The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Carmon, Irin, and Shana Knizhnik. Notorious RBG. New York: Dey Street Books, 2015.

Notorious RBG is a book about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The book was published in 2015, when Ginsburg was 82 years old. In 2013, Ginsburg gave an impassioned dissenting opinion in the Supreme Court case of Shelby v. Holder. The Court’s conservative majority had voted to strike down integral elements of the Voting Rights Act, thereby enabling rampant voter suppression against poor and non-white Americans. Ginsburg’s passionate and eloquent dissenting opinion garnered her much attention in media and popular culture. This book examines her life and career more closely in order to more fully render the inspiring examples she has set. The book then includes a succinct timeline of the history of the gender equality movement in the United States, as well as a succinct timeline of Ginsburg's life.

Ginsburg was born Joan Ruth Bader in Brooklyn, New York in 1933. She was born to two Jewish immigrants from Europe. Her mother consistently encouraged her to work hard in school. Ginsburg was an excellent student, and she attended Cornell University for her undergraduate studies. There, she met fellow student Martin “Marty” Ginsburg, and the two students developed romantic feelings for each other. Ruth appreciated how Marty treated her as an equal, in a society where women were generally viewed as inferior. They married and had a child. For two years, Ruth worked in public bureaucracy and witnessed how laws and systems often place undue burdens on poor and non-white people in the United States.

The Ginsburgs both enrolled in Harvard Law School and excelled. Ruth was even a member of the Harvard Law Review, although she faced prejudice due to her gender. When Marty graduated, he found a job working at a tax law firm in New York City. Ruth transferred to Columbia University’s law school to complete her law degree in New York. She then had difficulty finding a job, as most law firms did not want to hire a female lawyer. Eventually, Rutgers University hired her to teach law, but she was paid less than her male colleagues. Ginsburg began volunteering for the ACLU and pursuing gender discrimination cases. She even helped to successfully sue Rutgers on behalf of herself and many other female employees who were being underpaid.

In the 1970s, Ginsburg argued more than ten cases in front of the Supreme Court. Her work in this regard helped to advance gender equality; many of these Supreme Court rulings built legal precedents for the unconstitutionality of gender discrimination. Ginsburg represented both male and female clients. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed Ginsburg as a judge in the U.S. Appeals Court. In 1993, President Clinton appointed her to the U.S. Supreme Court, where she was the second ever female Justice. She had a close working relationship with Sandra Day O’Connor, the first ever female Justice.

Following the year 2000, Ginsburg became frustrated by several Court rulings in which the conservative majority made unjust decisions. The Roberts court made rulings that deeply eroded reproductive rights, gender equality, and voting rights. Whenever the Court made an unjust ruling, Ginsburg wrote an eloquent dissenting opinion, which she often read aloud in the courtroom itself. Ginsburg had an indomitable work ethic, and she even survived two separate cancer diagnoses without ever missing a day in court.

Throughout the decades, Ruth and Marty’s marriage continued to be defined by mutual respect, admiration, and support. In 2010, Marty died of cancer. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was understandably devastated, but she continued to remain devoted to her work. The book discusses Ginsburg’s work ethic and her surprising physical fitness. The book then explains several important lessons that the reader can glean from Ginsburg’s life and work. The book ends by including various tributes that people have made in honor of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.