At Harvard Law School, Ruth Bader Ginsburg Displayed the Steel She'd Be Famous for
"There was nothing I could do to open the door guarded by a university employee who said, 'You can't enter that room,'" Ginsburg testified in one of her Senate confirmation hearings
Ginsburg was a pioneer who championed women’s rights and leaves a great legacy.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg was remembered Friday night by Harvard Law School's dean as an "inspiring and courageous human being" who was among the great Supreme Court justices.
The justice, who died Friday at the age of 87, attended Harvard Law, where she was famously one of only nine women in her class of hundreds. She was also among the first women to serve on its esteemed journal, the Harvard Law Review.
But she did not graduate from the school or receive a degree there, for reasons that would become the subject of her life's work of fighting for equal rights for women.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died, the Supreme Court said Friday.
A top graduate of Cornell University, Ginsburg enrolled at Harvard Law in 1956, following her husband, who was in his second year there -- he'd attended for one year before his legal education was interrupted by the military draft.
Her class at Harvard Law had 552 men but just eight other women. In a story that's become part of Ginsburg's legend, the school's then-dean asked those women, at a dinner party, how they justified taking a place that would have gone to a man.
There were other indignities. Ginsburg recalled at one of her 1993 Senate confirmation hearings being turned away from a library at Harvard because it didn't allow women inside.
"There was nothing I could do to open the door guarded by a university employee who said, 'You can't enter that room,'" she testified.
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Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his wife Dr. Jill Biden pay their respects to the late Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as her casket lies in state during a memorial service in her honor in the Statuary Hall of the Capitol, Sept. 25, 2020, in Washington, D.C.
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The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 25, 2020.
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The remains of US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg lie in state at the US Capitol in Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 25, 2020.
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The remains of US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg lie in state at the US Capitol in Washington, D.C, on Sept. 25, 2020.
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The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is carried up the steps of the U.S. Capitol before a memorial service in Washington, D.C., Sept. 25, 2020.
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The remains of US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg arrive to lie in state at the US Capitol in Washington, D.C., Sept. 25, 2020.
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President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump pay respects as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg lies in repose at the Supreme Court building on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2020, in Washington. Ginsburg, 87, died of cancer on Sept. 18.
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The flag-covered casket of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg rests under the Portico at the top of the front steps of the U.S. Supreme Court building, Sept. 23, 2020, in Washington.
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A visitor pays respects to the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Sept. 23, 2020. Ginsburg, whose 27-year tenure as the second female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court culminated a legal career dedicated to advancing the rights of women, died at the age of 87 on September 18.
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The casket of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is carried at the U.S. Supreme Court where she will lie in repose, Sept. 23, 2020, in Washington, D.C.
The flag-draped casket of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg arrives at the US Supreme Court in Washington, D.C, Sept. 23, 2020.
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Former law clerks of Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg watch as her casket is carried up the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court where she will lie in repose, Sept. 23, 2020, in Washington, D.C.
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Former law clerks walk out and stand as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s casket arrives at the Supreme Court in Washington, Sept. 23, 2020.
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A mourner stands outside of the Supreme Court where Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is lying in repose, Sept. 23, 2020, in Washington, D.C.
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A mourner wears a crown honoring Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the Supreme Court where she is lying in repose, Sept. 23, 2020, in Washington, D.C. Ginsburg, who was appointed by former U.S. President Bill Clinton, served on the high court from 1993 until her death on Sept. 18, 2020.
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A crowd gathers at the Supreme Court Friday, Sept. 18, 2020, in Washington, D.C., after the Supreme Court announced that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died of metastatic pancreatic cancer at age 87.
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Flowers and lit candles outside the Supreme Court Friday, Sept. 18, 2020, in Washington, D.C.
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People light candles outside the Supreme Court Friday, Sept. 18, 2020, in Washington, D.C.
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A man touches the door of the Supreme Court Friday, Sept. 18, 2020, in Washington, D.C.
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The US flag flies at half-mast above the White House in Washington, DC, late on September 18, 2020 after the passing of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
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People lay flowers outside the Supreme Court Friday, Sept. 18, 2020, in Washington, D.C.
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A man spells RBG with candles as a crowd gathers at the U.S. Supreme Court to mourn the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday, Sept. 18, 2020.
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A crowd gathers at the U.S. Supreme Court to mourn the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday, Sept. 18, 2020.
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A crowd gathers at the U.S. Supreme Court to mourn the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday, Sept. 18, 2020.
