Ginsburg, McLachlin inspiring trailblazers
Welcome to a tale of two extraordinary senior female justices. They’ve not only reached the pinnacle in distinguished judicial careers, but they’re rocking it in popular culture as well.
Beverley McLachlin, 74, the longest serving and first female Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, with a list of groundbreaking achievements to her name, began her retirement recently by publishing Full Disclosure, a titillating crime novel that is now climbing Canadian bestseller lists.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 85, is not only still serving as an associate justice — and much needed liberal voice — on the U.S. Supreme Court, but she’s also an internet meme, known as “Notorious R.B.G.” (after the late rapper B.I.G.) and a cultural icon revered for being a “badass” supreme court justice.
You can see her face with her trademark huge glasses on coffee mugs and tee shirts along with such declarations as “You can’t spell Truth without Ruth” and “I dissent.”
Ginsburg is now the star of RBG, an entertaining and inspiring documentary that showcases everything from her fearless legal career laying the groundwork for gender equality in the U.S, to her vigorous workout sessions with a personal trainer. (I’m sorry, she’s 85 and she does how many planks?)
RBG, directed by Betsy West and Julie Cohen, also tells the moving story of Ginsburg’s 56 years of devoted marriage to Marty Ginsburg, a respected tax lawyer who supported his wife’s career in a way few men did in that era. (He also did most of the cooking because Justice Ginsburg’s cooking was “terrible.”)
McLachlin and Ginsburg are clearly role models for young female lawyers, but they’re also inspirations for anyone who wants to know how to play the long game — although most people’s long games are not quite so spectacular.
I saw McLachlin at her crowded book launch at the University of Toronto’s Massey College in early May and I was struck by how vibrant she is — fit, elegant and approachable. Above all, selfconfident.
She had always wanted to write a book she said. So while she was still on the bench she began getting up early to craft the juicy story of Jilly Truitt, a 30-something criminal defence lawyer in Vancouver who defends a powerful rich man accused of murdering his young wife. Truitt uncovers a few secrets about herself along the way.
The fun of the book — which will no doubt beget a sequel — is reading McLachlin’s insights about criminal justice — “Sometimes the law doesn’t matter a damn” — along with her depictions of the life of a female lawyer — brutally long hours, all consuming cases, and lonely glasses of white wine along with takeout dinner at the end of the day.
McLachlin grew up in a log house with no electricity or running water in Pincher Creek, Alta, the child of evangelical Lutherans. It was a childhood that bred “fierce independence,” as Sean Fine wrote in a comprehensive profile in the Globe and Mail. She was so determined to achieve she ended up studying law and doing a master’s degree in philosophy at the same time, winning the University of Alberta law school’s gold medal.
She became a law professor, and then began a judicial career that eventually took her to the top, where, as Chief Justice, she reshaped Indigenous rights, strengthened the rights of those accused of crime, and was personally criticized by then Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Through it all she’s remained unflappable, and as far as the public is concerned, discreet and unknowable. (No coffee mugs bearing her visage. But there’s still time.)
Ginsburg, a decade older than McLachlin, was one of only nine women admitted to Harvard Law School in her year. She aced her first year, even with a baby daughter to attend to, and nursed her young husband through a bout with cancer all the while getting top grades. When she graduated, no law firm in New York would hire her, a Jewish woman, mother and outstanding law student.
She too became a law professor and was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court by former president Bill Clinton. At 60, some deemed her “too old.” Apart from each woman having made it to the top courts of their countries, what else do these two trailblazers have in common?
They were both profoundly influenced by mothers who didn’t have the opportunities they did. McLachlin’s mother had always wanted to write a children’s book. Her daughter seized the moment and wrote her novel partly because she didn’t want to not have tried.
Ginsberg has said her mother taught her two things: “Be a lady.” Which meant not to let yourself be overpowered by useless emotions like anger. And “Be independent.” Both women are that in spades.
They work monumentally hard and don’t seem to mind it. Ginsberg’s husband used to have to show up at the court to remind his wife to come home for dinner.
They are liberal without being radical (although that’s radical to some) more interested in getting to the result than in grandstanding along the way.
They can put personal feelings aside. Both women showed up for work right after losing their husbands because that’s what you did.
I’d love to see them get together now in a public forum and talk candidly together about their lives and careers. But when would they find the time? McLachlin’s got a bestseller to promote. Ginsburg is busy issuing fierce dissents and says that with no mandatory retirement she will work as long as she can do the job.
Maybe we could entice them with a coffee mug with both their faces on it.