Interview with Justice Ginsburg

The NY Times Magazine has a fantastic interview with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, available online here . The interview is conducted by Emily Bazelon, a graduate and member of the faculty of Senior Research Scholar in Law and Truman Capote Fellow for Creative Writing and Law at Yale Law School and the senior editor of Slate.

It’s a fantastic (but long) interview which touches upon the role of women on the Court, Judge Sotomayor’s hearing, and some recent gender civil rights cases.

Some interesting highlights:

In response to Sotomayor’s wise Latina comment: "Yes, women bring a different life experience to the table. All of our differences make the conference better. That I’m a woman, that’s part of it, that I’m Jewish, that’s part of it, that I grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., and I went to summer camp in the Adirondacks, all these things are part of me." (Emphasis mine.)

About Sotomayor’s purported fieriness: "Yes, the notion that Sonia is an aggressive questioner — what else is new? Has anybody watched Scalia or Breyer up on the bench?"

About women’s roles on the court in gender discrimination cases: "I think the presence of women on the bench made it possible for the courts to appreciate earlier than they might otherwise that sexual harassment belongs under Title VII."

On what she would want to fix as a lawyer: "Reproductive choice has to be straightened out. There will never be a woman of means without choice anymore. […] So we have a policy that affects only poor women."

General comment on changes in abortion policies: "So I think the side that wants to take the choice away from women and give it to the state, they’re fighting a losing battle. Time is on the side of change. " (Emphasis mine.)