What Is the Constitution?

First edition of this introduction for young readers to the United States Constitution. Octavo, original pictorial wrappers, with black and white illustrations and photographs. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the copyright page to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, "For Justice Ginsberg, Who rigorously, tirelessly, brilliantly defends our cherished Constitutional rights. Thank you! Patricia Brennan Demuth." From the library of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. American lawyer and jurist, Ruth Bader Ginsburg served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death in 2020 and was responsible for some of the most eventful legal decisions of the past half-century. Nominated by President Bill Clinton in 1993 to replace retiring justice Byron White, Ginsburg became the first Jewish woman and the second woman to serve on the Court, after Sandra Day O’Connor. Ginsburg spent much of her legal career as an advocate for gender equality and women’s rights, winning many arguments before the Supreme Court. During her tenure as associate justice of the Supreme Court, Ginsburg received attention for her fiery and passionate dissents that reflected liberal views of the law. She was popularly dubbed “the Notorious R.B.G.”, a moniker she later embraced. She authored several important majority opinions related to gender discrimination, voting rights, and affirmative action in cases such as United States v. Virginia (1996) which struck down the Virginia Military Institute’s  male-only admissions policy as violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, Olmstead v. L.C. (1999) in which the Court ruled that mental illness is a form of disability covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services, Inc. (2000) in which the Court held that residents have standing to seek fines for an industrial polluter that affected their interests and that is able to continue doing so. In fine condition. Illustrated by Tim Foley. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box.