A judge and the art of understatement

Shortly after moving to New York, and while working at the wonderful Mark hotel, I was meeting with a young bride planning her wedding. She asked me if it would be acceptable for her cousin, who happened to be a judge in Washington, to officiate. I told her I would need to check with the City Clerks office. And then the soon-to-be bride identified her cousin: Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I never did call the City Clerks office.

At the wedding I had the chance to meet Justice Ginsburg as well as her husband, Martin Ginsburg. Mr. Ginsburg, a prominent lawyer and an uncommonly gregarious man, told me that they used to live in New York, but moved to Washington when his wife "got a good job there."