By: Mariah Muhammad

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, an icon of gender equality and an associate justice on the supreme court for just over 27 years, died last Friday. In a statement released by the court, Ginsburg passed due to complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer.

She was 87.

The symbol of democracy, Ginsburg had been both a legal and cultural champion of feminist rights for nearly the entirety of her political career. Born 1933 in Brooklyn, New York, Ginsburg faced challenges in an era that prevented women from pursuing modern careers, restricting many of the basic rights we have today. 

From an early age, Ginsburg was passionate  - she made it her purpose to serve her community in any professional role she could. In college, although male professors would look down on her, and law firms refused to hire her, she persevered, eventually earning a teaching job at Rutgers Law School. There, she officially began her work fighting gender discrimination. 

Her first case, Reed v Reed, eventually went to the Supreme Court, a case that decided that administrators of estates could not be named through sex discrimination. It was the first time the court expunged a state law based on gender. 

These types of successes are what eventually led Justice Ginsberg to be appointed to the supreme court in 1993, under former President Bill Clinton. Only the second woman ever chosen to the position, she faced enormous pressure during the first few years of her tenure. 

Along with elections coming up in November, her death has had far-reaching consequences for both those on Capitol Hill, and for the general public. Her last wish, a plea to  “not be replaced until a new president is installed.”  

To the very end of her life, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg remained not only an advocate for women’s rights, but a beacon of hope and change for people around the world. And from her early work throughout her legacy of activism, she will remain so.