At 7:59 AM on Monday, September 12, an email appeared in Upper School History teacher Jeanne Barr’s inbox, and around fifteen Upper School students were presented with a rare opportunity: seeing–and meeting with–Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader-Ginsburg at Notre Dame University.  That very night.

These students, members of Barr’s Civil Liberties or Upper School History teacher Andrew Bigelow’s Elections classes, had exhibited interest in the event when senior Leigh Logan, a student of Barr’s, had brought to her attention that her godmother, United States Circuit Judge Anne Williams, would be interviewing Ginsburg about her life and her battle against gender discrimination.

The event wasn’t open to the public, but after a week’s worth of emails with Williams’s assistant, Barr secured seats, arranged for a bus, and led the excursion, all within the span twelve hours on that Monday.

Sitting among 7,500 other people at Edmund P. Joyce Center, Notre Dame’s basketball arena, students listened to Ginsburg and Williams discuss cases of gender discrimination, both ones Ginsburg had argued as an attorney – even some in front of the Supreme Court – and ones from their everyday experiences.

“As a Jew, a woman, and a mother, it’s unthinkable that back in the 60’s, when the standard for women was to essentially aspire to nothing, RBG was able to become one of the most successful lawyers in her field,” Senior Will Polsky said.  “She’s not only a champion for human rights in general but a champion and trailblazer for women’s rights and women.”

Barr shared Will’s sentiments. “It was just super cool to hear her own kind of stories from the trenches,” she said, “especially now, when I think we all get it that gender equality doesn’t exist yet, but we’ve come a long way.”