Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court From: August 10, 1993-present
Nominator	Bill Clinton
Predecessor	Byron White
Successor	Incumbent (no successor)
Information
Spouse(s)	Martin Ginsburg
Religion	Jewish

The Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg (b. 1933) is an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, nominated by President Bill Clinton in 1993 to replace the Honorable Byron White. Prior to that she had served as an appellate judge on the D.C. Circuit, as a lead attorney for the ACLU, and as a law professor. She is noted for taking the lead in issues of sexual discrimation.

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Ruth Bader Ginsburg co-authored the book called Sex Bias in the U.S. Code in 1977 with a feminist, Brenda Feigen-Fasteau, for which they were paid with federal funds under Contract No. CR3AK010. The 230-page book was published by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. It was written to identify the federal laws that allegedly discriminate on account of sex and to promote ratification of the then-pending federal Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), for which Ginsburg was a fervent advocate. Here are some of Ginsburg’s liberal recommendations set forth in her book Sex Bias in the U.S. Code.

Ginsburg called for the sex-integration of prisons and reformatories so that conditions of imprisonment, security and housing could be equal. She explained, "If the grand design of such institutions is to prepare inmates for return to the community as persons equipped to benefit from and contribute to civil society, then perpetuation of single-sex institutions should be rejected." (101) She called for the sex-integration of Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts because they "perpetuate stereotyped sex roles." (145) She insisted on sex-integrating "college fraternity and sorority chapters" and replacing them with "college social societies." (169) She even cast constitutional doubt on the legality of "Mother's Day and Father's Day as separate holidays." (146)

Ginsburg called for reducing the age of consent for sexual acts to persons who are "less than 12 years old." (102) She asserted that laws against "bigamists, persons cohabiting with more than one woman, and women cohabiting with a bigamist" are unconstitutional. (195) She objected to laws against prostitution because "prostitution, as a consensual act between adults, is arguably within the zone of privacy protected by recent constitutional decisions." (97) Ginsburg wrote that the Mann Act (which punishes those who engage in interstate sex traffic of women and girls) is "offensive." Such acts should be considered "within the zone of privacy." (98)

Ginsburg said that the concept of husband-breadwinner and wife-homemaker "must be eliminated from the code if it is to reflect the equality principle," (206) and she called for "a comprehensive program of government supported child care." (214) She demanded that we "firmly reject draft or combat exemption for women," stating that "women must be subject to the draft if men are." But, she added, "the need for affirmative action and for transition measures is particularly strong in the uniformed services." (218)

An indefatigable censor, Ginsburg listed hundreds of "sexist" words that must be eliminated from all statutes. Among words she found offensive were: man, woman, manmade, mankind, husband, wife, mother, father, sister, brother, son, daughter, serviceman, longshoreman, postmaster, watchman, seamanship, and "to man" (a vessel), even though most of these words with the -man suffix date back to Middle English in which it meant "human" and not specifically "male". (15-16) She even wanted he, she, him, her, his, and hers to be dropped down the Memory Hole. They must be replaced by he/she, her/him, and hers/his, and federal statutes must use the bad grammar of "plural constructions to avoid third person singular pronouns." (52-53)