Symposium we wish to express our deepest appreciation to Justice Ruth Bader ginsburg we will cover and listen to reflections this afternoon also to express our gratitude to the honorable Robert Katzman the chief judge for the Second Circuit to make this extraordinary symposium possible. And from the Georgetown Law Center professor hartman and william r. The authorized biographer seven coauthors of a recent book my own words. So dr. Bernstein who works in the areas of regulation personnel and administrative reform from serving as the founding dean as the Woodrow Wilson school of International Affairs as president of brandeis and for the last seven years of his life at the school of Foreign Service. We are deeply grateful to those who have generously supported the symposium in enabling us to bring a steamed guest including Vice President al gore and tim russert and justices Justice Sotomayor and Justice Breyer to take place in this forum that honors dr. Bernsteins many contributions to our community and understanding of the system. One buses the confirmation to the accord nearly 25 years ago with the distinguished service on the bench heavy are deeply honored to share insights with the Georgetown Community and appointed to the federal bench in began his service 14 years lady later by his namesake but dead katzman is engaged member of the Georgetown Community having taught at the professor of government and currently serves with a loss center and also one of the founders with the Brookings Institution of the institute from the American Political Science Association and then to have the Chesterfield Smith award and the recognition of the else standing dedication to their pro bono work including programs and the creation. Justice ginsberg guide him as special counsel from Patrick Moynihan and for the Supreme Court. It is wonderful to welcome you back to campus and with the sustained commitment please join me to welcome the honorable Robert Katzman. [applause] one eyed and for the efforts to promote understanding and difficult issues the confront our society. The adn that to create the bridge between the law Center Downtown to make that a reality and that beneficiary loewys be grateful to him. So the bernsteins symposium bring some campuses together and a program this afternoon of the main campus in the Georgetown Law Center faculty and bin and we participate the purges of patients in previous years to come to the department and then for all the wise counsel one in the memory there is some music out there that speaks to each of us something universal so it is the distinct proforma to understand universal values. So with that Washington National opera at the kennedy center. The Washington Post or a paisley vest not only as a performance but her writing as well for timing isnt material of delivery were all more polished. Injustice prevails. So i think you know, where im headed. With the Supreme Court bench reactions to one of the well crafted speeches to university the Washington Post tory is a review of Justice Ginsberg already acknowledgement as a rock star and also an actual opera star. With reid adulation for turn every opportunity bin and another Washington Post headline. And also a National Icon with this subject of books and the movie Starring Natalie portman. It is true. In part, Justice Ginsburg is celebrated as the judge the second woman ever on the court marking contributions and with the elegant prose. With the trail blazing role to be on behalf of womens rights. Pdf to have the character in the value and a connection with her in to witness the connection first candid handedly in the summer of 1993 when she was first thrust into National Celebrity accompanying her her capital hill. With daniel Patrick Moynihan of so of the confirmation hearing in response to a of a question and how would she want American People to think . That i would like to be thought of as a person who cares about people to do the best she can with a talent she has to make a contribution to a better world. A person with limitless capacity matter the burden of daily life someone of conviction and a determination with a true sense of the static with the pleasures of what life has to offer whether an aria or the horseback ride and her partner marty. And her accomplished children in the entire family to have a sense to make each of us appreciate what is truly important. Justice ginsberg has prodigious work habits so the public observes someone that her life is in the law continues to be working to ensure that each of us can realize the potential to struggle through the obstacle to secure a Better Future for those of us here know so in this age with selfpromotion somebody whose virtues were very real and early on as persons of all ages to agree with friendliness to cut the intellectual powerhouse to draw a huge crowd in pop culture. The occasion the around own work. Is of great read and i cannot recommend it enoughs. Pdf but as a collection of thoughtful writing to with that commitment to protect outsiders with uh discourse from renquist damn brandeis to others that work with her. To be precise and a varied structure like the beautiful piece of music. Joining me in conversation now is Justice Ginsberg and her two colleagues on the project with International Womens rights and the