The Case of the Notorious RBG: EXAMINING THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF RUTH BADER GINSBURG.

• Author: Root, Damon

ON JUNE 14, 1993, President Bill Clinton announced his pick to replace retiring Justice Byron White on the U.S. Supreme Court. "Ruth Bader Ginsburg cannot be called a liberal or a conservative," Clinton declared of his nominee. "She has proved herself too thoughtful for such labels."

The president was half right. Ginsburg, who was 60 years old at the time, already had a long and distinguished record as a litigator, a law professor, and a judge on the prestigious U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She was undeniably thoughtful.

At the same time, Ginsburg was undeniably a liberal. Indeed, she was arguably one of the greatest liberal lawyers of her generation. Today, after serving 25 years on the high bench, Ginsburg stands as the outspoken leader of its liberal wing.

Meanwhile, outside of the courtroom, Ginsburg has emerged as a sort of judicial rock star. Popularly known among her fans as the "Notorious RBG" (a play on the name of the late rapper Notorious BIG), Ginsburg is now a bona fide celebrity, widely feted throughout American culture. In the last few years alone, she has been the subject of admiring books, including a fawning new biography by historian Jane Sherron De Hart (Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Life), a glowing documentary (RBG), and a celebratory exhibit at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles (Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg). Late Show host Stephen Colbert has interviewed her about her fitness regime. Saturday Night Live has paid tribute to her in a series of skits. Felicity Jones, the star of the 2016 Star Wars movie Rogue One, will be playing her in a new feature film.

As for Ginsburg's legions of fans, they are not exactly shy about showing their love. They carry RBG tote bags, drink from RBG coffee mugs, and use smartphones housed in RBG cases. They wear RBG T-shirts, hats, jewelry, even Halloween costumes. On the internet, Ginsburg memes and viral videos are common currency. Search the web for "Ruth Bader Ginsburg tattoos" and you'll find many colorful results. As the journalist Irin Carmon writes in the introduction to her runaway 2015 bestseller, Notorious RBG (HarperCollins), "we are frankly in awe of what we've learned about her."

In short, it's become fashionable to make a fuss about Ginsburg's gloriousness. While her life and accomplishments are genuinely impressive, though, the Notorious RBG is far from perfect.

LIBERAL LEADER

ON MARCH 24, 2009, Deputy Solicitor General Malcolm Stewart told the Supreme Court that the federal government possessed the lawful power to ban books if those books happened to mention the name of a candidate for federal office and were published by a corporate entity in the run-up to the federal election in which that candidate was competing.

"It's a 500-page book, and at the end it says, so vote for X, the government could ban that?" asked an incredulous Chief Justice John Roberts during that day's oral arguments in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. Yes, the deputy solicitor general conceded. Under the government's theory of the case, that's precisely what he was saying. "We could prohibit the publication of the book," Stewart declared.

Ten months later, a majority of the Supreme Court rejected that view, overturning the campaign finance regulations at issue for violating the First Amendment. Among the dissenters was Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was apparently untroubled by the censorious implications of the government's stance. Two years...