Ruth Bader Ginsburg Was a High School 'Twirler'

Before she became the Notorious R.B.G. ... Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a high school twirler who also played for the school orchestra!

Turns out, a TMZ staffer's grandfather went to high school with Ruth at James Madison High School in southeast Brooklyn back in the day (class of 1950!) ... so we dug up the yearbook and found the Supreme Court justice back when she was an over-achieving teen!

According to the yearbook, Ruth had a busy extracurricular schedule -- which included being the treasurer of the Go-Getters club (a student pep group) and playing in the school orchestra.

She was also part of the "Twirlers" (guess that means baton twirling) and was the Secretary to the English Dept. chairman. She was also the feature editor of the term newspaper.

Pretty impressive for a high school senior -- and a prelude of big things to come for Ruth.