Ruth Joan Bader Ginsburg (born March 15, 1933) is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Ginsburg was appointed by Democratic (Democratic Party (United States)) President (President of the United States) Bill Clinton with the support of Republican (Republican Party (United States)) Senator Orrin Hatch. Ginsburg took the oath of office August 10, 1993. Generally she votes with the liberal wing of the court. She is the second female Justice (after Sandra Day OConnor), and the first Jewish female Justice.

Ginsburg spent a considerable portion of her career as an advocate for the equal citizenship status of women and men (womens rights) as a constitutional principle. She engaged in advocacy as a volunteer lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, and was a member of its board of directors and one of its general counsel in the 1970s. She served as a professor at Rutgers School of Law?Newark and Columbia Law School. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit).