Will you fix your tie, please . David people wouldnt recognize me if my tie was fixed, but ok. Just leave it this way. All right. I dont consider myself a journalist. Nobody else would consider myself a journalist. I began to take on the life of being an interviewer even though i have a day job of running a private equity firm. How do you define leadership . What is it that makes somebody tick . Let me ask you a question at the beginning. How does it feel to get up in the morning and know that 330 million americans want to know the state of your health that day . [laughter] jus. Ginsburg how does it feel . Encouraging. [laughter] now, thatsurvivors disease is a challenge. And it helps to know that people are rooting for you. Now, its not universal. [laughter] cancer in pancreatic 2009, there was a senator whose name i dont recall, but he said i would be dead within six months. That senator is now no longer alive. [laughter] [applause] david but you cant remember his name . Jus. Ginsburg no, i dont remember his name. David but your current view is as long as youre healthy, you intend to stay on the court. Is that correct . Jus. Ginsburg and as long as im healthy and mentally agile. [applause] now, justice, stevens and previously, justice holmes, they retired when they were 90. Would you like to break the record . Have you given any thought to that . Jus. Ginsburg i spent the first week of july with Justice Stevens in what turned out to be the last week of his life. It was remarkable. He was 99 years old. Since he left the court at age 90, he has written four books. So yes, hes my role model. [laughter] david so, many people think that the court is very political, that people appointed to the court by democratic president s and those appointed by republican president s tend to follow the political desires of the republican or democratic party. Do you think thats a Fair Assessment and if its not fair, why do you think people have that view . Jus. Ginsburg people have that view because agreement is an interesting. Disagreement is. So the press tends to play up 54 or 53 decisions. But if we could take just last term as a typical example, we after a fullons briefing and argument. Were 54 or 53 divisions. But 29 were unanimous. Than weree more often disagree. And thats something i would away,he audience to take that the divisions, yes, they are our on some very important questions, but our agreement rate is always much higher. David so if you have a 54 perspective decision, does one of the justices go to another justice, why dont you change your mind . Does that work very much . Jus. Ginsburg no. David nobody says if you vote for me on this one, ill vote for you on that one. That doesnt happen . [laughter] jus. Ginsburg it doesnt happen but we are a consul he trying to persuade each other. And most often, we do it through our writing. Every time i write a dissent, i am hopeful that i can pick up this vote. Surprisedy people are that the civility that exists between justices, even though they write not such favorable things about each other. Justice scalia used to say not such wonderful things about your views and you then still went to the opera with him. Was that a little awkward or hard to do . Jus. Ginsburg not at all. Justice scalia and i became friends when we were buddies on the d. C. Circuit. What did i love most about him . His infectious sense of humor. When there were three judges on the court of appeals, hed sometimes whisper something to me. It would crack me up. [laughter] stain ld do to can contain historical laughter. But we had much in common. Though our styles are very different, but those of us cared a lot about writing opinions so that at least the lawyers and judges would understand what we were saying. David both of you were, and you still are, great opera lover. Where did you get your love of opera to begin with, and where did opera Scalia Ginsburg come from . Jus. Ginsburg ill take the first question first. [laughter] my love of opera began when i was 11 years old. I was in grade school in brooklyn, new york. Schooltude was middle through high school, and the teacher, english teacher took me to a high school in brooklyn where an opera was being performed. Not a likely choice for a first opera. There was a man at the time, named dean dixon, Whose Mission in life was to turn children onto beautiful music. And he had an all city orchestra. He took opera performances around to various schools, condensed event into one hour condensed them into one hour, narrated in between. There were costumes, bare staging. So, my introduction to opera was thanks to dean dixon in 1964. David so the Scalia Ginsburg opera was written by a Law School Student . Jus. Ginsburg he was then a Law School Student. He was a music major at harvard and major in music at yale. Derek wang was his