Post #38

Women in the Judiciary: Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ruth Bader Ginsburg became the second woman U.S. Supreme Court Justice in 1993 behind Sandra Day O’Connor. For the majority of her career, she focused on equal citizenship status of men and women. In 1970, she co-founded the Women’s Rights Law Reporter, the first law journal in the U.S. that focused only on women’s rights. Gisburg was also the first tenured woman in the Columbia Law School. Ginsburg was a unique nominee for the bench in that she had lots of experience arguing cases in front of the Supreme Court when she was a chief litigator for the ACLU. She was also unique in the during her confirmation process, she refused to answer questions about her beliefs saying that if she were to make a decision before a case came to her, she would be acting injudiciously. Ginsburg has been a major proponent for abortion rights as well as sexual equality. She has said in reference to abortion “that the government has no business making that choice for a woman.”


Women in the Practice of Law: Belva Lockwood

In 1873, Belva Lockwood graduated from National University Law School in Washington, DC. Her graduation was not without uproar. Because the University did not grant degrees to women, she was kept out of practicing law for months after she graduated until she appealed the President of the United States. She was constantly faced with judges who believed she was incompetent. However, she was one of the first female lawyers in the United States and was the first female lawyer who was granted the ability to practice law in front of the Supreme Court after she pushed Congress to pass the law permitting women to do so in 1879. Lockwood was the first women to appear on official presidential ballots in 1884 and 1888 when she was nominated for the office by the National Equal Right Party.