Appellate jurisdiction is the power of the Supreme Court to review decisions and change outcomes of decisions of lower courts. Most appellate jurisdiction is legislatively created, and may consist of appeals by leave of the appellate court or by right. Depending on the type of case and the decision below, appellate review primarily consists of: an entirely new hearing (a non trial de novo); a hearing where the appellate court gives deference to factual findings of the lower court; or review of particular legal rulings made by the lower court (an appeal on the record).

Courts of the United States[link]

Under Article Three of the United States Constitution, the judicial power of the United States is vested in the Supreme Court of the United States and the inferior courts established by law.

http://www.uscourts.gov/rules/appel2007.pdf Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure

Standard of review[link]

Under its standard of review, an appellate court decides the extent of the deference it would give to the lower court's decision, based on whether the appeal was one of fact or one of law.

In reviewing an issue of fact, an appellate court ordinarily gives deference to the trial court's findings. It is the duty of trial judges or juries to find facts, view the evidence firsthand, and observe witness testimony. When reviewing lower decisions on an issue of fact, courts of appeal generally look for "clear error." The appellate court reviews issues of law de novo (anew, no deference) and may reverse or modify the lower court's decision if the appellate court believes the lower court misapplied the facts or the law. An appellate court may also review the lower judge's discretionary decisions, such as whether the judge properly granted a new trial or disallowed evidence. The lower court's decision is only changed in cases of an "abuse of discretion". This standard tends to be even more deferential than the "clear error" standard. Before hearing any case, the Court must have jursidiction to consider the appeal.

See also[link]

• Original jurisdiction
• Court of last resort
• Court of first instance
• Judicial review
• Exclusive jurisdiction

Sources[link]

United States Constitution, Article III (1783). [1]

28 U.S.C. § 1291:

The courts of appeals (other than the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit) can have jurisdiction of appeals from all last decisions of the courts of the United States of America, the District Court of Guam, and the District Court of the Virgin Islands, except where a direct review may be had in the Supreme Courts. The jurisdiction of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit shall be limited to the jurisdiction described in sections 1292 (c) and (d) and 1295 of this title.

• U.S. Courts website

Mandatory appellate jurisdictions must hear all properly filed appeals. Discretionary appellate jurisdictions may pick and choose which cases are to be reviewed again and again.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Incumbent
Assumed office August 10, 1993
Appointed by	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Byron White
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
In office June 30, 1980 – August 10, 1993
Nominated by	Jimmy Carter
Preceded by	Harold Leventhal
Succeeded by	David Tatel
Personal details
Born	Ruth Joan Bader (1933-03-15) March 15, 1933 (age 79) Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Political party	Democratic Party[1]
Spouse(s)	Martin Ginsburg (1954–2010)
Children	Jane Ginsburg James Steven Ginsburg
Alma mater	Cornell University Harvard University Columbia University
Religion	Judaism

Ruth Joan Bader Ginsburg (born March 15, 1933) is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Ginsburg was appointed by President Bill Clinton and took the oath of office on August 10, 1993. She is the second female justice (after Sandra Day O'Connor) and the first Jewish female justice.

She is generally viewed as belonging to the liberal wing of the Court. Ginsburg spent a considerable portion of her legal career before becoming a judge as an advocate for the advancement of women's rights as a constitutional principle. She advocated as a volunteer lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union and was a member of its board of directors and one of its general counsel in the 1970s. She was a professor at Rutgers School of Law–Newark and Columbia Law School. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Early life and education[link]

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Ruth Joan Bader was the second daughter of Nathan and Celia (née Amster) Bader. The family nicknamed her "Kiki".^[2] They belonged to the East Midwood Jewish Center, where she took her religious confirmation seriously. At age thirteen, Ruth acted as the "camp rabbi" at a Jewish summer program at Camp Che-Na-Wah in Minerva, New York.^[3]

Her mother took an active role in her education, taking her to the library often. Bader attended James Madison High School, whose law program later dedicated a courtroom in her honor. Her older sister died when she was very young.^{[clarification needed]} Her mother struggled with cancer throughout Ruth's high school years and died the day before her graduation.^[2]

