Ruth Bader Ginsburg

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Elena Kagan

Elena Kagan, the second Jewish woman to serve as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, was appointed by President Barack Obama after a distinguished government and academic career. While she has maintained a low profile on the Court, she has chosen to speak through her incisive opinions and her pointed questioning during oral argument.

Nina Totenberg

Nina Totenberg has broken important stories on the United States Supreme Court during more than four decades of covering legal affairs for National Public Radio. She helped bring to public attention the previously hidden issue of sexual harassment during the controversial confirmation hearing of Justice Clarence Thomas and has received numerous accolades as a path-breaker in the male-dominated world of Washington journalism.   

Barbara Seaman

Muckraking journalist Barbara Seaman survived a tumultuous childhood in New York City to become a bestselling author, a prominent second wave feminist, and, as a founder of the women’s health movement, an architect of informed consent. A lifelong scourge to the pharmaceutical industry, Seaman exposed the dangers of the high-dose birth control pill, hormone replacement therapy, and male doctors’ hubris.

Vigil for Ruth Bader Ginsburg outside the Supreme Court, September 2020 CROP

How Do You Mourn an Icon like RBG?

Justine Orlovsky-Schnitzler

The timing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death has meant, from a pacing standpoint, that we haven’t had much time for thoughtful, nuanced reflection.

Topics: Law
Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella, 1983

Rosalie Silberman Abella: The Canadian RBG

Nina Baran

In my opinion, Abella has demonstrated intersectional feminism through her work as a legal advocate and supporter of civil rights for marginalized communities. Before her appointment to the bench, Abella was considered one of Canada's foremost human rights lawyers.

Cropped Image of RBG portrait

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Michigan, and Me

Bella Book

When I think of William W. Cook’s virulent desire to refuse admission to all Jews at the University of Michigan ... I am comforted and emboldened by the thought of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. William W. Cook would not have liked the notorious RBG.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg from MAKERS

When I think of Ruth Bader Ginsburg...

Mikki Pugh

With RBG's influence is as critical as ever, JWA put together our own compilation of letters celebrating and honoring the #Supreme Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 2004

RBG: Icon and Bubbe

Bella Book

The film traces her transformation from a young Jewish girl in Brooklyn ... to her current status as a veteran justice, cultural icon, and bubbe. Younger women may know more about RBG’s more recent work, but the film emphasizes how her early work in the 1960s and ‘70s totally changed life for American women in fundamental ways.

Topics: Feminism, Film
Abby Shevitz, 2004

Women of Character

Bella Book

It is a truth that should be universally acknowledged: women are amazing, strong, brave, and resilient. I do not know a single woman who has not had to relive moments of sexual harassment and assault this week, whether they shared their story on social media with #MeToo or spoke privately with friends.

Bella Abzug on the cover of "Life Magazine," June 9, 1972

Why Don’t I Know More About Bella Abzug?

Tara Metal

Among the many treats in Gloria Steinem’s new memoir My Life on the Road are the bevy of stories starring women who appear on jwa.org: Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Gerda Lerner, Betty Friedan, and even Emma Goldman earned mentions. But as I read Steinem’s book, one name made more appearances than the rest: Bella Abzug.

2014 Fireworks

Top Ten Moments For Jewish Women In 2014

Judith Rosenbaum

I’ve already expressed my feelings on the whole “year of the Jewish woman” thing, but that’s not to say we shouldn’t celebrate the many great moments for Jewish women in 2014. Here, in no particular order, are a few of our favorites at JWA.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

The demand for justice runs through the entirety of Jewish history and Jewish tradition.

The Emma Lazarus FederatioN

A few more stories for the road

Judith Rosenbaum

As I prepare to leave my position as JWA’s Director of Public History after more than 12 years here, my mind keeps returning me back to the summer day in 2000 when I first stepped into the offices of the Jewish Women’s Archive. At the time, I was a disgruntled graduate student, disillusioned with life in the Ivory Tower and the academic study of women’s history. (Was a library really the best place to learn about women’s activism, I wondered?).

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 2004

"Jurist with Attitude" Celebrates 19 Years on Supreme Court

Deborah Fineblum Raub

If you are under the age of 20, there’s never been a time in your life when a Jewish woman hasn’t been sitting on the Supreme Court of the United States.

Elena Kagan

Justice Kagan's first year on the bench

Kate Bigam

Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan is inarguably a Jewess with attitude – not to mention clout and intelligence. Justice Kagan, who was sworn into office on August 7, 2010, has just wrapped up her first year as an Associate Justice on the country’s highest court, and what a year it’s been.

Rachel Berry from Glee

Why Rachel Berry deserves our compassion

Leah Berkenwald

Recently in The Forward, Jay Michaelson compared four characters from “Glee” to the “Four Children” from the Passover seder tradition. What I loved about the piece was Michaelson’s point that for young Jews, Jewish identity is one variable in a multi-variable identity that youth will embrace, when and if they find it meaningful. What bothered me about the piece was the language Michaelson used describing Rachel Berry, the analogous “Wise Child,” as an “irritating control freak” and “intolerable.” It was particularly difficult to read this because, well, I used to be Rachel Berry.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg tells it like it is

Judith Rosenbaum

If you haven't read it already, check out this excellent NYT interview with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg -- a JWA hero -- by Emily Bazelon (a senior editor at Slate, a founder of their new online women's magazine, Double X, and a serious Jewess with Attitude in her own right).

Topics: Law

Celebrating 350 years of Jewish women in America

October 18, 2004

The Jewish Women's Archive joined with National Women's Philanthropy of the United Jewish Communities for an historic celebration of 350 years of American

Ruth Bader Ginsburg joins U.S. Supreme Court

August 10, 1993

On June 14, 1993, President Bill Clinton nominated Ruth Bader Ginsburg to be an associate justice on the United States Supreme Court.

Maira Kalman's Imaginary Best Friend Forever

Emily

I started off my Friday with some morning enlightenment from Maira Kalman's meditations on law and women breaking barriers—women like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Sojourner Truth.

Topics: Art, Journalism

Women's Studies in the United States

Jewish women were instrumental in creating women’s studies as an academic discipline and contributed significantly to its growth and evolution. They have been critical not only as political activists, administrators, and editors of the key women’s studies journals, but also as prominent thinkers in the field’s intellectual debates.

Law in the United States

Until recently, “law” in relation to the Jewish community meant religious law, but in a “post-emancipation” context, “law” is related to offical behavior, enforcing equal treatment of all groups. For Jewish women who immigrated to the United States, this modern approach afforded them new freedoms, especially under secular as opposed to religious leadership.

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