professor of law of various best known for her work on the subject of gender and law. Please join me know as we both of her and her colleagues onstage for a conversation. [applause] [cheers and applause] might never heard such applies in a university institutions. So if we can begin this book of readings ratings would. To write my authorized biography voss started the year 2004 . The s somebody will write about you so you might as well designate people that you trust and the volunteer so i agreed that they would write the biography and as a supplement of my writings 2004 became 2010 so why not do the book of writings first and then did a biography . And they were enthusiastic about that idea and so was the publisher of laugh so someday maybe they can tell you win of the biography. It is such a best seller as it is. No pressure. So tell us about the process of gathering and choosing material to be published. The for if coming biography cannot be published baker issue will not cease to do Amazing Things and we cannot cover them all. [cheers and applause] but selecting the material i have to tell you it was not easy Justice Ginsberg is a prolific writer and speaker thought not just delaware law professor the for the first piece in the collection to go back 70 years for that piece that she wrote in eight grade. And to be the editor of first School Newspaper that was call of highlight carol then the next piece she wrote in a parade other items in the School Newspaper but she wrote about the tend the ten commandments, bill of rights , declaration of independence and the United Nations charter that was adopted. [applause] to understand that enormity so we met with Justice Ginsberg and then 28 drops of the align with the same thing working with her if she has a phenomenal memory. You may want to consider that version. To talk about brown v. Board of education and. And for those that were aided in that. Those that were speaking last year to be literally wallpapered with Justice Ginsberg every stage of her life with marty and her family. And giving us those for the book. And that was introductory material and then to have that challenge with a few of the key parts for the future just a few words first of all, i have to do a shot out a shot out she keeps me on track and on time which is in incredible job in this the gobetween between the three of us. And that certain things cannot go into the book because they have a paid to limit. But i think it is fair to say one of the goals that we would make it accessible not just for the lawyers but the general public as well. Qb the judge of that. The course the is to capture the essence and substance and somehow boiling down to the essence but i want to say not just her own words and one of them you already know that she loved the opera she was the star. Maybe not the star but the problem this she could not sing very well. [laughter] if she could she would be a diva but she did a pretty good job as the Supreme Court justice. One part that was included in the book it was called sylvia ginsberg. It was an opera about the Supreme Court but what i am especially fond of is the excerpts from the two speeches from the justice. Justice ginsburg, before you are on the Supreme Court you litigated in front of the Supreme Court. In the 1970s you are ahead litigator in the womens rights project of the aclu. You pardoned 34 cases before the Supreme Court. You 15 out of six cases youve argues there. Can you talk a little bit about how you developed your legal strategy . Those were the good old days, the legal strategy was clear. The first was to convince judges that there was such a thing as genderbased discrimination. By the 70s, through. [inaudible] they tended to think of differential treatment of women as operating benignly in womens favor. The Supreme Court never saw a gender discrimination case that was regarded as anything but favor to the woman. We will go back to illinois 1872 or 73. Anyway the court could rationalize it by saying sometimes things go on in courtroom and a lady wouldnt want to be present, or the next one, it will be reenacted at the Supreme Court on monday. This is a 1948k spread the michigan Supreme Court, the Legislature Passed a law that said women may not tend bar unless they are the white for the daughter of the bar owner. In that case, the opinion was rather dim and there were talks about things going on at taverns and saloons and it was best to keep this dainty little woman out. Even later in 1961, it was the case of gwendolyn who stood trial for the murder of her philandering, abusive husband. There were no women on forgerie forgeries. The Supreme Court saw that as a favor to women. Women were the center of home and family life therefore they should not be distracted by being called away from the home for jury duty. The objective was to let the court understand that these classifications favor everyone , not on a pedestal but in a cage. That was the thing to persuade trial if there was genderbased discrimination. The media target that Wendy Williams describes so well has clearly separate spheres for people. There was the woman who took care of the home and the children and the man who took care of the economic wellbeing. Many were written with that and how life should be organized. The effort was to say