This design is based on my perSISTERS poster design honoring Ruth Bader Ginsburg. This scarf, however, only has words and ornaments. The green color is inspired by the jade earrings Ginsburg wears in her official portrait. I poured over photos of her and concluded that she likes to dress up a lot, but maybe that’s because the photos of her online often show her at the opera. In any case, I chose a blingy typeface and ornaments to adorn this design. Excerpts from some of her most famous dissents are set in script type on the scarves and are quoted below so it’s easier for you to read them. They are in reference to these decisions: Shelby County v. Holder, of 2013; Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, of 2013; Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, of 2014; and Bush v. Gore, of 2000. The devastating Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, of May 21, 2018 came after this design was completed.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg (born Joan Ruth Bader; 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 to be confirmed to the Court (after Sandra Day O’Connor) and one of four female justices to be confirmed (with Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, who are still serving as of 2017).

Ginsburg has spent much of her career advocating for the advancement of gender equality and women’s rights, winning multiple victories arguing before the Supreme Court. She was responsible for a very significant change in constitutional jurisprudence that, in effect, requires there to be a higher standard of scrutiny of any law that discriminates on the basis of sex. This was a breakthrough in women’s rights protection. 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 counsels in the 1970s. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit where she served until her elevation to the Supreme Court.

“Dissents speak to a future age. It’s not simply to say, ‘my colleagues are wrong and I would do it this way,’ but the greatest dissents do become court opinions.”

Justice Ginsburg is playing the long game.

Below are excerpts from some significant dissents written by Justice Ginsburg.

Shelby County v. Holder 2013

The Court’s opinion can hardly be described as an exemplar of restrained and moderate decision making. Quite the opposite. Hubris is a fit word for today’s demolition of the VRA. Congress approached the 2006 reauthorization of the VRA with great care and seriousness. The same cannot be said of the Court’s opinion today. The Court makes no genuine attempt to engage with the massive legislative record that Congress assembled. Instead, it relies on increases in voter registration and turnout as if that were the whole story. In my judgment, the Court errs egregiously by overriding Congress’ decision.

Instead, the Court strikes [Section]4(b)’s coverage provision because, in its view, the provision is not based on “current conditions.” Ante, at 17. It discounts, however, that one such condition was the preclearance remedy in place in the covered jurisdictions, a remedy Congress designed both to catch discrimination before it causes harm, and to guard against return to old ways. […]Throwing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.
Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action 2013

Texas’ percentage plan was adopted with racially segregated neighborhoods and schools front and center stage. … It is race consciousness, not blindness to race, that drives such plans. I have several times explained why government actors, including state universities, need not be blind to the lingering effects of “an overtly discriminatory past,” the legacy of “centuries of law-sanctioned inequality.”

Burwell v. Hobby Lobby 2014

The exemption sought by Hobby Lobby and Conestoga would…deny legions of women who do not hold their employers’ beliefs access to contraceptive coverage. Religious organizations exist to foster the interests of persons subscribing to the same religious faith. Not so of for-profit corporations. Workers who sustain the operations of those corporations commonly are not drawn from one religious community. Approving some religious claims while deeming others unworthy of accommodation could be ‘perceived as favoring one religion over another,’ the very risk the Establishment Clause was designed to preclude.

Bush v. Gore 2000

The Court assumes that time will not permit “orderly judicial review of any disputed matters that might arise.” … But no one has doubted the good faith and diligence with which Florida election officials, attorneys for all sides of this controversy, and the courts of law have performed their duties. Notably, the Florida Supreme Court has produced two substantial opinions within 29 hours of oral argument. In sum, the Court’s conclusion that a constitutionally adequate recount is impractical is a prophecy the Court’s own judgment will not allow to be tested. Such an untested prophecy should not decide the Presidency of the United States. I dissent.