With the sudden death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, or RBG on September 18, 2020, it is important to recognize her achievements in the Supreme Court regarding gender discrimination, for both men and women as well as civil rights. Before fighting as a Supreme Court Justice, Ginsburg faced discrimination before her appointment in office.

When she attended Harvard Law school, RBG faced gender discrimination from not only the students attending the school, but the highest authorities as well. She was one of the nine graduating females of her year and she was chastised for taking a male’s place at Harvard Law. After graduating from Harvard, she spent a year studying at Columbia University and graduated in 1959. Even being one of the most intelligent at Columbia and Harvard, gender discrimination followed her as she struggled to find jobs, and when she did find jobs at law firms, she always noticed her salaries were lower than her male colleagues even when she did the same work as they did. 

Ginsburg eventually accepted Jimmy Carter’s appointment to the U. S Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in 1980 and served there for thirteen years until she was nominated by Bill Clinton to the Supreme Court of the United States. Ginsburg was always an advocate for women’s rights especially since she faced discrimination when she was attending college. She used the opportunity of having the power of being a Supreme Court justice to continue fighting for equality. In the case of United States v. Virginia, RBG wrote the majority opinion saying that qualified women could not be denied the admittance of attending Virginia Military Institute. 

In 1999 she won the American Bar’s Association’s Thurgood Marshall Award for her contributions to gender equality and civil rights. 

“The work accomplished, Justice Ginsburg inspires me everyday to make a positive impact on the world and make it a better place for not myself, but everyone around me; no matter who,” said Sophomore student, Milena Taibl, who shows her appreciation for the late RBG.

RBG’s opinions and arguments played a pivotal role in deciding cases and for example, the 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. She used the opportunity that she had from the High Court to promote women’s rights as well as other issues, which proves her to be one of the most influential and significant justices on the Supreme Court that impacted people all around the world, especially women.