Supreme Court’s Ginsburg gets rap-star treatment
Tumblr blog described as mashup of scrapbook and Talmud turned into fan-nonfiction biography of Jewish octogenarian justice
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Black-robed and solemn, the nine justices of the US Supreme Court are not the most likely candidates for the Internet buzz, but Ruth Bader Ginsburg is no stranger to defying the odds.
The octogenarian justice, in her 22nd year on the high court, has been the subject of a popular Tumblr blog since 2013, in which she was given an outsize alter-ego: “Notorious RBG.”
The contrast between the diminutive Jewish grandmother, just over 5 feet (1.5 meters) tall, and the well over 300-pound (135-kilogram) 1990s gangsta rapper Notorious B.I.G. has attracted a loyal Internet following.
Now, the court-watcher behind the blog has released a new book chronicling Ginsburg’s rise over sexism and cancer to the most powerful court in the United States — and, unexpectedly, conquering the Internet.
“Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg,” a sort of fan-nonfiction biography, went on sale in the US Tuesday.
The book defies categorization, filled with photographs, sketches and other visual materials drawn from the artwork submitted to the Tumblr blog — “as if a scrapbook and the Talmud decided to have a baby,” in the words of the New York Times.
But it is more of a serious biography than its parodic title and cover art — a stone-faced, lace-collared judge topped with a crooked crown — would suggest.
Shana Knizhnik started the site when she was a law student at New York University in 2013 after Ginsburg took the unusual measure of reading from the bench her dissent in a case that weakened the Voting Rights Act.
This outspokenness has caused her fandom among progressives to sky-rocket, and the book, written with co-author journalist Irin Carmon, steps back from the Notorious RBG slogans and tattoos to chronicle Ginsburg’s self-propelled rise to become a feminist and progressive icon in a more serious way.
Mostly serious, that is — with detours into her workouts (20 push-ups) and wardrobe (lace collars and gloves).
The popularity of the book — already an Amazon.com bestselling biography — highlights how the tiny, oft-overlooked 82-year-old Ginsburg has become one of the most influential women in the country, with even the admiration of a new generation of tattooed, tweeting millennials.
Ginsburg says her grandchildren love the blog.
The Times of Israel Community.