She graduated from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in government^[4] on June 23, 1954, and that fall enrolled at Harvard Law School, where she was one of only nine women in a class of more than five hundred. When her husband took a job in New York City, she transferred to Columbia Law School and became the first woman to be on two major law reviews, the Harvard Law Review and the Columbia Law Review. In 1959, she earned her Bachelor of Laws at Columbia and tied for first in her class.^[2][5] In 2009 she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Willamette University, in 2010 she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Princeton University,^[6] and in 2011 she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Harvard University.^[7]

Career[link]

Early career[link]

In 1960, despite a strong recommendation from the dean of Harvard Law School, Justice Felix Frankfurter turned down Ginsburg for a clerkship position because she was a woman.^[8][9] Later that year, Ginsburg began a clerkship for Judge Edmund L. Palmieri of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

From 1961 to 1963 she was a research associate and then associate director of the Columbia Law School Project on International Procedure, learning Swedish to co-author a book on judicial procedure in Sweden. Ginsburg conducted extensive research for her book at the University of Lund in Sweden.^[10]

She was a professor of law at Rutgers from 1963 to 1972. In 1970, she co-founded the Women's Rights Law Reporter, the first law journal in the U.S. to focus exclusively on women's rights.^[11] From 1972 until 1980, she taught at Columbia, where she became the first tenured woman and co-authored the first law school casebook on sex discrimination. She also taught in Tulane University Law School's summer-abroad program.^[12] In 1977, she became a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.

In 1972, Ginsburg co-founded the Women's Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and, in 1973, she became the ACLU's General Counsel. As the chief litigator for the Women's Rights Project, she briefed and argued several landmark cases in front of the Supreme Court, such as Reed v. Reed, 404 U.S. 71 (1971), wherein the Court extended the protections of the Equal Protection Clause to women for the first time. She also argued Frontiero v. Richardson, 411 U.S. 677 (1973) and Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld, 420 U.S. 636 (1975), which supported the ultimate development and application of the intermediate scrutiny Equal Protection standard of review for legal classifications based on sex. She attained a reputation as a skilled oral advocate, and her work directly led to the end of gender discrimination in many areas of the law.^[13]

Her last case as a lawyer before the Court was 1978's Duren v. Missouri, which challenged laws and practices making jury duty voluntary for women in that state. Ginsburg viewed optional jury duty as a message that women's service was unnecessary to important government functions. At the end of Ginsburg's oral presentation, then-Associate Justice William Rehnquist asked Ginsburg, "You won't settle for putting Susan B. Anthony on the new dollar, then?"^[14] Ginsburg, being cautious, did not respond to his question.

Judicial career[link]

Ginsburg officially accepts the nomination from President Bill Clinton on June 14, 1993.

U.S. Court of Appeals[link]

President Jimmy Carter appointed Ginsburg to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on April 14, 1980, to the seat of recently deceased judge Harold Leventhal. She served there for thirteen years, until joining the Supreme Court. During her 13-year tenure on the D.C. Circuit, Ginsburg made 57 hires for law clerk, intern, and secretary positions. At her Supreme Court confirmation hearing, it was revealed that none of those hired had been African-Americans, a fact for which Ginsburg (an "aggressive support[er] [of] disparate-impact statistics as evidence of intentional discrimination") was sharply criticized.^[15]

Supreme Court[link]

Nomination and confirmation[link]

President Bill Clinton nominated her as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court on June 14, 1993, to fill the seat vacated by retiring Justice Byron White. Ginsburg was recommended to Clinton by then-U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno.^[5]

During her subsequent testimony before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee as part of the confirmation hearings, she refused to answer questions regarding her personal views on most issues or how she would adjudicate certain hypothetical situations as a Supreme Court Justice. A number of Senators on the committee came away frustrated, with unanswered questions about how Ginsburg planned to make the transition from an advocate for causes she personally held dear, to a justice on the Supreme Court. Despite this, Ginsburg refused to discuss her beliefs about the limits and proper role of jurisprudence, saying, "Were I to rehearse here what I would say and how I would reason on such questions, I would act injudiciously".

At the same time, Ginsburg did answer questions relating to some potentially controversial issues. For instance, she affirmed her belief in a constitutional right to privacy, and explicated at some length on her personal judicial philosophy and thoughts regarding gender equality.^[16] The U.S. Senate confirmed her by a 96-to-3 vote^[18] and she took her judicial oath on August 10, 1993.^[19]

Supreme Court jurisprudence[link]

(left to right) Sandra Day O'Connor, Sonia Sotomayor, Ginsburg, and Elena Kagan on October 1, 2010

Ginsburg characterizes her performance on the Court as a cautious approach to adjudication, and argued in a speech shortly before her nomination to the Court that "[m]easured motions seem to me right, in the main, for constitutional as well as common law adjudication. Doctrinal limbs too swiftly shaped, experience teaches, may prove unstable."^[20] Ginsburg has urged that the Court allow for dialogue with elected branches, while others argue that would inevitably lead to politicizing the Court.

Although Ginsburg has consistently supported abortion rights and joined in the Court's opinion striking down Nebraska's partial-birth abortion law in Stenberg v. Carhart 530 U.S. 914 (2000) she has criticized the Court's ruling in Roe v. Wade 410 U.S. 113 (1973) as terminating a nascent, democratic movement to liberalize abortion laws which might have built a more durable consensus in support of abortion rights.^{[citation needed]} She discussed her views on abortion rights and sexual equality in a 2009 New York Times interview, in which she said regarding abortion that "[t]he basic thing is that the government has no business making that choice for a woman."^[21] One statement she made during the interview ("Frankly, I had thought at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don't want to have too many of.")^[21] was criticized by conservative commentator Michael Gerson as reflecting an "attitude . . . that abortion is economically important to a 'woman of means' and useful in reducing the number of social undesirables."^[22]

Ginsburg has also been an advocate for using foreign law and norms to shape U.S. law in judicial opinions,^[23] in contrast to the textualist views of her colleagues Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Justice Antonin Scalia, Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito. Despite their fundamental differences, Ginsburg considers Scalia her closest colleague on the Court, and they often dine and attend the opera together.^[24]

Notable cases[link]

This section requires expansion with: with short summaries about each decision.

• United States v. Virginia, 518 U.S. 515 (1996) Court Opinion. Virginia Military Institute's male-only admission policy violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
• United States v. O'Hagan, 521 U.S. 642 (1997) Court Opinion
• Olmstead v. L.C., 527 U.S. 581 (1999) Court Opinion
• Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services, Inc., 528 U.S. 167 (2000) Court Opinion
• Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000) Dissenting
• Eldred v. Ashcroft, 537 U.S. 186 (2003) Court Opinion
• Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Saudi Basic Industries Corp., 544 U.S. 280 (2005) Court Opinion
• Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 550 U.S. 618 (2007) Dissenting
• Gonzales v. Carhart, 550 U.S. 124 (2007) Dissenting
• Ricci v. DeStefano, 129 S. Ct. 2658 (2009) Dissenting

Ginsburg Precedent[link]

More than a decade passed between the two successive terms in which Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer were appointed and the date another justice left the Court. By that time, both the Congress and the White House had switched to Republican control. When O'Connor announced her retirement in the summer of 2005, with Chief Justice Rehnquist's death a few months later, both sides began to squabble about just what kinds of questions President George W. Bush's nominees would be expected to answer. The debate heated up when hearings for Roberts began in September 2005. Republicans used an argument they called the "Ginsburg Precedent", which centered on Ginsburg's confirmation hearings.^[25] In those hearings, she did not answer questions involving matters such as abortion, gay rights, separation of church and state, and disability rights. Only one witness testified against Ginsburg at her confirmation hearings, and the hearings lasted only four days.^[25][26]

In a September 28, 2005, speech at Wake Forest University, Ginsburg said that Roberts' refusal to answer questions during his Senate confirmation hearings on some cases was "unquestionably right".^[27] Democrats had taken issue with Roberts' refusal to answer certain questions, saying Ginsburg had made her views very clear, even if she did not comment on some specific matters, and that because of her lengthy tenure as a judge, many of her legal opinions were already available for review.

