Notorious

I heard the movie RBG had been released but only in a few theaters. In Sunday’s paper I saw it was at the two art house theaters in the Detroit area. This morning I checked online and saw the movie would be there only until Thursday. So this afternoon I saw it.

RBG is, of course, about Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the Supreme Court. It is a documentary about her life. She grew up in Brooklyn and lost her mother just as she was graduating from high school. She went to Cornell University, a good place for daughters in the early 1950s – with a ratio of five male students to each female if one couldn't find a husband at Cornell one was beyond hope. Ruth Bader did find a husband in Martin Ginsburg. The relationship had a chance because he wasn’t afraid of how smart she was.

Once done with law school Ginsburg had a hard time joining a law firm because she was a woman. But when hired she was formidable. In the 1970s she argued a series of cases before the Supremes having to do with gender inequality. She chose cases carefully and used her time to teach the justices that, yes, discrimination against women was a real thing, that it harmed women, and because it harmed women it harmed men and all of society. She made a difference in women’s lives.

In the late 1970s Jimmy Carter noticed that most of the federal court judges were white men. So he appointed Ginsburg to the DC Circuit Court, the one that handles disputes between branches of the government. In 1993 Bill Clinton nominated her to the Supremes. People didn’t consider her a candidate because she was already 60. But in her interview she captivated Clinton completely.

Through the rest of the 90s she was the author of many important decisions. But as the Supremes became more conservative she took on the role of the prime dissenter.

The movie also talked about how supportive Martin was. He could see her job was more important than his, so did what he needed to make hers happen. I had a chuckle when one of the final credits was, “The Martin Ginsburg award for supportive husbandry.” We also saw her friendship with Antonin Scalia and her love of opera. We saw a clip of her onstage at the Kennedy Center playing the Duchess of Krakenthorp in “The Daughter of the Regiment” (yes, a speaking role, with lines rewritten for her).

The movie also shows that she has become a pop culture icon with fans and being portrayed on Saturday Night Live.

I have profound respect for this Notorious RGB. May she live long and keep a sound mind and body.