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The morning of Saturday, September 19, 2020 outside the Supreme Court following the news of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing.
Ginsburg was a new mother as well, but she soon had to care for her husband as well. After he was diagnosed with testicular cancer, Ginsburg gathered notes for him so he didn't fall behind, cared for both him and their daughter while also taking her own classes. She excelled anyway.
"This was supposed to be a fiercely competitive place," she recalled in 2013. "The help that we got from our friends here I will remember all the days of my life."
Yet Ginsburg would leave Harvard Law after her second of three years, since her husband had accepted a position at a law firm in New York. Ginsburg transferred to Columbia -- and was denied a Harvard degree, despite having gotten the majority of her legal education in Cambridge.
"Somehow she survived that deprivation," fellow Justice Elena Kagan, herself a former dean of Harvard Law School, said in 2014.
Despite facing yet more discrimination that limited her opportunities as her career as a lawyer began, Ginsburg didn't just survive, she thrived. She became a pioneer in gender equality legislation, arguing six major cases before the Supreme Court and winning five.
Ginsburg was appointed and nearly unanimously confirmed to the nation's highest court in 1993, just the second woman on the bench.
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Portrait of Ruth Ginsburg, filed 1977.
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US Senator Joseph Biden (L), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, whispers on July 20, 1993 to judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg shortly before his committee began Ginsburg’s confirmation hearing for the position of associate justice of the US Supreme Court.
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The only two female Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, pose for a portrait in Statuary Hall March 28, 2001 surrounded by statues of men at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. The two Justices were preparing to address a meeting of the Congressional Women’s Caucus.
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Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg with husband Martin Ginsburg.
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Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg reads to a group of children from a story book at the 10th Anniversary of TV’s “Reading Rainbow”.
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Sentimental Pres. Bill Clinton applauding Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg after Supreme Court nominee’s moving acceptance speech, in WH Rose Garden.
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U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg sits in her chambers at the Supreme Court August 7, 2002 in Washington, DC. Ginsburg is the second woman to be appointed to the high court.
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In this March 3, 2006, file photo, Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg joins the members of the Supreme Court for photos during a group portrait session at the Supreme Court Building in Washington.
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Members of the US Supreme Court pose for a group photograph at the Supreme Court building on September 29, 2009 in Washington, DC. Front row (L-R): Associate Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, Associate Justice John Paul Stevens, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, and Associate Justice Clarence Thomas. Back Row (L-R), Associate Justice Samuel Alito Jr., Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice Stephen Breyer, and Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
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U.S President Barack Obama (C) greets (L-R) Supreme Court Justices Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer before the State of the Union address on Capitol Hill on January 25, 2011 in Washington, DC.
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Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan, left, Samuel Anthony Alito, Jr., Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Anthony M. Kennedy react during prayers at a private ceremony in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court where late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia lies in repose on February 19, 2016 in Washington, DC.
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Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg holds a copy of her new book ‘My Own Words’ after An Historic Evening with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the Temple Emanu-El Skirball Center on September 21, 2016 in New York City.
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U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (R) waves to students as she arrives at a lecture September 26, 2018 at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC. Justice Ginsburg discussed Supreme Court cases from the 2017-2018 term at the lecture.
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Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg speaks onstage at the Fourth Annual Berggruen Prize Gala celebrating 2019 Laureate Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg In New York City on December 16, 2019 in New York City.
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U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg participates in a discussion at the Georgetown University Law Center on February 10, 2020 in Washington, DC. Justice Ginsburg and U.S. Appeals Court Judge McKeown discussed the 19th Amendment which guaranteed women the right to vote which was passed 100 years ago.
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Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg greets participants at an annual Women’s History Month reception hosted by Pelosi in the U.S. capitol building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
And she would eventually be recognized at Harvard as well. In 2011, the university awarded her an honorary degree, a rare honor Ginsburg has said her husband had counseled her to hold out for. Four years later, she was given Harvard's Radcliffe Medal to recognize someone who has transformed society.
Ginsburg said at the ceremony that she had worked throughout her life to break down gender stereotypes “that held women back from doing what their talents would allow them to do,” according to a Harvard news story.
On Friday night, current Harvard Law School Dean John Manning released his statement honoring Ginsburg's memory.
"Her powerful and unyielding commitment to the rule of law and to equal justice under law place her among the great Justices in the annals of the Court. She was also one of the most impactful lawyers of the twentieth-century," he said.
