The Law Office of Kate Curler was extremely saddened to hear of the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, known to many as “Notorious R.B.G” last Friday. RBG was a trailblazer who spent her life as a litigator and Supreme Court Justice fighting for women’s rights and working to ensure that all people were afforded equal protection under the law. In this week’s post, as a tribute to RBG, we are giving a little history lesson and talking about the Supreme Court case of Reed v. Reed. Reed was RBG’s first case to make it to the Supreme Court years before she became a Supreme Court Justice. It was also the first time the Supreme Court ever struck down a law that treated men and women unequally. Interestingly, this case also happens to involve one of our areas of practice – estate administration.
In Reed v. Reed, the Idaho Probate Code specified that in appointing administrators of an estate “males must be preferred to females”. After their son’s death, Cecil Reed was named the administrator of his son’s estate instead of Sally Reed. Sally challenged the law, and in a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court struck down the law and held that treating men and women differently under the law was unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. After this decision, hundreds of laws in the U.S. Code that treated women differently than men with no basis were changed. This case also set the stage and legal framework for future Supreme Court decisions to recognize discrimination on the basis of sex, whether female or male, as a violation of the Constitution. The decision in this case, and the many more that followed, were made, in no small part, due to the valiant efforts and jurisprudence of RBG.
On a personal note, RBG was, and will continue to be, a huge inspiration to me as a woman and attorney. When RBG was a law student at Harvard, she, along with the 8 other female students, was asked by the Dean what she was doing at the law school, taking a seat that could have been held by a man. While it is hard to imagine that scenario today with the majority of law students being women, without the tireless work that RBG did to fight inequality, The Law Office of Kate Curler, owned and operated by women, would not be here today. Imagine trying to run a business without being able to open your own credit card.
Every day as our firm works to advocate for senior citizens, we try to emulate RBG’s never-ending quest for justice. On the wall of RBG’s office hangs a phrase from the Book of Deuteronomy, “Justice, Justice You Shall Pursue.” RBG spent her life pursuing, and fighting for, justice for all people. May her memory inspire a new generation of women and men to fight for justice and equal treatment under the law.
In loving memory of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. May her memory be a blessing.