Special Edition: Women Rule Web3 — Inspiration for the Art: RBG

The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg remains an inspiration—including to NFT artist  Mercedes deBellard, who created a striking portrait of RBG for the Seneca Women Equality Collection in partnership with Nifty Gateway. We’re sharing the inspiration today with a past episode of Seneca’s 100 Women to Hear, featuring the Justice in her own words.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Waste no time on anger, red resentment. Just do it.
Just get the job done. That was Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Justice Ginsberg, who died on September eighteenth, was famously focused

(00:25):
on moving ahead, ignoring petty arguments, getting the job done.
And the job, as she sought, was to help bring
about equality for all Americans. I'm a land verveer, and
this is Seneca's one hundred Women to Hear. We're bringing
you one hundred of the world's most inspiring and history

(00:48):
making women. You need to hear. Ruth Bader Ginsburg has
been described as a feminist icon, as the notorious RBG
as a ground breaker. What other Supreme Court justice has
been immortalized on dolls, mugs, t shirts, and even a
Saturday Night Live parody. But Justice Ginsburg was much more

(01:11):
than a pop culture meme. She was one of this
country's most influential voices in the fight for equality. As
Kenneth Starr wrote in The Wall Street Journal, her legacy
is enduring and deep, but it can be summed up
in two closely related concepts. Equality for all persons vindicated

(01:33):
under the rule of law. That meant equality for women,
for men, for everyone. Given her profound impact on women's rights.
The New York City Bar Association hosted an annual speech
in her honor, the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Distinguished Lecture on
Women and the Law. I had the privilege of giving

(01:55):
that lecture in two thousand and nine. I consider it
among the most important moments in my career. I was
also fortunate to hear her present a tribute to Justice
Sandra Day O'Connor at an event hosted in two thousand
and fifteen by Seneca Women. Justice Ginsberg was her typical self, witty, warm, eloquent,

(02:21):
and insightful. Listen and learn why Ruth Bader Ginsberg is
one of Seneca's one hundred women to hear and why
she will be so deeply missed. What a treat this afternoon.
Thanks mens, and I thank all the organizers for inviting

(02:46):
me to speak on behalf of all of my colleagues
in honor of the incomparable Sandra Day O'Connor, first woman
ever appointed to the Court of the United States. During
her twenty five years on the Court's bench and continuing thereafter,

(03:10):
she has shown time and again that she is a
true cowgirl, resourceful resilience, equipped to cope with whatever fortune
brings her way. Collegiality is the key to the effective
operations of a multi member bench. Sandra Day O'Connor has

(03:36):
done more to promote collegiality among the courts members and
with our counterparts abroad than any other Justice past or present.
As I said in the video we just watched, Justice
Prior wrote of ba quality, Sandra has a special talent,

(04:00):
perhaps the gene for lighting up the room she enters,
for restoring good humor in the presence of strong disagreement,
for producing constructive results, for reminding those at odds today
that tomorrow is another day. Of all the accolades. Justice

(04:26):
O'Connor has received one strikes me as concisely on targets,
and that too was captured on the video. Going up
on the Lazy b Ranch in Arizona. She could brand cattle,
drive a tractor, fire a rifle accurately well before she

(04:50):
reached her teams. One of the hands on the ranch
recalled his clear memory of Sandra Day. She wasn't the
rough and rugged type, he said, but she worked well
with us in the canyons. She held her own. Justice

(05:12):
O'Connor has done just that at every stage of her
professional and family life. But when she joined the court
in nineteen eighty one, she brought to the conference table
experienced others did not possess at all, or to the

(05:34):
same degree. The experience of growing up female in the
nineteen thirties, forties and fifties, of raising a family, of
doing all manner of legal work, government service, private practice,
successful candidacies for public office, leadership of Arizona Senate State Court,

(05:57):
judicial service, both trial and a pellet, quick and diligent
learner that she is, she mastered the mysteries of federal
law in short order and held her own from the
very start. Her welcome when I became the junior justice

(06:20):
is characteristic. The court has customs and habits not reported
in its official rules. Justice o'connon knew what it was
like to learn the rope on one's own. She told
me what I needed to know when I came on

(06:40):
board for the courts nineteen ninety three terms not in
an intimidating dose, just enough to enable me to navigate
safely my first days and weeks. At the end of
the October nineteen ninety three sitting siously awaited by first

(07:01):
opinion assignment, expecting and keeping with tradition, that the brand
new Justice would be slated for an uncontroversial, unanimous opinion.
When Chief's assignment lists came round, I was dismayed. The

(07:24):
Chief gave me an intricate, not at all easy ARISA
case on which the Court had divided six to three. ARISA,
for those who don't know, is the acronym for the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act candidate for the most inscrutable

(07:48):
legislation Aristamabad. I thought that this o'kind of advice. It
was simple. Just do it, she says, And if you
can circulate your draft opinion before he makes the next

(08:09):
set of assignments, otherwise you will risk receiving another tedious case.
That advice typifies Justice O'Connor's approach to all things. Waste
no time on anger, regret, resentment, just do it, just

(08:31):
get the job done. Justice O'Connor was a dissenter in
that case. As I read the bench announcement summarizing the
court's decision, she gave an attendant a note for me.
It read, this is your first opinion for the court.
It is a fine one. I look forward too many more,

(08:56):
remembering how good that note made me feel I said
note to Justice sot On my R and Justice Kagan
when they announced their first opinions for the court as

