U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg — and one-time Oklahoma resident — shares thoughts on what she reads and what she doesn’t

Last night, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg addressed a packed house at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. The Aug. 29 event inaugurated a lecture series dedicated to legendary Dallas lawyer, the late Louise B. Raggio. “We were born 14 years apart, but I discovered we have a great deal in common,” Ginsburg said about herself and Raggio, who is credited with leading efforts in the 1970s that secured property rights for women in Texas and then spearheading efforts to bolster the Texas Family Code. Ginsburg listed the similarities between herself and Raggio: “Neither of us could find a job when we got out of law school,” both were mothers during law school and “we both recognized that, for enduring change, one must recruit men as allies." After the speech, Ginsburg and SMU Dedman School of Law Dean John B. Attanasio held a public conversation. Brooklyn-born Ginsburg recounted how she lived in Norman, Okla., with her husband who was serving there in the military. During that time, she said, “Dallas was our big city.” She recalled travelling to Big D for three days to attend performances by the Metropolitan Opera at the State Fair of Texas, a treat for a native New Yorker who was missing home, she said. Later, she attended Harvard Law School and graduated from Columbia Law School in 1959 at the top of her class. In 1993, she was sworn in as a justice of the Supreme Court, after President Bill Clinton nominated her and the Senate confirmed her by a 96-3 vote. But Ginsburg, who launched the Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union in 1971, told the audience she believes she would not make the cut in the current political situation surrounding federal judicial nominations. “Today my ACLU connection would disqualify me,” she said, adding, “I wish we could wave a magic wand and go back to those days when the confirmation process was truly bipartisan.” On the court, Ginsburg said the toughest part of her job always has been death penalty cases. To prepare for oral arguments in all cases, Ginsburg said she reads all the prior opinions and part of the record before opening the lawyers’ briefs. She follows that order so she may spot inaccuracies in the briefs. “Lawyers should know, if they try to distort the record, they will be found out,” she said. Writers of amicus briefs face other concerns: “I have to confess, I don’t read all of those. In fact, I don’t read most of them,” Ginsburg said. For the law school students in the audience, she expressed empathy for desires they might have to get high-paying jobs. She also noted that they should seek to change the world for the better during their careers. Otherwise, she said, “you are not much more than a plumber.”

-- Miriam Rozen

Comments

[D. Thomas]

Actually, I've spent as much time knee-deep in sewage as the average plumber.

[Carol L. Ziegler]

I am all for plumbers particularly since I come from a family of distinguished construction workers but I know the difference between good plumbers and good lawyers. Lawyers have special obligations to serve the public interest and to participate in pro bono representation that provides access to the courts for those who cannot afford to pay. If you know a plumber who will waive his or her fees for those who are indigent, please let me know.

[Dew_Process]

Justices of the Supreme Court will always need plumbers. Plumbers will rarely need SCOTUS Justices.

[bill]

More of the social disconnect in Washington DC. I for one am very thankful for plumbers and have respect for them and the work they do. I suppose, when you are a pompous ass, it is hard to express how proud you are of yourself, without degrading some of the loyal subjects. Shame on her...

[Craig Ball]

Though I appreciate why some might take the remark as disparaging plumbers, I don't see it that way at all. Justice Ginsburg was saying that, unless you strive to use your legal education for a greater purpose than simply making a buck, members of the legal profession deserve no status greater than that of those who pursue less prestigious occupations. Specifying plumbers doesn't disparage plumbers so much as recognize that plumbers' unglamorous-but-essential work is no different from the practice of law, except that the lawyer has greater opportunity to change the world for the better.

Plumber was the right choice because it's hard, dirty work, and a position few young people aspire for or borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars to become. Justice Ginsburg's point was, in essence, "You law grads think you're so much better than the fellow with his hands in shit. Well, you're not, until and unless you do the thing that your privileged role in society allows you and denies the plumber."

[M. Rivera]

How sad that such a highly educated woman could not find a better way to state that law students should seek to change the world for the better without disparaging another profession to make her point.

Its just another example of how we speak our minds in this world without thinking of the consequence, no matter how well-intentioned.