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...the Court ...[recognizes]...the Persistence Of Racial Inequality And A Majority's Acknowledgement Of Congress's Authority To Act Affirmatively, Not Only To End Discrimination, But Also To Counteract Discrimination's Lingering Effects. Those Effects, Reflective Of A System Of Racial Caste [legal Segregation And Discrimination] Only Recently Ended, Are Evident In Our Work Places, Markets, And Neighborhoods. Job Applicants With Identical Resumes, Qualifications, And Interview Styles Still Experience Different Receptions, Depending On Their Race.

-Ruth Bader Ginsburg

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...the Court ...[recognizes]...the Persistence

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

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...the Court ...[recognizes]...the Persistence Of Racial Inequality And A Majority's Acknowledgement Of Congress's Authority To Act Affirmatively, Not Only To End Discrimination, But Also To Counteract Discrimination's Lingering Effects. Those Effects, Reflective Of A System Of Racial Caste [legal Segregation And Discrimination] Only Recently Ended, Are Evident In Our Work Places, Markets, And Neighborhoods. Job Applicants With Identical Resumes, Qualifications, And Interview Styles Still Experience Different Receptions, Depending On Their Race.

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Legislators Know Much More About Elections Than The Court Does.

Neither Federal Nor State Government Acts Compatibly With Equal Protection When A Law Or Official Policy Denies To Women, Simply Because They Are Women, Full Citizenship Stature - Equal Opportunity To Aspire, Achieve, Participate In And Contribute To Society Based On Their Individual Talents And Capacities.

People Who Have Been Hardworking, Tax Paying, Those People Ought To Be Given An Opportunity To Be On A Track That Leads Towards Citizenship And If That Happened, Then They Wouldn't Be Prey To The Employers Who Say We Want You Because We Know That You Work For A Salary We Could Not Lawfully Pay Anyone Else.

You Can't Have It All, All At Once. Who—man Or Woman—has It All, All At Once? Over My Lifespan I Think I Have Had It All. But In Different Periods Of Time Things Were Rough. And If You Have A Caring Life Partner, You Help The Other Person When That Person Needs It.

When I Graduated From Law School In 1959, There Wasn't A Single Woman On Any Federal Bench. It Wouldn't Be A Realistic Ambition For A Woman To Want To Become A Federal Judge.

Work Hard On Each Opinion, But Once The Case Is Decided, Don't Look Back; Go On To The Next Case And Give It Your All. It's Not Productive To Worry About What's Out And Released, Over And Done. That's Advice I Now Give To People New To The Judging Business.

Religious Organizations Exist To Foster The Interests Of Persons Subscribing To The Same Religious Faith. Not So Of For-profit Corporations. Workers Who Sustain The Operations Of Those Corporations Commonly Are Not Drawn From One Religious Community.

Feminism … I Think The Simplest Explanation, And One That Captures The Idea, Is A Song That Marlo Thomas Sang, 'free To Be You And Me.' Free To Be, If You Were A Girl—doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief. Anything You Want To Be. And If You’re A Boy, And You Like Teaching, You Like Nursing, You Would Like To Have A Doll, That’s Ok Too. That Notion That We Should Each Be Free To Develop Our Own Talents, Whatever They May Be, And Not Be Held Back By Artificial Barriers—manmade Barriers, Certainly Not Heaven Sent.

If You Ask Judges, Do You Always Agree On Everything? Of Course Not, We Divide Just As You Do. Why Aren't You Transparent About It? Because The People Would Begin To Think That The Law Is Not Stable, The Law Is Unclear. And That Would Not Give Them Much Faith In The Law.

If You Have A Caring Life Partner, You Help The Other Person When That Person Needs It. I Had A Life Partner Who Thought My Work Was As Important As His, And I Think That Made All The Difference For Me.

Prisons Should Be Co-ed Because Separate Quarters Are Discriminatory.

Approving Some Religious Claims While Deeming Others Unworthy Of Accommodation Could Be 'perceived As Favoring One Religion Over Another,' The Very 'risk The [constitution's] Establishment Clause Was Designed To Preclude.

Establishment Clause

I Would Not Like To Be The Only Woman On The Court.

There Are Just A Host Of Problems Born By The Electronic Age. Things We Couldn't Even Conceive Of. I Was Amused By The Analogy That Justice Scalia Made In A Case About A Gps Tracker So You Don't Know That's Being Done To Your Car, Is That A Violation Of Your Right To Protection Against Unreasonable Searches And Seizures. So Justice Scalia Imagines A Constable Clinging To The Bottom Of A Carriage As It Went On Its Way, So There Was Some Notion That This Similar: There Is An Official Eye That's On You, But You Don't Know About It. Yes, There Are All Kinds Of Challenges.

