Title
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Day Proclamation 2021
Memorandum
Proclamation
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Day
March 15th, 2021
WHEREAS, RBG was a modern feminist role model advocating for gender equality, LGBTQI rights, women’s reproductive rights, fair pay for all and affirmative action; and
WHEREAS, Bader Ginsburg began her legal training at Harvard in 1956 as one of 9 women in a class of 500. After encountering gender discrimination from the Dean of Harvard Law and being denied the continued pursuit of her law degree at Harvard, Ruth transferred to Columbia Law School. At Columbia she became the first woman to serve on two major law reviews <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_review>: the Harvard Law Review <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Law_Review> and Columbia Law Review <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_Law_Review>. In 1959, she earned her law degree at Columbia, tying for first in her class; and
WHEREAS Ruth found it difficult to find employment as a lawyer, due to her gender. Her legal career included co-founding and serving on the Women’s Rights Project for the ACLU. She was a professor of law at Rutgers and became the first female tenured faculty member at Columbia Law School in 1972. She was seated on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in 1980 by Jimmy Carter. Nominated to be an Associative Justice of the Supreme Court by President Bill Clinton in 1993, she served until her death on September 18, 2020; and
WHEREAS, RBG was a force of nature. She pursued her studies while raising children, maintained a loving and supportive marriage, nursed her husband through his cancer battle and continued to serve on the Supreme Court while undergoing her own battle with cancer; and
WHEREAS, “The Notorious RBG,” as she was known when she became a pop icon, was an inspiring role model for women. She was only the second woman and the first Jewish woman nominated to the Supreme Court. Her personal strength, legal expertise, and dedication to the rule of law will be greatly missed.
NOW THEREFORE, I, Christopher Taylor, Mayor of Ann Arbor, Michigan declare March 15th to be Ruth Bader Ginsburg Day in Ann Arbor. We recognize her as long standing champion of civil rights for all people regardless of gender.
I hereby set my hand and seal
This 15th day of March, 2021
______________________
Christopher Taylor
Mayor of the City of Ann Arbor