On the Basis of Sex is a 2018 legal drama about Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s early career and the real case Moritz v. Commissioner, in which she and her husband, Martin, challenged a tax rule that denied a dependent-care deduction to a man caring for his mother. The film draws on Ginsburg’s history, but it is a dramatization—not a scene-by-scene record of events.
What is On the Basis of Sex about?
Directed by Mimi Leder and written by Daniel Stiepleman, the film stars Felicity Jones as Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Armie Hammer as Martin Ginsburg. Focus Features lists it as a drama released December 25, 2018, with a runtime of two hours and one minute. Its story follows the Ginsburgs’ work on a case that challenged sex discrimination in federal tax law. Focus Features’ film listing describes the movie as inspired by Ginsburg’s early life and legal career.
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What real case is at the center of the film?
The tax deduction Charles Moritz was denied
In Moritz v. Commissioner, Charles Moritz, a never-married man who cared for his elderly widowed mother, sought a $600 dependent-care deduction. The rule allowed the deduction for women, widowers, and married men whose wives were incapacitated, but not for a never-married man such as Moritz. The Library of Congress account of Ginsburg’s women’s-rights work documents the deduction and the unequal categories in the law.
How the Ginsburgs argued the appeal
Ruth and Martin Ginsburg took Moritz’s case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. According to the Library of Congress, Martin argued the tax-law questions while Ruth presented the constitutional argument, drawing on the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal-protection principles. The court ruled unanimously for Moritz in 1972. In a 1971 draft argument, Ginsburg wrote: “sex lines, like race lines must fall, absent most compelling justif[ication].” The Library of Congress preserves the quotation with its editorial abbreviation.
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Why did Moritz matter beyond one deduction?
The case helped sharpen Ginsburg’s approach to using the Fourteenth Amendment against sex discrimination and connected her to the ACLU’s work on Reed v. Reed. The chronology matters: Reed was decided before Moritz, though work on Moritz helped bring Ginsburg onto the Reed team. The Library of Congress describes this relationship as part of the development of her legal advocacy, rather than as a claim that Moritz came first.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How closely does the film follow the true story?
The film’s premise and central legal case are historical, and the screenplay was informed by Ginsburg’s input. Screenwriter Daniel Stiepleman said she read drafts, corrected legal and procedural details, and pointed out when a moment worked dramatically but did not reflect how law was practiced. That account supports saying the script received her careful attention; it does not prove that every scene, line, or sequence is literal history. Stiepleman’s Focus Features interview describes her involvement.
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The film also narrows its lens to the Ginsburgs and the Moritz appeal. That focus makes the case’s stakes legible, but it is not a complete account of Ginsburg’s career or the broader sequence of sex-discrimination litigation. In particular, the movie’s dramatic presentation should not obscure that Reed v. Reed was decided before Moritz.
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What to know before watching
- The film is a biographical legal drama released in 2018, not a documentary or a transcript of the court proceedings.
- Its central case, Moritz v. Commissioner, challenged a sex-based restriction on a dependent-care tax deduction.
- Ruth and Martin Ginsburg divided the legal argument, and the Tenth Circuit ruled unanimously for Moritz in 1972.
- The case contributed to Ginsburg’s equal-protection advocacy; it should not be confused with the earlier decision in Reed v. Reed.
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