Yahoo News Live: The Notorious RBG book and phenomenon
When you think about Supreme Court justices, you probably do not think about Internet memes and pop culture icons with the exception of maybe one: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, or, as she has become known, “Notorious RBG.” The nickname was coined in 2013 by NYU law student Shana Knizhnik after Ginsburg issued her dissent in the case of Shelby County v. Holder, a case that struck down a major part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Knizhnik created a Tumblr blog with the nickname, which quickly caught on. Even President Obama used it earlier this year when talking about Justice Ginsburg.
Justice Ginsburg herself is a fan of the nickname and the Tumblr blog, as she told Yahoo News Global Anchor Katie Couric last year. “May I say to Shana first, I think she’s created a wonderful thing with Notorious RBG.” It is now the inspiration for a new book, “Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg,” co-authored by Knizhnik and MSNBC national reporter Irin Carmon.
Knizhnik and Carmon sat down with Yahoo News and Finance Anchor Bianna Golodryga on “Yahoo News Live” to discuss the book and the Notorious RBG. The nickname was inspired by the late rapper, the Notorious B.I.G., Knizhnik told Golodryga. “They both pack a verbal punch, and they both speak truth to power, and that’s why people find inspiration in Justice Ginsburg.”
On why Justice Ginsburg and the nickname caught on with millennials, in particular, Carmon, who interviewed the 82-year-old justice extensively for the book, told Golodryga, “I think young people are learning to be involved in politics and how to get involved in this country, and Justice Ginsburg has always written stuff that young people can understand.”
In addition to posts from the Tumblr blog, the book includes anecdotes from Ginsburg’s career and her life outside the court, including her marriage to the late legal scholar Martin Ginsburg and her longtime friendship with Justice Antonin Scalia, who is usually the polar opposite of Ginsburg in terms of his decisions on the court.
On what the court would look like without Justice Ginsburg, Carmon told Golodryga: “I think it would be a far less powerful, far less fearsome place. She is able to bring decades of women’s rights, of men’s and women’s liberation — a far less colorful and less fierce place.”
