose what's on the next day's menu.
I mean, she won... even when she lost.
Who else can say that?
Well, besides me...
who broke into John Oliver's apartment last night
and stole his Emmy! Heh-heh-heh.
We should actually probably cut that from the show.
I don't want him to know.
But the thing I find most impressive about RBG
is not just what she accomplished with her work,
but just how dedicated she was to doing it...
even when it would have been easier to call it quits.
WOMAN: This woman was determined
to do the job that she loved.
She loved being a Supreme Court justice.
She loved the law.
She's famously a workaholic.
How much sleep do you get?
I can get by on two, not more than four hours.
Her grit helped keep her on the bench,
though colon cancer, pancreatic cancer,
and the death of her beloved partner.
MAN: Justice Ginsburg, even though her husband
died yesterday after a battle with cancer,
was on the bench.
She used to schedule her chemotherapy sessions
on Fridays, so that she would have the weekend to recover,
and during that time she did not miss a single day
on the bench.
Instead of concentrating on my aches and pains,
I concentrate on... on the court's work.
Okay, people, that is just awe-inspiring.
Throughout multiple battles with cancer,
she never stopped working.
I mean, one time, I missed work for two weeks
'cause my leg fell asleep on the toilet.
I mean, I had no choice. I couldn't get up.
All I could do was keep scrolling Instagram
and hope somebody found me.
Have you ever tried that shit?
You're texting, and then the legs go, and you can't stand,
'cause, like, your leg can break, I think.
It's, like, a thing I read-- if you...
if you stand on the leg...
So look, I know that with RBG's passing,
a lot of people right now feel hopeless,
they feel defeated, and they feel like everything is lost.
But if there's one thing that RBG's life shows us,
it's that change isn't easy,
but if you put in the time, the effort and the dedication,
you can see results.
She never gave up,
and she never stopped fighting.
If anyone lived the Biggie line, "Stay far from timid,
"only make moves when your heart's in it,
and live the phrase, 'Sky's the limit,'"
it was Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
And that's why they called her "The Notorious RBG."
Well, that and she might have killed Tupac.