Henry J. Miller Lecturer Ruth Bader Ginsburg
By
David Ritter
On Thursday, February 13, 2003, the Honorable
Ruth Bader Ginsburg delivered the 32nd installment in the
Henry J. Miller
Distinguished Lecture Series. The event took place in the
Rialto Center for the Performing Arts on the campus of Georgia
State
University in front of a nearly full house.
Georgia State University
College of Law Dean Janice C. Griffith introduced Justice
Ginsburg by proudly stating that the event was
the centerpiece of the College of Law's 20th Anniversary celebration. |
Dean Janice Griffith with the Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg |
Dean Griffith emphasized how honored she was to introduce Justice
Ginsburg because of Justice Ginsburg's work in promoting women's
rights. Among Justice Ginsburg's achievements are graduating first
in her class at Columbia University (she is probably the only person
to serve on the law reviews at both Harvard University, which she
attended before her husband got a job in New York, and Columbia
University), becoming the first tenured female professor at Columbia
School of Law, launching the Women's Rights Project for the American
Civil Liberties Union, joining the United States Court of Appeals
for the District of Columbia, and being nominated for and joining
the United States Supreme Court in 1993.
Justice Ginsburg took the stage amidst a standing ovation. Her
speech, entitled "A Few Little Known Pages of Supreme Court
History," mainly concerned two women with ties to the Washington
legal community – Burnita Shelton Matthews and Malvina Harlan.
When Matthews first decided to pursue a legal career, that option
was not a favorable one for women. She instead went to music school
and then married a lawyer. After moving to Washington, D.C., where
her husband was working, she enrolled in law school at National
University, which is now George Washington University.
During the day she worked at the Veteran's Administration, and
during the evening she took law classes. On the weekends she picketed
the White House in support of the women's suffrage movement. Matthews
graduated from National and pursued a career in eminent domain
law, at one point winning what was at the time the largest condemnation
award in the history of the country. Justice Ginsburg noted the
property would be put to good use, as it became the location of
the United States Supreme Court.
In 1949, President Harry S. Truman nominated Matthews to the
D.C. Circuit Court, where, as the first woman appointed to be a
federal district court judge, she continued her advocacy of women's
rights by only hiring female law clerks.
Malvina Harlan was the wife of Supreme Court Justice John Marshall
Harlan, and Justice Ginsburg said, "Her ambition was her husband's
success." Ginsburg's favorite story about Malvina Harlan was
the time Harlan took a purloined ink stand used by Chief Justice
Roger Brooke Taney, who had written the infamous Dred Scott decision
with that same ink stand, and placed it on her husband's desk so
he would have inspiration when writing his dissent in the equally
infamous Plessy v. Ferguson decision.
Justice Ginsburg has been very active in having Harlan's memoirs,
Some Memories of a Long Life, 1854-1911, published. Justice Ginsburg
ended her talk by pointing out that Justice Sandra Day O'Connor
is celebrating her 22nd year on the Supreme Court and Justice Ginsburg
is celebrating her 10th year on the Supreme Court. She said that
whenever the make-up of the Supreme Court changes, a group photo
is taken. She knows that Harlan and Matthews, whose footsteps Justice
Ginsburg followed by being appointed to the D.C. Court of Appeals,
would take pride in the fact that two of the nine Supreme Court
Justices are women, a fact that would not have seemed possible
during those earlier women's lives.
Dean Griffith ended the evening by thanking Justice Ginsburg
and reminding the audience to follow the examples of the courageous
women Justice Ginsburg introduced during that evening. Dean Griffith
urged the audience to follow the words that are posted on the walls
of Justice Ginsburg's office: "Justice, Justice, Shalt Thou
Pursue."
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