(09:17):
first woman on the Supreme Court, Justice O'Connor set apace
I could hardly match. To this day, my mail is
stilled with requests that run this way. Last year or
some years before, Justice o'connon visited our campus. All country spoken,

(09:39):
our bar or civic association did this on that next
words politely phrase to this effect. Now it's your terms.
My secretary has once imagined that Justice O'Connor had a
secret twin sister with whom she divided her appearances. The

(10:04):
reality is she has an extraordinary ability to manage her time.
Why has she gone to des Moines, Belfast, Lithuania, Rwanda
when she might have the fly fish ski, play tennis
or golf. In her own words, For both men and women,

(10:26):
the first step in getting power is to become visible
to others and then to put on an impressive show.
As women achieve power, the barriers will fall as society
sees what women can do. As women see what women

(10:48):
can do, there will be more women out there doing
things and will all be better off for it Seneca's
one t women to hear we'll be back. After the
short break of her journeys abroad. Her former law clerk

(11:17):
Ruth McGregor, now retired Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court,
I said, Justice Sultana has worked tirelessly to encourage emerging
nations to live under the rule of law by maintaining
democratically elected legislatures and independent judiciaries. At the same time,

(11:42):
she has strongly reminded us that this country could lose
the rule of law if we do not act to
protect our precious heritage. Is There was a time in
nineteen eighty eight when the Silconnor's energy flagged long month

(12:03):
in which she coped with rigorous treatment for breast cancer.
Though tired and in physical discomfort, she didn't miss a
sitting day on the court. That's busy term. Once fully recovered,
she spoke of that trying time. Her account, carried on

(12:25):
public television, gave women battling cancer hope the courage to
continue to do as she did, and I was one
of those women. She went back to the am exercised
class she initiated at the Court long before it was

(12:46):
predicted she could there wasn't a lot I could do,
she said, But I did a little. I did what
I could. What she could do became evident years later,
when the Olympic women's basketball team visited the court. Justice

(13:07):
O'Connor led the team on a tour, ending at the
highest court in the land, the full basketball court on
the building's top floors. The team practiced some minutes, then
one of the players passed the ball to Justice O'Connor.

(13:29):
She missed the first shot, but the second way straight
through the hoops. Each chase on the court stocket attracted
Justice O'Connor's best effort, and she was never shy about

(13:49):
stating her views at conference or in follow on discussions.
When she wrote separately to concurring or in descent, she
stated her disagreement directly and professionally. She avoided castigating colleagues

(14:11):
for an opinion that was Orwellian, profoundly misguided, not to
be taken seriously, or a jurisprudential disaster. And I am
making none of those up. In the twelve and a

(14:31):
half years we served together, court watches have seen that
women speak in different voices and hold different views, just
as men do. Even so some advocates each term revealed
that they had not fully adjusted to the presence of
two women on the High Court bench. During oral argument,

(14:56):
many a distinguished counsel, including a Harvard Law School professor
and more than one Solicitor General, responded to a question.
I asked, well, Justice O'Connor. Sometimes, when that happened, Sander

(15:16):
would smile and crisply remind counsel she's Justice Skinsburg. I'm
Justice O'Connor. Anticipating just such confusion in nineteen ninety three,
my first term as a member of the Court, the
National Association of Women Judges has t shirts made for

(15:36):
us Justice O'Connor's ridd I'm Sandra, not Ruth. I'm Ruth
not Sanders. As a retired justice, she has taken on
an array of off the bench activities. Prime among her
current undertaking, as everyone in this room knows, is her

(16:01):
creation and promotion of WWI civics dot org, designed to
educate grade school children about the three branches of government.
Avidly as well, she has championed judicial independence, urging appointment
rather than an election of judges. She has regularly welcomed

(16:24):
foreign jurists visiting the United States and she has traveled
long distances to meet with lawyers and judges abroad, many times.
At the request of the State Department. Some years ago,
Justice o'cono made a surprise appearance one night in the

(16:44):
Shakespeare Theater's production of Henry the Fifth, playing the role
that evening of Isabel, Queen of France, and looking regal,
she spoke the famous line from the treaty scene, Happily,
a woman's voice may do some good. Indeed it may,

(17:08):
as Justice o'conma has constantly demonstrated in her quarter century
service on the Supreme Court and in all of her endeavors. Tireless, gracious, inspiring.

(17:45):
That is how we will remember Ruth Vader Ginsburg. There
is so much to learn from her life and her words.
Here are just a few lessons. First, anger just isn't
worth the effort, as she said, don't be distracted by
emotions like anger, envy, resentment. These just zep energy and

(18:10):
waste time. Second, women are powerful when they support each other.
She never forgot how Sandra Day O'Connor helped her when
RBG was a newcomer to the Supreme Court, and she
paid it forward by encouraging the women justices who came
after her. Finally, no matter your struggles, always make your

(18:35):
best effort, so at the end of your journey you
can say with her, I did what I could. Tune
in to the next episode of Seneca's one hundred Women
to Hear, learn about our next featured woman, and discover
why she's one of Seneca's one hundred Women to Hear.

(18:57):
Seneca's one hundred Women to Hear is a collaboration between
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on the show, rate and review it on Apple Podcasts,
we hope you'll join us for our next episode of
one hundred Women to Hear, where we can all listen,
learn and get inspired. Have a great day.