The Powerful Messages Behind Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Collars

Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away at 87 from metastatic pancreatic cancer last Friday. The Supreme Court justice spent 27 years on the bench and was the second woman to hold the title, following Sandra Day O’Connor.

During her tenure, Ginsburg was known for championing progressive causes, providing dissenting opinions, and wearing an array of jabots over her traditional black robes. In a position that was for too long dominated by men, she wanted to bring a touch of femininity to the court.

“You know, the standard robe is made for a man because it has a place for the shirt to show, and the tie,” Ginsburg told the Washington Post in 2009. “So Sandra Day O’Connor and I thought it would be appropriate if we included as part of our robe something typical of a woman. So I have many, many collars.”

In a 2014 interview with Katie Couric, Ginsburg shared the contents of her closet, specifically her extensive collection of jabots. She explained how she would wear a different style to express her personal opinions about a court ruling or event in Congress. From a black bib necklace with rhinestones that conveyed her disapproval to a crochet collar with gold chains that reflected how she was in agreement with her colleagues, we track some of the justice's favorites and what they meant to her.