Ruth Bader Ginsburg was blazing a trail even before becoming only the second woman to sit on the US Supreme Court. She was one of just nine women (and the top student) in her 500-strong class at Harvard, and went on to teach some of the first classes on women and the law at Rutgers Law School.

She became the first female professor at Columbia Law School in 1972 and later presented several successful arguments against gender discrimination in front of the Supreme Court. She joined the bench as a justice in 1993 and served for 27 years – this photo was taken just before her confirmation hearing.

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