Notorious RBG Talks of Barmaids as She Accepts Berggruen Prize

(Bloomberg) -- On Monday night in New York, Nicolas Berggruen rescued model Karlie Kloss and hedge fund manager John Paulson from a fate many of us are suffering: overindulging at too many holiday parties.

Instead, Berggruen hosted an event to celebrate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as she received the 2019 Berggruen Prize. It comes with a $1 million award that Ginsburg said she’ll direct to nonprofits, including groups promoting girls and women.

The past three winners have been philosophers, so a non-philosopher receiving the award was as much remarked upon as the strength of the punch at a holiday party.

“You’re not a philosopher in a traditional sense, you are a philosopher in action,” Berggruen said during the dinner at the New York Public Library.

“I’m surely not a philosopher,” the 86-year-old Supreme Court justice said. “The text I interpret most often is the U.S. Constitution.”

Presented by the Los Angeles-based Berggruen Institute, which supports good governance projects, the event drew Harry Macklowe, David and Susan Rockefeller, Jim and Merryl Tisch, Silas and Celia Chou, and University of California Los Angeles Chancellor Gene Block.

Guests hung on Ginsburg’s every word during an interview with Razia Iqbal of BBC News, so there wasn’t much time for drinking and eating -- though one of Ginsburg’s most riveting anecdotes did bring on a thirst.

During World War II, women were allowed to become bartenders, Ginsburg said. But Michigan passed a law prohibiting them from that role unless their father or husband owned the establishment.

Among the irrational aspects of the situation:

“No one said anything about the barmaids taking drinks to the the table,” Ginsburg said.

Her point: Laws meant to protect women were terribly flawed. “The pedestal on which women were thought to stand more often turned out to be a cage,” Ginsburg said.

To go along with Ginsburg’s history lesson in gender law, Denyce Graves performed “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.”

There was an authentic “holiday” moment or two: Lili Buffett, the wife of Warren Buffett’s grandson, posed in front of the Christmas tree in Astor Hall, her Carolina Herrera gown matching its sparkle. And the parting gift was a stocking decked with a Ginsburg lapel pin and stuffed with a collection of her writings and speeches.

To contact the reporter on this story: Amanda Gordon in New York at agordon01@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Pierre Paulden at ppaulden@bloomberg.net, Steven Crabill, Steve Dickson

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