Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Scott Detro, I cover the presidential campaign.

I'm Susan Davis, I cover Congress.

And I'm Nina Togentberg, and I cover the Supreme Court.

It's just about 9 o'clock on Friday, September 18th.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is dead at 87.

The cause of death was pancreatic cancer, which she had battled along with other forms of cancer for years.

Nina, you know, in recent years Ginsburg had become a cultural icon for so many progressives.

Let's start with this. Can you tell us about who she was before she became RBG, before she was a Supreme Court Justice?

You know, she's always been a sort of a contradiction.

She was always a demure firebrand.

A justice who was dogged but deckerous. She always believed, don't get mad.

Just move on to the next thing.

The anger doesn't serve you well, you just keep going and you do your job and you do it to the highest standards you possibly can.

You know, when you become a Supreme Court Justice, it overshadows so many other parts of your life and that makes sense.

But before we talk about her career on the court and her legacy on the court,

what do we need to know about what she did as a young lawyer, how she got to be a young lawyer,

and the context through which she really fought her way into the legal ranks and fought her way into changing.

So many laws.

You know, she couldn't get a job at a law firm.

I do think that I was born under a very bright star because you think of my life, I get out of law school.

I have top grades, no law firm in the city of New York will hire me.

She couldn't even get a teaching job for the longest time.

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