During Roberts' confirmation hearings, Senators Joe Biden (Delaware), Orrin Hatch (Utah), and Roberts himself brought up Ginsburg's hearings several times as they argued over what questions she answered and what Roberts was expected to answer. The precedent was again cited several times during the confirmation hearings for Justice Samuel Alito.

1997 vice-presidential inauguration[link]

Ginsburg administered, at his request, Vice President Al Gore's oath of office to a second term during the second presidential inauguration of Clinton on January 20, 1997.

2012 visit to Egypt[link]

In January 2012, Ginsburg went to Egypt for four days of discussions with judges, law school faculty, law school students, and legal experts. Part of the purpose of her visit was to "listen and learn" as Egypt began its constitutional transition to democracy. She also answered questions about the American justice system and the American constitution. Ginsburg told students at Cairo University that she was "inspired" by the Egyptian revolution.^[28][29]

In an interview with Alhayat TV, she stated that the first requirement of a new constitution should be that it "safeguard basic fundamental human rights, like our First Amendment". Asked if Egypt should model its new constitution on those of other nations, she said Egypt should be "aided by all Constitution-writing that has gone on since the end of World War II", adding, "I would not look to the U.S. Constitution, if I were drafting a Constitution in the year 2012. I might look at the Constitution of South Africa. That was a deliberate attempt to have a fundamental instrument of government that embraced basic human rights, had an independent judiciary. ... It really is, I think, a great piece of work that was done. Much more recent than the U.S. Constitution." She said the U.S. was fortunate to have a constitution authored by "very wise" men but pointed out that in the 1780s, no women were able to participate in the process and slavery still existed in the U.S.^[30]

Personal life[link]

A few days after graduating from Cornell, Ruth Bader married Martin D. Ginsburg, later an internationally prominent tax lawyer, and then (after they moved from New York to Washington DC, upon her accession to the D.C. Circuit) professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center. Their daughter Jane (born 1955) is a professor at Columbia Law School, and their son James Steven Ginsburg (born 1965) is founder and president of Cedille Records, a classical-music recording company based in Chicago, Illinois. After the birth of their daughter, her husband was diagnosed with testicular cancer. During this period, Ginsburg attended class and took notes for both of them; typed her husband's papers to his dictation; and cared for their daughter and her sick husband – all while making the Harvard Law Review. They celebrated their 56th wedding anniversary on June 23, 2010. Martin Ginsburg died of complications from metastatic cancer on June 27, 2010.^[31]

Some Supreme Court justices and other prominent figures attend the Red Mass held every fall in Washington, D.C. at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle. Ginsburg explained her reason for no longer attending: "I went one year, and I will never go again, because this sermon was outrageously anti-abortion," Ginsburg said in the book Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish by Abigail Pogrebin. "Even the Scalias – although they're much of that persuasion – were embarrassed for me."^[32]

Illness[link]

Ginsburg was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1999 and underwent surgery followed by chemotherapy and radiation therapy. During the process, she did not miss a day on the bench.^[33] On February 5, 2009, she again underwent surgery related to pancreatic cancer.^[34] Ginsburg's tumor was discovered at an early stage.^[34] Ginsburg was released from a New York hospital, eight days after the surgery and heard oral arguments again four days later. On September 24, 2009, Ginsburg was hospitalized for lightheadedness following an outpatient treatment for iron deficiency and was released the following day.^[35]

Plans[link]

With the retirement of John Paul Stevens in 2010, Ginsburg became, at 77 years of age, the eldest justice on the Court.^[36] Despite rumors she would retire as a result of old age, poor health, and the death of her husband,^[37][38] she denied she was planning to step down. In an August 2010 interview, Ginsburg stated that the Court's work was helping her cope with the death of her husband and suggested she would serve until at least 2012 when a painting that used to hang in her office is due to be returned to her.^[36] She also expressed a wish to emulate Justice Louis Brandeis, who retired at 82,^[36] an age that Ginsburg would attain in 2015.