name. He decided it would be useful to know something about the law, so he enrolled in his hometown law school, the university of maryland. He tookis second year, a constitutional law course. He read these dueling opinions, scully on one side, ginsburg on the other, and decided this would make a very funny opera. [laughter] ofill just give you a taste Scalia Ginsburg. Rage with scalias [laughter] very in style. s saying the justices are blind. How can they possibly spout this . The constitution says absolutely nothing about this. [laughter] and then and my soprano voice, i answer, dear justice scalia, you are searching for bright Line Solutions to problems that dont have easy answers. But the great thing about our constitution is that, like our society, it can evolve. So that sets up the difference between us. Is plot of Scalia Ginsburg roughly based on the magic flute. [laughter] scalia is locked up in a dark room. Hes being punished for excessive dissenting. [laughter] a glassmerge through ceiling. [laughter] [applause] thhe test heass needs to pass to get out of the dark room. And then the character don giovanni is established. s your enemy. Why would you want to help him . S not my enemy. Is my dear friend hes my dear friend. And then we sing a wonderful duet that goes, we are different, different in our approach to reading legal texts, but one in our reverence for the constitution and for the institution we serve. David you are extremely well known around the world country now when you are on the court. But now youve become, more or less a rock star, rpg jus. Ginsburg when i was asked what do you have in common with the dental areas b. The itsious b. I. G. , i said obvious. [laughter] judges are most justices of the Supreme Court are not recognized by the public. Maybe in recent years its trained changed a little bit. But you are really wellknown when youre on the court. But now youve become, more or less, a rockstar, rvd. You have rvd rbg. You have movies about you. Is this something you dont enjoy that much or something you think comes with the territory now . How was theg notorious zombie g created . [applause] it was the idea of a second year whoent at Nyu Law School was very disappointed in the courts decision in a case. If that was the case and that was the case where it was declared unconstitutional to keep Voting Rights act of 19 six to five. 1965. And it had been renewed time and time again by overwhelming majority on both sides of the aisle. But the Supreme Court stepped down the formula. Worked the voting act was if you were a state or a city or county that kept africanamericans from voting in the not so good old days, you could not make any change in young legislation on this precleared it with the department of justice, civil rights decision or the district of columbia. So that suppressed many laws that would have discouraged africanamericans from voting. The Supreme Court said the formula of who is discriminating in 1965 is now out of date. Overess needs to do it because jurisdictions that were discriminating in 19 625 may have clean hands today. The political power was what member of congress, what representative would stand up and say my state or my city or my county is still keep it under, so the surveillance of the Voting Rights act provides. It just wasnt going to happen. The act itself had a bailout provision. City, county, indeed had clean hands for several elections, it could bailout. And that device, i thought, was all that was needed. But in any event, the student was disturbed about the courts decision. She was angry. But then she said to herself, anger is not a useful emotion. Im going to do something positive. And what she did was she took the announcement of my dissent that i read from the bench and thereated this blog, bg, a name she got from the notorious rapper, who is known as notorious b. I. G. And when she asked what do you have in common with the. , i said itsg obvious. Both of us were born and bred in brooklyn, new york. [applause] david you were born and bred in brooklyn. You still have a brooklyn accent, you might admit. He replayed in a movie by felicity jones, who is not jewish or from brooklyn. So how do you think she did . Jus. Ginsburg i thought she was fantastic. When i first met felicity, i said you could be queens english. How are you going to sound like a girl born and bred in brooklyn . Tapshe listened to many , my argumentshes at the court, and she was wonderful. David in recent years, weve also gotten a lot of attention for your exercise routine. [laughter] so when did that start . And you have your own trainer, and youre still lifting weights, whatever youre doing . Tuesdaysburg recently, [applause] been with the same personal trainer since 1999, when i had my first cancer about cancer bout. And my dear husband said i have to