WASHINGTON – No one knew when, or even how or where, Ruth Bader Ginsburg would pop up. The Supreme Court justice was due at a screening here of “RBG,” a new documentary chronicling her exemplary life. But she was not tied to the night’s tightly scripted schedule – at some point she would just appear, “like a ninja,” an organizer said.
Gathered in a theater at the Naval Heritage Center, the crowd was amped. There were lawmakers (progressive Democrats and a smattering of conservatives); the justice’s family, friends and former law clerks; her colleague Justice Stephen Breyer; and self-described fan girls and boys.
“I just love how she takes no crap from anybody,” said Kerri Sheehan, a 49-year-old video producer, who wore a T-shirt printed, Warhol style, with the justice’s face. “There’s no sugarcoating.”
When the justice arrived, bodyguards encircling her, the audience gave her a standing ovation, then hushed until she claimed her seat. She wore her hair pulled back with one of her beloved scrunchies, in navy velvet; a maroon tweedy blazer; slate-blue belled slacks; jewelry in just about every possible place jewelry can go; and carried her own large handbag. In front of her, arms shot up for the stealth selfie-with-a-famous-person snap. She didn’t mind.
Ginsburg is an unlikely celebrity, but then again, we live in an age full of those. What makes her ascendance to pop-culture icon – the Notorious RBG, y’all – truly surprising is that, at 85, she is having fun with her unexpected fame and making careful and inspired use of it for her own savvy ends.