Recognition[link]

In 2009, Forbes named her among the 100 Most Powerful Women.^[39]

See also[link]

Bill Clinton U.S. Supreme Court candidates Demographics of the U.S. Supreme Court List of Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court List of law clerks of the U.S. Supreme Court

List of U.S. Supreme Court cases during the Rehnquist Court List of U.S. Supreme Court cases during the Roberts Court List of U.S. Supreme Court Justices by time in office

References[link]

1. ^ As on Bench, Voting Styles Are Personal
2. ^ ^{a b c} Staff writer. Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Undated. Oyez.org. Accessed August 24, 2009.
3. ^ "Equal: How Women Reshape American Law, p. 24". http://www.oyez.org/justices/ruth_bader_ginsburg. ^{[clarification needed]}
4. ^ Scanlon, Jennifer (1999). Significant contemporary American feminists: a biographical sourcebook. Greenwood Press. p. 118. ISBN 978-0-313-30125-4. OCLC 237329773. 
5. ^ ^{a b} Toobin, Jeffrey (2007). The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court. p. 82. New York. Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-51640-2.
6. ^ "Princeton awards five honorary degrees". Princeton University. http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S27/54/12S69/. Retrieved June 1, 2010. 
7. ^ "Harvard awards 9 honorary degrees". Harvard Gazette. Harvard University. May 26, 2011. http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/05/harvard-to-award-nine-honorary-degrees/. Retrieved June 29, 2011. 
8. ^ Lewis, Neil (June 15, 2993). "The Supreme Court: Woman in the News; Rejected as a Clerk, Chosen as a Justice: Ruth Joan Bader Ginsburg". The New York Times (registration required). http://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/15/us/supreme-court-woman-rejected-clerk-chosen-justice-ruth-joan-bader-ginsburg.html. Retrieved October 5, 2010. 
9. ^ Greenhouse, Linda (August 30, 2006). "Women Suddenly Scarce Among Justices’ Clerks". The New York Times (registration required). http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/30/washington/30scotus.html. Retrieved June 27, 2010. 
10. ^ Bayer, Linda N. (2000). Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Women of Achievement). Philadelphia. Chelsea House. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-7910-5287-7.
11. ^ "About the Reporter". http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~wrlr/index.html. Retrieved June 29, 2008. 
12. ^ "Summer Abroad". Tulane University Law School. http://www.law.tulane.edu/abroad/index.aspx?ekmensel=c580fa7b_168_0_4386_1. Retrieved December 19, 2010. 
13. ^ Pullman, Sandra (March 7, 2006). "Tribute: The Legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and WRP Staff". ACLU.org. Accessed November 18, 2010.
14. ^ Von Drehle, David (July 19, 1993). "Redefining Fair With a Simple Careful Assault – Step-by-Step Strategy Produced Strides for Equal Protection". The Washington Post. Accessed August 24, 2009.
15. ^ Whelan, Ed (May 12, 2010) What Happened to the Consensus-Builder?, National Review Online
16. ^ Bennard, Kristina Silja (August 2005), The Confirmation Hearings of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Answering Questions While Maintaining Judicial Impartiality, Washington, D.C.: American Constitution Society, archived from the original on January 14, 2006, http://web.archive.org/web/20060114232749/http://www.acslaw.org/views/Bennard+re+Ginsburg+confirmation.pdf, retrieved May 11, 2010 
17. ^ "Project Vote Smart". http://www.votesmart.org/issue_keyvote_member.php?cs_id=8630. Retrieved December 19, 2010. 
18. ^ The three negative votes came from conservative Republican Senators – Don Nickles (Oklahoma), Robert C. Smith (New Hampshire) and Jesse Helms (North Carolina), while Donald W. Riegle, Jr. (Democrat – Michigan) did not vote.^[17]
19. ^ "Members of the Supreme Court of the United States". Supreme Court of the United States. http://www.supremecourt.gov/about/members.aspx. Retrieved April 26, 2010. 
20. ^ DLC: Judge Not by William A. Galston