I'm Not Very Good At Promotion.

Anger, Resentment, Envy, And Self-pity Are Wasteful Reactions. They Greatly Drain One's Time. They Sap Energy Better Devoted To Productive Endeavors.

The Emphasis Must Be Not On The Right To Abortion But On The Right To Privacy And Reproductive Control.

A Constitution, As Important As It Is, Will Mean Nothing Unless The People Are Yearning For Liberty And Freedom.

I Think The Notion That We Have All The Democracy That Money Can Buy Strays So Far From What Our Democracy Is Supposed To Be.

I Would Not Look To The United States Constitution If I Were Drafting A Constitution In The Year 2012.

In Sum, The Court's Conclusion That A Constitutionally Adequate Recount Is Impractical Is A Prophecy The Court's Own Judgment Will Not Allow To Be Tested. Such An Untested Prophecy Should Not Decide The Presidency Of The United States.

Members Of The Legislature, People Who Have Run For Office, Know The Connection Between Money And Influence On What Laws Get Passed

I Am A Judge Born, Raised, And Proud Of Being A Jew. The Demand For Justice Runs Through The Entirety Of The Jewish Tradition. I Hope, In My Years On The Bench Of The Supreme Court Of The United States, I Will Have The Strength And The Courage To Remain Constant In The Service Of That Demand.

Jewish Tradition

Even The Declaration Of Independence Starts Out All Men Are Created Equal, So I See My Advocacy As Part Of An Effort To Make The Equality Principle Everything The Founders Would Have Wanted It To Be If They Weren't Held Back By The Society In Which They Lived And Particularly The Shame Of Slavery.

Undocumented Aliens Unfortunately Are Not Protected By The Law And They Are Tremendously Subjected To Exploitation. The Result Is That They Would Be Willing To Work For A Wage That No Person Who Is Welcome In Our Shores Would Take.

My Own View, And I've Said This Many Times, Is As Long As I Can Do The Work Full Steam, I Will Stay On The Court. But When I Feel Myself Slipping, When I Slow Down In My Ability To Write Opinions With Fair Dispatch, When I Forget The Names Of Cases That I Once Could Recite At The Drop Of A Hat, I Will Know It Is Time For Me To Go.

Work For The Things That You Care About.

You're Saying, No, State Said Two Kinds Of Marriage; The Full Marriage, And Then This Sort Of Skim-milk Marriage.

I Do Think That Being The Second [female Supreme Court Justice] Is Wonderful, Because It Is A Sign That Being A Woman In A Place Of Importance Is No Longer Extraordinary.

I Think Our System Is Being Polluted By Money.

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One Might Plausibly Contend That Congress Violates The Spirit, If Not The Letter, Of The Constitutional Doctrine Of Separation Of Powers When It Exonerates Itself From The Impositions Of The Laws It Obligates People Outside The Legislature To Obey.

Who Will Take Responsibility For Raising The Next Generation?

When Contemplated In Its Extreme, Almost Any Power Looks Dangerous.

The Second Amendment Is Outdated In The Sense That Its Function Has Become Obsolete.

Second Amendment

Throwing Out Preclearance When It Has Worked And Is Continuing To Work To Stop Discriminatory Changes Is Like Throwing Away Your Umbrella In A Rainstorm Because You Are Not Getting Wet.

My Mother Told Me To Be A Lady. And For Her, That Meant Be Your Own Person, Be Independent.

It Is Not Like I Have Gone Crazy, I Just Don't Want To Take Any Chances. You Never Know What Could Happen.

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Asking Questions

Promoting Active Liberty Does Not Mean Allowing The Majority To Run Roughshod Over Minorities. It Calls For Taking Special Care That All Groups Have A Chance To Fully Participate In Society And The Political Process.

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Second Amendment

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Whatever Community Organization, Whether It's A Women's Organization, Or Fighting For Racial Justice ... You Will Get Satisfaction Out Of Doing Something To Give Back To The Community That You Never Get In Any Other Way.

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It Is Not Women's Liberation, It Is Women's And Men's Liberation.

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Racial Discrimination In Elections In Texas Is No Mere Historical Artifact. To The Contrary, Texas Has Been Found In Violation Of The Voting Rights Act In Every Redistricting Cycle From And After 1970.

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Dissents Speak To A Future Age.

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There Is A Constitutional Right To Prostitution.

Women Will Only Have True Equality When Men Share With Them The Responsibility Of Bringing Up The Next Generation.

If I Had Any Talent God Could Give Me, I Would Be A Great Diva.

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Depriving A Parent Of Parental Status Is As Devastating As A Criminal Conviction.

