In 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed Ginsburg to the U.S. Supreme Court, making her the second woman to serve on the bench. As a Justice, she became known for her progressive stance on civil rights, women's rights, and legal precedent.  Some of her most significant opinions and dissents include:

 United States v. Virginia (1996)

Ginsburg wrote the majority opinion invalidating the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) 's male-only admission policy, emphasizing that exclusionary practices based on gender run afoul of the Equal Protection Clause. Virginia was unable to show the “exceedingly persuasive justification” required for its sex-based action, she said. “‘Inherent differences’ between men and women, we have come to appreciate, remain cause for celebration, but not for denigration of the members of either sex or for artificial constraints on an individual’s opportunity. Sex classifications may be used to compensate women ‘for particular economic disabilities [they have] suffered,’ But such classifications may not be used, as they once were, to create or perpetuate the legal, social, and economic inferiority of women.”

Gonzales v. Carhart (2007)

In public speeches and in abortion cases before the court, Ginsburg repeatedly emphasized what she believed was fundamentally at stake for women in challenges to the abortion right. Her comments in this quote came from her 2007 dissent in Gonzales v. Carhart in which a 5-4 majority upheld the federal “Partial-Birth Abortion Act.” The court, for the first time, approved a type of abortion ban that made no exceptions for the health of the woman. “As Casey comprehended, at stake in cases challenging abortion restrictions is a woman’s ‘control over her [own] destiny.’ Their ability to realize their full potential, the Court recognized, is intimately connected to ‘their ability to control their reproductive lives.’ Thus, legal challenges to undue restrictions on abortion procedures do not seek to vindicate some generalized notion of privacy; rather, they center on a woman’s autonomy to determine her life’s course, and thus to enjoy equal citizenship stature.”

 Shelby County v. Holder (2013)

In yet another powerful dissent, she disagreed with the Court's weakening of Voting Rights Act, warning it would lead to voter suppression—a concern that later proved true. “Throwing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.” Her dissents became famous, often signaling future shifts in the law. She even earned the nickname Notorious RBG, reflecting her cultural impact.