Governor Kathy Hochul (right) and sculptor Meredith Bergmann view the work. (Darren McGee/NYS Governor’s Office) Alumni Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’54 Honored with Sculpture in NY State Capitol Stories You May Like Stamp of Approval: Postal Service Honors RBG and Novelist Morrison 3D-Printed Statues Honor Women in STEM—Including Seven Cornellians On North Campus, New Buildings Shape Future of Undergrad Community The late Supreme Court Justice will be one of the few women whose likeness adorns the building’s grand staircase By Blaine Friedlander This story was condensed from a feature in the Cornell Chronicle. For the first time in 125 years, the face of a celebrated New Yorker will join the pantheon of historic people commemorated at the New York State Capitol’s Great Western Staircase: Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’54, the late associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. “When Ruth Bader Ginsburg was asked when there would be enough women on the U.S. Supreme Court, she famously replied, ‘When there are nine,’” said Governor Kathy Hochul at a mid-March rehearsal to place the stone portrait. “By carving her portrait into the Capitol, we are both honoring Justice Ginsburg’s legacy as a trailblazer for justice and gender equality, and also celebrating New York’s history as the birthplace of the women’s rights movement.” We are both honoring Justice Ginsburg’s legacy as a trailblazer for justice and gender equality, and also celebrating New York’s history as the birthplace of the women’s rights movement. Governor Kathy Hochul Later this spring, the Ginsburg portrait will be permanently installed on the second floor of the staircase, commonly known as the Million Dollar Staircase. While there are currently 77 well-known faces adorning the walls, the Ginsburg portrait location will be directly above John Jay, the U.S. Supreme Court’s first chief justice. Stories You May Like Stamp of Approval: Postal Service Honors RBG and Novelist Morrison 3D-Printed Statues Honor Women in STEM—Including Seven Cornellians Ginsburg was born Joan Ruth Bader in New York City and grew up in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn. At Cornell, she majored in government in the College of Arts and Sciences. Her carved portrait will be the first new one added to the staircase since its completion in 1898, according to the governor’s office. Her likeness will be portrayed in the same style as the existing 19th-century portrayals, carved in Corsehill sandstone from Scotland. Among the 77 other portraits on the staircase, the Ginsburg carving will be the seventh woman depicted. Others include suffragist leader Susan B. Anthony, Civil War nurse Clara Barton, and Uncle Tom’s Cabin author Harriet Beecher Stowe. In November 2022, the Ginsburg family approved the portrait model by Meredith Bergmann, sculptor of the Women’s Rights Pioneers Monument in NYC’s Central Park. “My brother and I—and the entire Ginsburg family—are deeply moved that our mother’s home state of New York has honored her by placing her image in the magnificent Western Staircase,” says Jane Ginsburg, the justice’s daughter and a professor of law at Columbia. “It is particularly fitting that she will appear close to John Jay, her great predecessor on the U.S. Supreme Court, whom she admired.” Top: Governor Kathy Hochul (right) and sculptor Meredith Bergmann view the work. (All photos by Darren McGee/NYS Governor’s Office) Published March 31, 2023 Leave a Comment Cancel replyOnce your comment is approved, your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *Comment * Name * Class Year Email * Save my name, email, and class year in this browser for the next time I comment. Δ Other stories You may like Students Student’s Playful Paintings Showcase the Hill as You’ve Never Seen It Alumni On a Glorious Fall Weekend, Cornellians Come Home Ask the Expert How Well Does the U.S. Care for Its Veterans? An Expert Weighs In