theres something wrong with that picture of the world. There are many women who are not particularly good at the home job, but might be a really good firefighter or police officer, all those that were off limits to women at the time and there are men who genuinely care for children. The law should talk about parents rather than mother or father. The object was to break down all those explicit genderbased distinctions so people could be would be free to be you and me. [inaudible] is called equal right advocates. Still going strong. It was an amazing ten years that Ruth Ginsburg led the Legal Movement in this country for women. Part of the strategy was that she taught law on top of being the Supreme Court litigator and she was schooling the justices rather than attacking them. She tried to get the court to understand that while race this termination and sexual discrimination is not synonymous. They need to be scrutinized by court. She tried to get the court to do that and character list characteristically when the Supreme Court didnt do that, she picked the middle approach and brought them along. Then, in the end, she went on the Supreme Court and got to write an opinion called frontier versus richardson. If i might, let me ask you about your views of the senate. There is a very thoughtful reading in the book about the role of the sentence, you discussed the importance of respecting and opponents view even when publicly disagreeing , as you exhibited in shelby versus holder. The Voting Rights act and you talk about the sense how the justice would not publish it, they would talk about the dissent but not publish it. Can you give us a sense of your philosophy of the sense, how do you think about them when you write them . I think it was holmes who said if i descended in every case where i thought the court got it wrong, no one would read it. I will save them for the ones that really matter. I keep, on my desk, the unpublished opinions, these are opinions that in the end wouldnt do any harm so he would bury it. It would become a graveyard dissent so his view was that his voice would be all the more compelling if he had saved his dissent for when it really mattered. A great law professor. [inaudible] very often, when it came down to the published opinion, suppressed his vote at conference. Many times he voted one way at the conference and joined the opinion going the other way, always on the view that what the court was doing would do no harm. It was okay. And so, i will take every opportunity to dissent. I do try to save them for when it counts, when it really matters. Can i jump in for one second. I taught course on the role of dissenting opinions and we had a surprise guest lecturer one evening. [inaudible] i thought we were going to have to administer cpr to half of the students when they realized it was ginsburg. You include in your book the rose garden acceptance speech. I remember well and your Senate Confirmation hearing Opening Statement what stands out about the nomination confirmation experience. Vivid memory of a very bright young man who was appointed by Patrick Moynihan and he took me around the hall of the congressional office. He would say this is what hes interesting it in. It would be wise not to talk about this that and the other thing. What i remember from the hearings of that entire process, i was nominated june 14, 1993 and i was confirmed on august 3. There is a truly bipartisan spirit in the congress. My biggest supporter on the Judicial Committee was on hatch. The vote was 96 3. Nevermind i had been on the board of the aclu and cofounder of the womens rights project in one of four judges councils, not a single question was asked about my aclu connection. For Justice Breyer who came one year after, it was a collegiate atmosphere. I wish there was a way that i could wave a magic wand and get back to the way it was in the way it should be. We can only hope. What i remember about that process is the white house brings in experts to talk to the nominee and Ruth Bader Ginsburg knew more about each subject and the expert. It was a humbling experience for all those coming in. That was the best week for me because i could choose a law professor i respected to bring me up to speed in various areas of the law. I realize how popular she wa was, not just when people would come up to her and i ask for an autograph, but the senators across parties all wanted a photo out. We would go in to talk to a senator and it became clear that what they really wanted was a picture to send back, and i also remember very fondly senator grassley and they were putting on some ice cream demonstrations in the capital and he said to judge ginsburg, would you mind coming with me to this ice cream demonstration and we went. It was a different time and we have now. It was the dairy farmers. Right, exactly. It was the most sic spectacular selection of ice cream with every flavor. It was delicious. I remember. You have a new colleague as of a couple weeks ago. How does the court change when the composition changes . Every time we have a new justice we have a new court and that means we get a photograph of the new court which i will give to my law clerks when we have it done. I think the person who is happiest to welcome a new justice is the departing junior justice, Justice