    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 32 (Monday, August 16, 1993)]
    [Pages 1600-1601]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Remarks on the Swearing-In of Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader
    Ginsburg

     August 10, 1993

        Please be seated. Welcome to the White House. It is my distinct
    honor to introduce the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

    [At this point, Chief Justice Rehnquist administered the oath of office,
    and Justice Ginsburg made brief remarks.]

        Ladies and gentlemen, before we adjourn to the reception in honor of
    Justice Ginsburg, I'd like to acknowledge the presence here today of
    Senator Moynihan, who sponsored her so strongly in the Senate, Senator
    Larry Pressler of South Dakota, Senator Strom Thurmond of South
    Carolina, and the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, my good
    friend Jack Brooks from Texas. It's good to see all of you here.
        This was a very important appointment to me. In one of my former
    lives I had the great joy and responsibility of teaching the United
    States Constitution and the decisions of the Supreme Court under it to
    aspiring but not always interested law students. [Laughter] I have
    learned over the course of a lifetime of practical experience what I
    knew then: We breathe life into the values we espouse through our law.
    It gives to every American, including the most illiterate among us, the
    most totally unaware of how the legal system works, a fair measure of
    our ideals and some reality that comes into life from the speeches given
    by the rest of us. There is no one with a deeper appreciation of this
    fact than Ruth Bader Ginsburg. This is a moment, this historic moment,
    therefore, that all Americans can celebrate. For no one knows better
    than she that it is the law that provides the rules that permit us to
    live together and that permit us to overcome the infirmities, the
    bigotry, the prejudice, the limitations of our past and our present.
        Her nearly unanimous confirmation by the United States Senate was
    the swiftest in nearly two decades. Much credit must go to her own
    brilliance and her thoughtful, balanced reasoning. But I thank Senators
    Moynihan and D'Amato for their sponsorship and assistance. I thank
    Chairman Biden and Sen-

    [[Page 1601]]

    ator Hatch for their contributions and all the other Senators, including
    those here present, who supported her.
        Ruth Bader Ginsburg does not need a seat on the Supreme Court to
    earn a place in our history books. She has already secured that. As a
    brilliant young law school graduate she became an early victim of gender
    discrimination when as a woman and mother she sought nothing more than
    that which every one of us wants, a chance to do her work. She met this
    challenge with character and determination. She took on the complex
    challenges of winning what seems now to be such a terribly simple
    principle, equal treatment for women and men before the law. Virtually
    every significant case brought before the Supreme Court in the decade of
    the seventies on behalf of women bore her mark. Today, virtually no
    segment of our society has been untouched by her efforts.
        In the 1980's, Ruth Bader Ginsburg ended her career as a scholar and
    advocate and began a new one as a judge on the United States Court of
    Appeals here in the District of Columbia. She has emerged as one of our
    country's finest judges, progressive in outlook, wise in judgment,
    balanced and fair in her opinions. She defied labels like ``liberal''
    and ``conservative,'' just as she did in her hearing before the Senate,
    to earn a reputation for something else altogether, excellence.
        And through it all she has proved that you can have what most of us
    really want, a successful work life and a successful family life. That
    is due in no small measure to her husband of 39 years, himself a
    distinguished lawyer and now, I hasten to say, for all the rest of us
    fast becoming a national model of what a good husband ought to be.
    [Laughter] Marty Ginsburg, please stand up and take a bow.
        Her children, Jane and James, are here. And she became a proud
    grandmother of Paul and Clara and in her announcement made them two of
    the most famous grandchildren in the entire United States.
        Now Ruth Bader Ginsburg's greatest challenge lies ahead, a challenge
    to which she brings a powerful mind, a temperament for healing, a
    compassionate heart, a lifetime of experience. Her story already is a
    part of our history. Now her words and her judgments will help to shape
    our Nation today and well into the 21st century.
        Most of us know that the inscription above the main entrance to the
    Supreme Court reads: Equal Justice Under Law. But carved into the marble
    above the Court's other entrance is another telling message: Justice,
    the Guardian of Liberty. In Ruth Bader Ginsburg, I believe the Nation is
    getting a Justice who will be a guardian of liberty for all Americans
    and an ensurer of equal justice under law. We are all the better for
    that.
        Thank you for being here. We're adjourned to the reception in
    Justice Ginsburg's honor. Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:43 p.m. in the East Room at the White
    House.