“At Cornell University, my professor of European literature, Vladimir Nabokov, changed the way I read and the way I write. Words could paint pictures, I learned from him. Choosing the right word, and the right word order, he illustrated, could make an enormous difference in conveying an image or an idea.”

American lawyer and jurist

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death in 2020. Nominated by President Bill Clinton to fill the seat of Byron White, she was seen at the time as a moderate consensus-builder. She was the first Jewish woman to serve on the Court and the second woman overall, after Sandra Day O'Connor. During her years on the bench, Ginsburg wrote majority opinions in cases including United States v. Virginia, Olmstead v. L.C., Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services, Inc., and City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation of New York. In her later years, she drew wide attention for forceful dissents that reflected a liberal approach to the law.