go into surgery, chemotherapy, radiation. I look like the survivor of ashwoods. Auschwitz. You need something to build yourself up. Get a personal trainer. And thats when i started in 1999. Sometimes i get so absorbed in my work, i just dont want to let go. But when it comes time to meet my trainer, i drop everything. And as tired as i may be in the beginning, i always feel much better when we finish. David does blank smother her mother ever give you advice . Jus. Ginsburg she gave me great advice. We were married in her home. She said dear, id like to tell you the secret of a happy marriage. David ok, so you met your husband, marty. He remarried for 56 years. You met at cornell. Is that right . Jus. Ginsburg yes, we met when i was 17 and he was 18. David and what is the likelihood of somebody meeting somebody at cornell and wanting to marry, and that person was to take care of childrearing, as well as cooking, as well as sharing the burdens of being married. Is that a very common thing in your observation . [laughter] jus. Ginsburg it was extraordinary at any time, but particularly in the 1950s. Cornell, by the way, had a 41 ratio, four men to every woman. It was a place parents want to send their daughters. You couldnt find your man at cornell, you were hopeless. [laughter] marty, and he was, in fact, the first boy i ever knew who cared that i had a brain. He was always my biggest booster. Had twoing, that began, years between college and law school when marty was in service. Those two years we spent in fort sill, oklahoma at a military base. I got pregnant during the first year. The n i went back to to give birth, my cousin sent marty a copy of the cookbook and english translation, and said this will give you something to do while your wife is away. So marty had originally been a chemistry major at cornell. He treated the cookbook like a chemistry textbook. He started with the basics and worked his way through it. He gave up chemistry because it interfered with golf. He was a great golfer. And then he switched to government, which was my major. He attributed his skill in the kitchen to two women, his mother and his wife. An mother, i think, that was unfair judgment, but he was certainly right about me. [laughter] i have one cookbook. Its called the 60 minute shaft. 16 minute chef. And that meant from when you enter the apartment to when its on the table, no more than 60 minutes. We went back to number one. Did martys mother ever give you advice . Jus. Ginsburg she gave me great wonderful advice. We were married in her home. And she said, just before this id like tod, dear, tell you the secret of a happy marriage. Id like to hear it. What is it . Every now and then, she said, it helps to be a little deaf. [laughter] was such a wonderful advice. I follow it religiously to this day if im dealing with my colleagues [laughter] said, ikind word is just tune out. David so, as a result of your marriage to marty, who is a twoinct lawmaker, you have children, jane, who teaches at columbia. Jus. Ginsburg he is a professor of literary and artistic property law. [applause] david i understand you and she were the only motherdaughter team to actually be elected to the harvard blog review. Is that law review. Is that true . Jus. Ginsburg so far. [laughter] david and you have a son thats in the music business . Jus. Ginsburg james makes exquisite discs. James grew up with a passion for music but no talent as a performer. So when he went to the university of chicago, he was a classical disc jockey at the student radio station. Then in the year he was dropping in and out of law school, he was also making one day he told us he liked what he was doing much more than his law classes. So we said fine. Thats what you want to do. Cd, andy, he labeled a his recordings are gems. David do you have any grandchildren . Jus. Ginsburg i have four grandchildren, two step grandchildren, and one great grandchild. [applause] david ok, and do your grandchildren call you rbg . What do they call you . Jus. Ginsburg i am a jewish grandmother. David in the harvard law review and columbia law review, you were flooded with job offers from the major law firms. Jus. Ginsburg there wasnt a single firm in the entire city of new york that would take a chance on me. David from the harvard law review and columbia law review, you were flooded with job offers from the major law firms. [laughter] jus. Ginsburg i had three strikes against me. David after 13 years, did you think you had a chance to be on the Supreme Court . Jus. Ginsburg no one thinks my aim in life is to be a Supreme Court justice. David when you first got on the court, were other justices saying were happy to see you . Lets have dinner together . Just. Ginsburg Justice Oconnor was the most welcoming. He gave me some very good advice. Would you fix your tie, please