The main point I want to get across to potential readers of this book is that it is a highly substantive, serious and detailed look at the life and career of Justice Ginsburg. It may appear on first viewing--given the editorial cartoons, extensive photos, and caricatures--to be some manner of "coffee table" book novelity. But there is much meat on the bones here for anyone interested in Justice Ginsburg.
In part, the book is biographical, facilitated by some innovative timeline and other charts. Many photos, some obviously I would say, drawn from RBG's own files, enhance the presentation. By chapter 4, the authors are moving into substantive legal issues. This section is innovative because of several techniques of the authors. First, they focus on some key Ginsburg cases as counsel by examining the text of her briefs through annotating the language in particular sections and carefully dissecting why it is there. Reed v. Reed is a prime example of this technique. Secondly, the important body of work that RBG developed during her years supervising and as counsel for the ACLU's Women's Rights Project are encapsulated in a double page chart (pp. 74-5), which at once underlines the significance of her efforts as well as organizing by category the cases in a concise but meaningful chart design. Her legal career at Rutgers and Columbia is also covered.
By chapter 5, the focus is her judicial career on both the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (thanks to Carter) and eventually the Supreme Court via a Clinton nomination. Particularly effective is the discussion of the VMI case, one of Ginsburg's great victories as a Justice. Chapter 6 focuses upon her late husband Martin Ginsburg, somewhat colorful for a tax lawyer, and an important key to understanding Ginsburg the person and what factors have shaped her life.
I found the most interesting chapter (7) to be on her working on the Supreme Court. Her relations with Sandra Day O'Connor, Rehnquist, and of course Scalia are explored. The important topic of writing opinions is also covered, as are her relationships with clerks and how her chambers operates--or as I like to say, "how the sausages are made."
Chapter 8 covers the critical role she has played as a dissenter in a majority conservative court. Her revival of oral dissents on occasion is important, as is her philosophy of dissenting. Several of her important dissents, including in the recent Voting Rights Act case, are subjected to annotative analysis to emphasize the points supporting her minority view. Another two page chart (pp. 148-9) focusing upon her dissents covers the ground expeditiously but comprehensively in a most cogent format. Chapter 9 deals with the personal side of the Justice, including her love of opera and life style.
Of current critical importance is the final chapter on her refusal to step aside so a younger liberal judge can be appointed to replace her before the 2016 election. She has come under a great deal of misinformed pressure to take such a step, to which fortunately this incomparable fighter has refused to yield. However, obviously, time is time and how long this 80 plus year old dynamo will continue her service is problematic--one does note that several brushes with cancer have not deterred her determination to serve out her term.
The book concludes with a number of appendices on various interesting topics. There are several effective traditional bios of the Justice, Linda Hirshman's recent joint RBG and O'Connor bio being a prime example, and the RGB lilterature continues to grow in recognition of her many contributions. This book is much more light-hearted, innovative, lively, and just fun to read--but the core of a solid study of RGB is there. One cannot conclude reading this book without going away with a strong sense of RBG as a person. An invaluable addition to the growing literature on this most interesting and significant of Supreme Court justices.
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Empowering!
I have been so busy I almost forgot to post this. Finished the Notorious RBG book! It is good good good! If you are not familiar with the changes she has helped make, read this or anything on her and you will realize that she has been fighting for you for a long time! ..At age 85 she is the oldest sitting justice right now on the Supreme Court and has fought off cancer twice and media scrutiny about retirement to continue to make the world a little better! She is a female that was fiercely independent during times in history where women were not working outside the home. This book came out in 2015 and so much has happened since then that she has had a hand in- equal pay, civil rights, and gender equality are just a few. She is truly a living legend. I certainly felt more empowered after reading this! 💪
Top reviews from other countries
MONICA
MAGNIFICA OBRA, INIMITABLE E IRREPETIBLE RUTH BADER
Reviewed in Spain on March 20, 2019