DISSENTS AND AFFIRMATIONS: THE PURSUIT OF SOCIAL JUSTICE

Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s intent, her raison d’être, was clear: all men and all women, regardless of gender, race or creed, must be treated equally without fail

- CECE M. SCOTT

Of the many things Ruth Bader Ginsburg, famously known as “Notorious RBG” (a nod to the famed American Rapper The Notorious B.I.G., also known as “Biggie Smalls”) was celebrated for, and, in fact, was emulated for, were her many and varied statement necklaces. RBG, only the second woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States, was an associate justice of that court from 1993 until her passing in 2020. (The first woman, Sandra Day O’Connor, was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1981 by then president, Ronald Reagan.)

But make no mistake: while these necklaces, also known as collars, might originally have been seen as fashion statements, a way to dress up her judicial black robes, anyone in the know, anyone in RBG’s circle, knew that these were no ordinary pieces of jewelry that she wore to court on important days. Known as jabots, RBG’s necklaces glinted in the courtroom lights, metaphoric and steely declarations of her unflinching opinions on decisions handed down by the Supreme Court.

Arguably RBG’s most renowned jabot was her dissent collar, a heavily jewel-studded necklace which she wore when she was proclaiming her condemnation and disapproval — her dissent — to a decision handed down by the Supreme Court. The fact that RBG would speak her dissent is unusual in itself; announcing a majority opinion in the court chamber is custom, but reading aloud in dissent is rare.1 And so, the dissent collar, that RBG wore on the day after Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential win speaks volumes without uttering a word. Just as intriguingly, it was the yellow jabot, with its thin bejewelled strips extending symmetrically from the collar, that RBG chose to wear to Barack Obama’s first address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress, on December 31, 2005.