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Name:
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Dates:
Born: March 15, 1933 in Brooklyn, New York
Died: n/a
Sworn in as Associate Justice: August 10, 1993
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court: 1993-
Biography:
Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the first Democratic appointment to the Supreme Court in
nearly three decades, but she is not a liberal justice like many who have sat on the
Court. Ginsburg supports the philosophy of judicial restraint, believing that the
Supreme Court should take a backseat to the other branches of government and should
not insert itself in the middle of hot political debates. As a consequence, her voting
record on the Court has been comfortable centrist - never going too far in either direction.
One example of her philosophy of judicial restraint has been her criticism of Roe v. Wade. Ginsburg has argued that the decision that legalized abortion went too far, too fast, and reached its conclusion for all the wrong reasons. She has complained that the decision had resulted in too much bitterness, not only in the general political sphere but also when it comes to the Supreme Court in particular. As a consequence Ginsburg, like Justice O'Connor, has had a tendency to arrive at more-or-less liberal decisions by relying upon narrow procedural arguments rather than broader philosophical or legal principles.
Also Known As: none
Alternate Spellings: none
Common Misspellings: none
Related Resources:
What are Political and Legal Philosophy
The Philosophy of Politics and the Philosophy of Law are often studied separately, but they are presented here jointly because they both come back to the same thing: the study of force. Politics is the study of political force in the general community, while jurisprudence is the study of how laws can and should be used to achieve political and social goals.What is Philosophy?
What is philosophy? Is there any point in studying philosophy, or is it a useless subject? What are the different branches of philosophy - what's the difference between aestheitcs and ethics? What's the difference between metaphysics and epistemology?
