REUTERS/Mario Anzuon
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
The National Archives released 1,000 pages of Clinton-era memos and speeches on Friday that had not been public, including a memo called "Judge Ginsburg: Performance Pitfalls."
That memo warned President Bill Clinton that now-Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has a tendency "for defending some rather extreme liberal views," National Law Journal reports.
The memo, which then-associate White House counsel Ronald Klain wrote to Clinton top adviser David Gergen, also said Ginsburg "relishes defending the ACLU as an institution, and its importance in American society."
Written right before Ginsburg's Senate confirmation hearing in 1993, Klain added that her "laconic nature" - a preference for being very brief in her answers - would not help her cause. He warned Gergan to be "cautious" when discussing the hearing with Ginsburg, who was a lawyer for the ACLU before President Jimmy Carter appointed her to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District Circuit.
"Judge Ginsburg views the White House's interest and her interests as being at odds with each other," Klain wrote. "She sees us as having a stake in presenting her as a moderate and in getting along well with the Senate; she sees her interest as 'being herself,' preserving her 'dignity,' and promoting her 'independence.'"
Ginsburg would be approved by the senate in a 96-3 vote, and has been one of the more liberal justices serving on the court during her almost 21 years of service.
As a Supreme Court Justice, she is known to protect women's rights and the rights of the disadvantaged. Ginsburg - whose fans call her the "Notorious RBG" - is the most frequent liberal lone dissenter on the court. Her dissent in the recent case involving the birth control coverage mandate in Obamacare got an unusual amount of media coverage and was even turned into a song.