this
is a fox news alert on martha mccallum
in new york
u.s supreme court justice ruth bader
ginsburg
has died at the age of 87. due to
complications from pancreatic cancer
according to the information that we are
getting from the court the court says
that ginsburg
was sworn in from as an associate
justice back in 1993
appointed by bill clinton she was the
second woman to serve
on the supreme court she is the first
jewish woman to serve on the supreme
court
a new york native born in brooklyn new
york ruth bader ginsburg received her
undergraduate degree from cornell
university
she then received her law degrees from
harvard university
and columbia university she was the
first female member of the harvard law
review
and she graduated at the top of her
class from columbia
she was sworn in as a judge on the u.s
circuit of appeals
for the district of columbia circuit in
1980
after being nominated by president jimmy
carter she served until 1993
when she replaced justice byron white on
the supreme court
she was nominated for that post by
president
bill clinton justice ginsburg served
more than two decades
on the supreme court and was one of only
four women
ever appointed to the high court during
her tenure she was a fierce advocate for
women's rights
shannon breme takes a look back at her
long and distinguished career
i ruth vader ginsburg do solemnly swear
she might have seemed small in stature
but as the second woman to be nominated
to the u.s
supreme court ruth bader ginsburg was a
trailblazer for women's rights and a
champion for civil liberties
ginsburg was born ruth joan bader on
march 15
1933 in a working class neighborhood in
brooklyn new york
the daughter of nathan and celia bader
ginsburg's mother died when she was just
17 the day before she graduated from
high school
it was one of the most trying times
in my life but i knew that she
wanted me to study hard and
get good grades and succeed in life
so that's what i did she finished first
in her class at cornell university where
she met and married
martin ginsburg an aspiring lawyer and
quote the first boy i dated who cared
that i had a brain
like her husband ginsburg pursued a law
degree enrolling at harvard after the
birth of daughter jane
then at columbia law school where she
graduated at the top of her class
she stayed in the world of academia and
while a professor at rutgers university
she gave birth to a son
james but she soon left rutgers for
columbia university to become that
school's first
female tenured law professor she
described the 1970s as a fruitful time
for women's rights
i was fantastically lucky to be
born when i was and to be in the right
place to help
advance this movement for women's
equality she went on to create the
american civil liberties union's women's
rights project and as general counsel
for the aclu
ginsburg began appearing before the
supreme court
she argued six cases for women's rights
before president jimmy carter nominated
her to serve on the u.s court of appeals
for the d.c
circuit then in 1993 president bill
clinton nominated her to the nation's
highest
court she was only the second woman to
serve on the supreme court
and the first jewish woman what a long
way we have come in this nation
after a series of hearings the senate
confirmed ginsburg to the post by a vote
of 96-3
in ruth bader ginsburg i believe the
nation is getting a justice
who will be a guardian of liberty for
all americans
and an insurer of equal justice under
law on the bench ginsburg was known to
lean left of center but favored caution
and restraint in her decisions while she
never claimed to have a favorite opinion
my favorite opinion well it's a little
bit like asking me which of my four
grandchildren
ginsburg said the ruling in the virginia
military institute case which prohibited
the state from operating an all-male
institution with taxpayer dollars gave
her tremendous satisfaction
that was a very satisfying opinion
for me to write and her dissent in
ledbetter v
goodyear tire was a precursor for the
lilly ledbetter fair pay act
which congress passed into law in 2009
to address a perceived pay gap between
men
and women but she suffered losses too in
an interview with new republic she said
if she could overrule one decision
it would be the 2010 citizens united
ruling that allowed corporations and
unions to financially support candidates
running for office ginsburg said quote
i think the notion that we have all the
democracy that money can buy
strays so far from what our democracy is
supposed to be
so that's number one on my list in her
personal life
ginsburg battled four separate cancer
diagnoses
in 1999 it was colon cancer a decade
later
pancreatic cancer in 2018 she underwent
lung cancer surgery
and in 2020 she announced she was
undergoing chemotherapy
for liver cancer my colleagues so
rallied around me and made it possible
for me
to go on and not miss a day in court
outside of court ginsburg loved opera
that passion she shared with
conservative justice
antonin scalia and was famously
serenaded by placido domingo in 2011 at
harvard university where she earned an
honorary degree
she made exercise a staple in her life
even into her 80s
working out twice a week with her
trainer my father came to the united
states when he was 13
and he came from a
small town stettle outside
odessa she was also very proud of her
jewish heritage and the advances made
for american jews
for so many years jews were
fearful about saying who they were
but today you can say it
openly and with pride
and that's that's i think
something i've witnessed in my own
lifespan and throughout her life she
remained
an optimist we still have a way to go to
ensure that all people in our land
enjoy the equal protection of the laws
but considering how far we have come
there is good cause for optimism about
our country's future
ruth bader ginsburg dead tonight at the
age of 87.