Noah Feldman, Columnist

Ginsburg's Surprisingly Retro Feminism

The justice's anti-discrimination ruling this week follows her usual script but in the end burdens women.

June 14, 2017 at 7:39 PM UTC

Noah Feldman is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A professor of law at Harvard University, he is author, most recently, of “To Be a Jew Today: A New Guide to God, Israel, and the Jewish People."

An icon, to be sure.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

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At 84, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a feminist icon -- and a figure of adulation to the young women who’ve nicknamed her the Notorious RBG. But is her 1970s version of feminism actually the one embraced by her fans today?

That question is put front and center by a new opinion she authored that fits squarely into the classic Ginsburg paradigm. The law under review made it easier for female U.S. citizens living abroad to pass on citizenship to their children than for male citizens. Ginsburg said the difference was unconstitutional. But she didn’t extend the women’s benefit to men: She took it away from women, leaving a much harsher law that seriously burdens passing on citizenship for both sexes equally.