..the United States Is Subject To The Scrutiny Of A Candid World ... What The United States Does, For Good Or For Ill, Continues To Be Watched By The International Community, In Particular By Organizations Concerned With The Advancement Of The Rule Of Law And Respect For Human Dignity.

So Now The Perception Is, Yes, Women Are Here To Stay. And When I'm Sometimes Asked When Will There Be Enough [women On The Supreme Court]? And I Say When There Are Nine, People Are Shocked. But There'd Been Nine Men, And Nobody's Ever Raised A Question About That.

I Said On The Equality Side Of It, That It Is Essential To A Woman's Equality With Man That She Be The Decision-maker, That Her Choice Be Controlling.

Our Goal In The '70s Was To End The Closed Door Era. There Were So Many Things That Were Off Limits To Women, Policing, Firefighting, Mining, Piloting Planes. And The Stereotypical View Of People Of A World Divided Between Home And Child Caring Women And Men As Breadwinners, Men Representing The Family Outside The Home.

If We Gave Up Our Freedom As The Price Of Security, We Would No Longer Be The Great Nation That We Are.

A Prime Part Of The History Of Our Constitution Is The Story Of The Extension Of Constitutional Rights To People Once Ignored Or Excluded.

I Conceived Of Myself In Large Part As A Teacher. There Wasn't A Great Understanding Of Gender Discrimination. People Knew That Race Discrimination Was An Odious Thing, But There Were Many Who Thought That All The Gender-based Differentials In The Law Operated Benignly In Women's Favor. So My Objective Was To Take The Court Step By Step To The Realization, In Justice Brennan's Words, That The Pedestal On Which Some Thought Women Were Standing All Too Often Turned Out To Be A Cage.

We Should Learn ... To Do Our Best For The Sake Of Our Communities And For The Sake Of Those For Whom We Pave The Way.

My Rule Was I Will Not Answer A Question That Attempts To Project How I Will Rule In A Case That Might Come Before The Court.

The Written Argument Endures. The Oral Argument Is Fleeting.

Dissents Speak To A Future Age. It's Not Simply To Say, 'my Colleagues Are Wrong And I Would Do It This Way.' But The Greatest Dissents Do Become Court Opinions And Gradually Over Time Their Views Become The Dominant View. So That's The Dissenter's Hope: That They Are Writing Not For Today But For Tomorrow.

Freedom Of Speech

We Live In An Age In Which The Fundamental Principles To Which We Subscribe - Liberty, Equality And Justice For All - Are Encountering Extraordinary Challenges, ... But It Is Also An Age In Which We Can Join Hands With Others Who Hold To Those Principles And Face Similar Challenges.

Justice For All

Every Gal And Every Boy That's Born Alive Is Either A Little Liberal Or Else A Little Conservative.

The Greatest Threat To Public Confidence In Elections In This Case Is The Prospect Of Enforcing A Purposefully Discriminatory Law, One That Likely Imposes An Unconstitutional Poll Tax And Risks Denying The Right To Vote To Hundreds Of Thousands Of Eligible Voters.

One Thing That Concerns Me Is That Today's Young Women Don't Seem To Care That We Have A Fundamental Instrument Of Government That Makes No Express Statement About The Equal Citizenship Stature Of Men And Women. They Know There Are No Closed Doors Anymore, And They May Take For Granted The Rights That They Have.

So That's The Dissenter's Hope: That They Are Writing Not For Today But For Tomorrow.

Freedom Of Speech

I Do Hope That Some Of My Dissents Will One Day Be The Law.

The Impact Of All These Restrictions Is On Poor Women, Because Women Who Have Means, If Their State Doesn't Provide Access, Another State Does. ... It Makes No Sense As A National Policy To Promote Birth Only Among Poor People.

People Who Are Well Represented At Trial Do Not Get The Death Penalty.

When Police Or Prosecutors Conceal Significant Exculpatory Or Impeaching Material, We Hold, It Is Ordinarily Incumbent On The State To Set The Record Straight.

Historically, The New Government Had No Money To Pay For An Army, So They Relied On The State Militias. And The States Required Men To Have Certain Weapons And They Specified In The Law What Weapons These People Had To Keep In Their Home So That When They Were Called To Do Service As Militiamen, They Would Have Them. That Was The Entire Purpose Of The Second Amendment.

Women's Rights Are An Essential Part Of The Overall Human Rights Agenda, Trained On The Equal Dignity And Ability To Live In Freedom All People Should Enjoy.

I Think Members Of The Legislature, People Who Have To Run For Office, Know The Connection Between Money And Influence On What Laws Get Passed.

I Didn't Change The Constitution; The Equality Principle Was There From The Start. I Just Was An Advocate For Seeing Its Full Realization.

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