 friendly. Committee Chairman Joseph Biden (1942–) said, according to the Boston Globe, that Ginsburg had "already helped to change the meaning of equality in our nation." Ginsburg was confirmed by the Senate in a vote of ninety-six to three, becoming the 107th Supreme Court Justice and its second female jurist after Sandra Day O'Connor (1930–). She was also the first justice to be named by a Democratic president since 1967. President Clinton said in a statement quoted by the Detroit Free Press, "I am confident that she will be an outstanding addition to the court and will serve with distinction for many years."
Since taking office, Ruth Bader Ginsburg has written thirty-five significant opinions (formal statements written by a judge), two important concurring (agreeing) opinions, and three selected dissenting (opposing) opinions. Ginsburg was seen as a stronger voice in favor of gender equality, the rights of workers, and the separation of church and state (the belief that neither the church nor the government should have any influence over the other) than many of the other judges on the Supreme Court. In 1999, she won the American Bar Association's Thurgood Marshall Award for her contributions to gender equality and civil rights.
As more and more women became judges throughout the country, Justice Ginsburg gave former president Carter credit for changing the judicial landscape for women forever. Appearing at a program entitled Woman and the Bench at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, she said, "He appointed women in numbers such as there would be no going back." Ruth Bader Ginsburg deserves equal credit for surviving and fighting through the discrimination of the past to help bring about change.
Ayer, Eleanor H. Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Fire and Steel on the Supreme Court. New York: Dillon Press, 1994.
Bayer, Linda N. Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2000
Bredeson, Carmen. Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Supreme Court Justice. Springfield, NJ: Enslow, 1995.
Italia, Bob, and Paul Deegan. Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Minneapolis: Abdo & Daughters, 1994.