On October 4, 1993, Ruth Bader Ginsburg joined the Supreme Court. Here's a look back at her first day:
"Freshmen Supreme Court justices generally keep their thoughts to themselves. But not Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
During the opening day of the Supreme Court's term, Ginsburg dominated. She was quick to question lawyers as they stood at the lectern, tearing apart their arguments, demanding evidence for their generalizations, grilling them on statutes.
"What is the proof of that?" the newest justice asked at one point. "Is there any support in the case law for this . . . ?" she asked later. "Why not?" she questioned an apparently flustered lawyer, who, somewhat like Ginsburg, was involved in his first case at the court but, unlike Ginsburg, likely was suffering a confidence crisis.
Gone was the tentative, measured cadence that America saw during Ginsburg's summer confirmation hearings. Her voice even seemed louder. Her queries ran from broad constitutional concerns of due process in one case to the minute details of voting rights law in two others."
Ginsburg was the second female Supreme Court Justice, and the first Jewish Justice since 1969.
From: Biskupic, J. (1993, October 5). Ginsburg debuts as dominant and active voice. Washington Post, p. A10.
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