The Ginsburg Tapes

We Won’t Settle for Tokens

Episode 8: Lauren breaks down the final tape of Ginsburg’s career as an advocate before the Supreme Court, and reflects on what she’s learned through this project. Questions for Lauren? Shoot her an email at ginsburgtapes@gmail.com, or find her on Twitter @laurenmoxley.

Feet Off Our Necks (Rebroadcast)

Episode 1 (Rebroadcast): Ruth Bader Ginsburg made her debut as an oral advocate in the Supreme Court in Frontiero v. Richardson. The case involved a challenge to a law that treated men and women serving in the military differently. Specifically, Air Force Lieutenant Sharron Frontiero was denied dependent’s benefits for her husband, a navy veteran who had gone back to college. Had the sex roles been reversed, the wife would have obtained the benefits. Arguing as an amicus on behalf of the ACLU Women’s Rights Project, Ginsburg showed how the law served to perpetuate stereotypes and cement traditional gender roles (woman as homemaker, man as breadwinner), without regard to individual ability, opportunity, or choice. Questions for Lauren? Shoot her an email at ginsburgtapes@gmail.com, or find her on Twitter and Instagram @ginsburgtapes.

The Blind, the Lame, and the Women (Rebroadcast)

Episode 2 (Rebroadcast): Ruth Bader Ginsburg only lost one case as an oral advocate in the Supreme Court: Kahn v. Shevin. The case involved a challenge to a Florida law according a special tax exemption to female widows, but not male widowers. Every widow got the tax exemption, regardless of her income–even the wealthy widowed woman of Palm Beach. Ginsburg tried to show the Court how the law was built upon and perpetuated an assumption of women’s economic dependency upon men. The Court didn’t buy it. In fact, one of the four justices to vote for strict scrutiny for laws discriminating on the basis of sex in Frontiero (see Ep. 1)–Justice William O. Douglas–defects. He authors the opinion in the only case that Ginsburg ever lost. Why? His mother. Questions for Lauren? Shoot her an email at ginsburgtapes@gmail.com, or find her on Twitter and Instagram @ginsburgtapes.

Pregnancy Discrimination Cases of the 1970s (Rebroadcast)

Episode 3 (Rebroadcast): At the same time that Ruth Bader Ginsburg was arguing the sex equality cases that we’re focusing on in this podcast, the Supreme Court also heard a number of pregnancy discrimination cases.  In each case, the Burger Court struggled to see how pregnancy discrimination is a function of sex.  In their minds, pregnancy is different.  The pregnancy discrimination cases are an important piece of the puzzle in seeking to understand the ways in which the Burger Court advanced sex equality—and the ways that it didn’t. Questions for Lauren? Shoot her an email at ginsburgtapes@gmail.com, or find her on Twitter and Instagram @ginsburgtapes.

Make Us Serve (Rebroadcast)

Episode 4 (Rebroadcast): Edwards v. Healy involved a challenge to a Louisiana law that excused women from the duty to serve on juries. In Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s third oral argument before the Supreme Court, she tried to get the Court to overturn a ruling of just 13 years earlier upholding a volunteers-only jury scheme for women–which the Court upheld on the grounds that women are “the center of home and family life.” This tape allows us to explore how equal rights for women require equal duties for women. Questions for Lauren? Shoot her an email at ginsburgtapes@gmail.com, or find her on Twitter and Instagram @ginsburgtapes.