Culture
Hyperlink Episode 2: RBG and the Supreme Court 22 West gets familiar with the baddest lady on the court. By Bria Manning
Photos by the Hyperlink Team
If you have ever turned to Wikipedia for one specific thing and realized, 30 underlined blue links later, that you are miles away from your original inquiry then you might understand the premise of 22 West Video’s podcast Hyperlink. Host Dominic Hure was joined by Jireh Deng, an applied math in economics and international studies major who is also a Supreme Court enthusiast. Specifically, Deng is a great admirer of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, or simply RBG as she is affectionately referred, and brings to the table hyperlinks on hyperlinks, from Ginsberg’s origins and the struggles she faced as a woman pursuing law to the intricacies of the Supreme Court and specific court cases. Donning an RBG patch on her navy blue shirt, Deng opens up by introducing the justice as “the baddest lady on the court.” Ginsberg studied law at Harvard in 1956 during a time when women involved in any type of higher education was greatly discouraged. Adding a husband diagnosed with prostate cancer and baby daughter in the mix, the boundaries of what she could and could not do protruded further and further out. “She has to move to Columbia to finish her third year of law school,” Deng said. “And she graduates top of her class [...] with a baby and sick husband. She can do it all.”
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Deng then went on to go over the issues and cases that Ginsberg had been a leading force behind, such as abortion, international law, search and seizure, and women’s rights. Deng specifically brings up the Frontiero v. Richardson case, which was ruled on in 1973 before Ginsberg was appointed a justice in 1993. Concerning receiving U.S. military benefits based on gender, the case came at a time when women’s rights were still not an issue taken seriously. Yet, despite being a fierce advocate for women’s rights, Ginsberg still championed for all gender equality. Deng’s admiration for Ginsberg really shines through as she mentions that Ginsberg, recognizing that there is an importance to women’s rights, also still acknowledged that working towards that goal had to be done incrementally and in such a specific way in order to be taken seriously at the time. “Women’s rights not only affects women,” Deng said. “It also affects men because these harmful stereotypes about the roles that women and men have in society affect everyone.” Ginsberg and all of her accomplishments are just a hyperlink that lies within another of Deng’s interests: the Supreme Court. Deng first took an