21. ^ ^{a b} Bazelon, Emily (July 7, 2009). "The Place of Women on the Court". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/magazine/12ginsburg-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all. Retrieved September 1, 2010. 
22. ^ Gerson, Michael (July 17, 2009). "Justice Ginsburg in Context". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/16/AR2009071603485.html?hpid=opinionsbox1. Retrieved August 24, 2009. 
23. ^ LIPTAK, ADAM (11 April 2009). "Ginsburg Shares Views on Influence of Foreign Law on Her Court, and Vice Versa". NY Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/us/12ginsburg.html. Retrieved 7 March 2012. 
24. ^ Biskupic, Joan (December 25, 2007). "Ginsburg, Scalia Strike a Balance" USA Today. Accessed August 24, 2009.
25. ^ ^{a b} Comiskey, Michael (June 1994). "The Usefulness of Senate Confirmation Hearings for Judicial Nominees: The Case of Ruth Bader Ginsburg". PS: Political Science & Politics (American Political Science Association) 27 (2): 224–227. JSTOR 420276. 
26. ^ Conroy, Scott (February 11, 2009). "Madame Justice". CBS News Sunday Morning. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/01/sunday/main2054138.shtml. Retrieved January 1, 2012. 
27. ^ "Bench Memos: Ginsburg on Roberts Hearings". National Review Online. September 29, 2005. http://bench.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YWRmZjliMWFlMmQzY2ZlZTMzMjgyMGE2MGJjZjFkNDU=. Retrieved September 18, 2009. 
28. ^ "U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Visits Egypt." (Press release). U.S. Embassy Cairo. January 28, 2012. http://egypt.usembassy.gov/pr012812.html. Retrieved February 5, 2012. 
29. ^ "Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg Expresses Admiration for Egyptian Revolution and Democratic Transition" (Press release). U.S. Embassy Cairo. February 1, 2012. http://egypt.usembassy.gov/pr20113.html. Retrieved February 5, 2012. 
30. ^ de Vogue, Ariane (February 3, 2012). "Ginsburg Likes S. Africa as Model for Egypt". ABC News. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/02/ginsburg-likes-s-africa-as-model-for-egypt/. Retrieved February 7, 2012. 
31. ^ "Husband of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies". The Washington Post. June 27, 2010. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postmortem/2010/06/husband-of-supreme-court-justi.html. Retrieved June 27, 2010. 
32. ^ "Biden, 5 justices attend annual 'Red Mass'". The Chicago Tribune. October 3, 2010. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-red-mass-court,0,5851502.story?track=rss. Retrieved October 3, 2010. 
33. ^ Garry, Stephanie (February 6, 2009). "For Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Hopeful Signs in Grim News about Pancreatic Cancer". St. Petersburg Times. Accessed August 24, 2009.
34. ^ ^{a b} Sherman, Mark (February 6, 2009). "Ginsburg could lead to Obama appointment". AP, republished by MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29051442/. Retrieved September 18, 2009. 
35. ^ "Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg Taken to Hospital". Reuters , republished by New York Times. September 24, 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/09/24/news/news-us-usa-court-ginsburg.html. Retrieved September 24, 2009. ^{[dead link]}
36. ^ ^{a b c} Sherman, Mark (August 3, 2010). "Ginsburg says no plans to leave Supreme Court". Boston Globe. Associated Press. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2010/08/03/ginsburg_says_no_plans_to_leave_supreme_court/. Retrieved February 13, 2011. 
37. ^ de Vogue, Ariana (February 4, 2010). "White House Prepares for Possibility of 2 Supreme Court Vacancies". ABC. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Supreme_Court/white-house-prepares-possibility-supreme-court-vacancies/story?id=9740077&page=1. Retrieved August 6, 2010. 
38. ^ "At Supreme Court, no one rushes into retirement". USA Today. July 13, 2008. http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-07-13-scotus-election_N.htm. Retrieved August 6, 2010. 
39. ^ "The 100 Most Powerful Women". Forbes. August 19, 2009. http://www.forbes.com/lists/2009/11/power-women-09_The-100-Most-Powerful-Women_Rank_2.html. 

