Born March 15, 1933, in Brooklyn, New York, Ruth Bader was the child of first- and second-generation Jewish Americans. Exceptionally bright, Ruth was the editor of her eighth-grade school paper and valedictorian of her eighth-grade class. She missed her high school graduation, where she was to speak as an honor student, due to the death of her mother, Celia. Beginning in 1950, Ruth attended Cornell University, where she met her future husband, Martin Ginsburg during her freshman year. They married after her graduation in 1954. Following the birth of her first child, Ginsburg attended Harvard and then Columbia law schools, graduating tied for first in her class in 1959. At the time of her graduation, no legal firm in New York offered her a job.

From 1959 until 1980, Ginsburg held several legal positions, including federal District Court clerk, international researcher, professor, and author of significant legal briefs. Beginning in the early 1970s, Ginsburg made significant inroads in both state and federal court systems, focusing particularly on gender equality. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter nominated her to be a judge on the Washington, DC, circuit of the US Court of Appeals, where she served for 13 years.