An haifi Ruth Bader Ginsburg kuma ya girma a Brooklyn, New York. Yayarta ta mutu tun tana jaririya, kuma mahaifiyarta ta rasu jim kadan kafin Ginsburg ta kammala karatun sakandare. Ta sami digirin farko a jami'ar Cornell kuma ta auri Martin D. Ginsburg, inda ta zama uwa kafin ta fara makarantar lauya a Harvard, inda ta kasance daya daga cikin 'yan mata a cikin ajinsu. Ginsburg ta koma makarantan lauyoyi na columbia, inda ta fara karatun digiri na farko a cikin aji. A farkon 1960s ta yi aiki tare da Aikin Makarantar Shari'a ta Columbia akan Tsarin Kasa da Kasa, ta koyi Yaren mutanen Sweden, kuma ta haɗu da wani littafi tare da masanin shari'a na Sweden Anders Bruzelius; Ayyukanta a Sweden sun yi tasiri sosai akan tunaninta yadda za'a daidaita jinsi. Daga nan ta zama farfesa a makarantan lauyoyi na rugers da makarantan lauyoyi na columbia, tana koyar da tsarin jama'a a matsayin 'yan mata a fagenta.