Bibliography[link]

• Clinton, Bill (2005). My Life. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 1-4000-3003-X. 
• Garner, Bryan A.; Ginsburg, Ruth Bader (foreword) (2009). "Foreword". Garner on Language and Writing. Chicago: American Bar Association. ISBN 978-1-59031-588-0. 

External links[link]

• Supreme Court official site with biographies
• Profile at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center
• Legal resources at the Law Library of Congress
• Biography and writings at the Legal Information Institute
• Profile at the Oyez Project
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Profile at the Internet Movie Database
• Financial information at OpenSecrets.org
• Collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Works by or about Ruth Bader Ginsburg in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Profile at Notable Names Database
• Voices on Antisemitism Interview with Ruth Bader Ginsburg from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

Legal offices
Preceded by Harold Leventhal	Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit 1980–1993	Succeeded by David Tatel
Preceded by Byron White	Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States 1993–present	Incumbent
United States order of precedence
Preceded by Clarence Thomas as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court	Order of Precedence of the United States as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court	Succeeded by Stephen Breyer as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court

v t e Judicial opinions of Ruth Bader Ginsburg U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (1980–1993); by calendar year 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 Supreme Court of the United States (August 10, 1993 – present); by term 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Supreme Court of the United States

The Rehnquist Court Chief Justice: William Hubbs Rehnquist (1986–2005) 1993–1994: H. Blackmun | J.P. Stevens | S.D. O'Connor | A. Scalia | A. Kennedy | D. Souter | C. Thomas | R.B. Ginsburg 1994–2005: J.P. Stevens | S.D. O'Connor | A. Scalia | A. Kennedy | D. Souter | C. Thomas | R.B. Ginsburg | S. Breyer The Roberts Court Chief Justice: John Glover Roberts, Jr. (2005–present) 2005–2006: J.P. Stevens S.D. O'Connor A. Scalia A. Kennedy D. Souter C. Thomas R.B. Ginsburg S. Breyer 2006–2009: J.P. Stevens A. Scalia A. Kennedy D. Souter C. Thomas R.B. Ginsburg S. Breyer S. Alito 2009–2010: J.P. Stevens A. Scalia A. Kennedy C. Thomas R.B. Ginsburg S. Breyer S. Alito S. Sotomayor 2010–present: A. Scalia A. Kennedy C. Thomas R.B. Ginsburg S. Breyer S. Alito S. Sotomayor E. Kagan

Persondata
Name	Ginsburg, Ruth Joan Bader
Alternative names
Short description	U.S. Supreme Court justice
Date of birth	March 15, 1933
Place of birth	Brooklyn, New York
Date of death	living
Place of death

Shirley-Anne Somerville (born 2 September 1974) was a Scottish politician and SNP MSP for the Lothians region from 2007 to 2011.

Early life[link]

Somerville was born on 2 September 1974 in Kirkcaldy^[1] and attended Kirkcaldy High School, followed by the University of Strathclyde, where she took a B.A. (Hons.) in Economics and Politics (1996), the University of Stirling, where she took a Diploma in Housing Studies (1999), and Queen Margaret University College, where she took a Diploma in Public Relations. She worked as a parliamentary researcher for Duncan Hamilton MSP from 1999–2001, then as a Policy and Public Affairs Officer at the Chartered Institute of Housing from 2001 to 2004, and as a Media and Campaigns Officer at the Royal College of Nursing from 2004 to 2007.^[2]

Scottish Parliament[link]

Somerville had stood as the SNP's candidate for Kirkcaldy at the 2001 UK general election, where she came in 2nd place with 22.2% of the vote, and for the Edinburgh Central constituency in the 2007 Scottish Parliament election, where she came in 3rd place with 25.5% of the vote. On 31 August 2007, Stefan Tymkewycz resigned his seat in the Scottish Parliament representing the Lothians region in order to concentrate on serving as a City of Edinburgh councillor,^[3] and Somerville was selected to succeed him.

Somerville has spoken in favour of the legalisation of Same-sex marriage in Scotland before the Public Petitions Committee,^[4] stating that "Civil partnerships have been a positive step forward from what we had in the past, but there still remains an inequality in the law."^[5]

See also[link]

• Government of the 3rd Scottish Parliament

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website