'So If You Worried About My Age'

Next Tuesday is publication day for my graphic novel-style biography, Becoming RBG: Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Journey to Justice. I've written two books about Justice Ginsburg in four years, which means I've read, watched, listened to, discussed, and thought about her -- a lot. But I never get tired of it, and felt lucky to be able to attend a stimulating event at Georgetown University Law Center last night, where Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Bill Clinton, and Hillary Rodham Clinton chatted for an hour about all manner of things. Among the subjects covered was President Clinton's 1993 nomination to the Supreme Court of then-Judge Ginsburg.

The former president said he knew within ten minutes of interviewing RBG for the job that he would choose her. Secretary Clinton, too, talked warmly about her impressions back then of RBG. President Clinton talked about some of RBG's decisions that he admired. All this went on for a while. RBG was fairly quiet. My friend, Georgetown law professor and RBG biographer Mary Hartnett, who was one of the moderators for last night's event, was bringing this part of the conversation to a close when Justice Ginsburg piped up. "One thing I hope would please the president," she said, and you could hear, yes, hear, the twinkle in her eye:

"I was age 60 when I was nominated, and some people thought I was too old for the job. and now I'm . . . starting my twenty-seventh year on the Court, so I'm one of the longest tenured justices." So if you worried about my age, it was unnecessary."

She brought the house down. And here's an excerpt from the book about that time in RBG's life: