My Own Words

In their introduction to this section, the biographers note that Ginsburg was not the first choice to replace retiring Justice Byron White. Ginsburg comments, “I was the last one left standing” (167). The process, as they describe it, was fraught with concern because several previous confirmation hearings had been rancorous and divisive. They relate the details of Ginsburg’s election, including missteps such as Ginsburg’s wearing casual clothes to meet with President Clinton, who appeared dressed in a suit. Promised that she would get a call from President Clinton at the end of a basketball game he was watching, Ginsburg waited for three hours and 20 minutes when the game went into triple overtime. Then, the White House phone connection created a problem when Ginsburg and President Clinton could not hear one another. Finally, he was able to speak to her and assure her that he wanted her to be his nominee for the Supreme Court.

Ginsburg’s biographers describe her introduction in the White House Rose Garden on June 14, 1993. President Clinton emphasized that Ginsburg was a moderate rather than a liberal or conservative. When Ginsburg approached the podium, Clinton bent the microphones down so that she could speak into them.