Original Inscribed Speech by Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Remarks for Federal Bar Council Dinner, May 4, 1999
Notes: The original computer typescript of Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's remarks made on accepting the Federal Bar Council's Learned Hand Medal for Excellence in Federal Jurisprudence. In this speech, Ginsburg offers anecdotes from her early legal career and pays respect to judges who influenced her. This copy of the speech was presented to a federal district court judge and is inscribed, "With highest and best regard, Ruth." The speech is accompanied by a typed letter, signed "Ruth", on Ginsburg's Supreme Court letterhead, offering the typescript as "a souvenir" in thanks for a "spirit-lifting note."
The late Justice Ginsburg regularly quoted from Hand's writings in speeches and even in her confirmation hearing for the Supreme Court. Clearly, she did not hold a grudge as Hand had declined to hire her out of law school because he didn't want women as clerks. In this speech Ginsberg said, "Learned Hand helped me see what a good judge should be." She recounted her memories of Judge Hand, and politely left out her failed job interview.
As a young lawyer, Ginsburg clerked for Judge Edmund Palmieri after one of her law professors leaned on the judge. From 1959 to 1961, Palmieri often gave Ginsburg a ride home. Judge Hand was another frequent passenger in Palmieri's car pool. "Judge Hand would recite poetry and ask provocative questions... He would sing out, in a still booming voice, Gilbert & Sullivan numbers, sea chanteys or, when his mood was more somber, Calvanist hymns. His capacious, sometimes zestful, vocabulary introduced me to words my mother never taught me."
Ginsburg goes on to quote some of Hand's judicial policy and then reframes it to offer her view on the law, one that shaped her approach in the 1970s that resulted in the Supreme Court extending the equal protection clause of the Constitution to women: "Victory gained by sweeping the chess pieces off the table is not enduring."
Ginsburg manuscript material is not common on the market, and this speech offers nice biographical anecdotes, opens a window on Ginsburg's judicial philosophy, and demonstrates her generosity of spirit toward a respected judge who discriminated against her on the basis of sex.
Edition + Condition: This appears to be the typescript Ginsburg used to give her remarks. It is laserprinted in a large font, with widely spaced lines. The upper left corner of the pages are creased to the edge of the original staple, as if from turning the pages during her remarks. The original staple was removed and then the sheets were restapled. This may have been to allow Ginsburg to photocopy the remarks before sending off this original. In any case, this is not a photocopy; it is definitely a first-generation laser print.
The letter and typescript are housed in a custom cloth folder. Also present is the program for the event, retained copies of correspondence between the original recipient and Ginsburg, and the original mailing envelope.
Publication: Washington DC: 1999.
Item No: #307242
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