Selected as Consensus Builder, Ginsburg Embraced Dissenting Role

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday, was famous for her powerful dissents, but the “Notorious RBG” didn’t start out that way.

“If this is a time for consensus building on the court, and I believe it is, Judge Ginsburg will be an able and effective architect,” President Bill Clinton said in announcing the then-60-year-old-jurist’s high court nomination in 1993.

Ginsburg certainly parted ways with the majority during her dozen years on the Rehnquist Court, but her more vivid dissents under Chief Justice John Roberts were written in the hopes they’d “prove to be the basis of change” in the future ...