Law Commons^™

Keep Passing The Baton: Reflections On The Legacy Of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Angela Onwuachi-Willig

Faculty Scholarship

For those who care about justice, particularly for marginalized communities, September 18, 2020 brought immense heartbreak.² On that day, which happened to be Rosh Hashanah, Justice Ginsburg, who had previously written about how her religious background shaped her career as a lawyer, ³ passed away.

When Justice Ginsburg passed, many highlighted that a person who dies on Rosh Hashanah, the start of the Jewish New Year, is a "Tzadik," which is a title given to people of great righteousness. ⁴ For example, Nina Totenberg, a reporter for National Public Radio, explained, "A Jewish teaching says those who died just …

Deep Tracks: Album Cuts That Help Define The Essential Scalia, Gary S. Lawson

Faculty Scholarship

Jeff Sutton and Ed Whelan have collected some of Justice Scalia’s “greatest hits” in a volume entitled The Essential Scalia: On the Constitution, the Courts, and the Rule of Law. The book is an excellent introduction to the jurisprudential thought and literary style of one of the most influential legal thinkers—and legal writers—in modern times. As with any “greatest hits” compilation, however, there are inevitably going to be key “album cuts” for which there will not be space. This essay seeks to supplement Sutton and Whelan’s invaluable efforts by surveying three of those “deep tracks” that shed particular light on …

Memoriam: Justice John Paul Stevens, John G. Roberts Jr., David Barron, Alison J. Nathan, Christopher L. Eisgruber, Olatunde C.A. Johnson, Eduardo M. Peñalver

Faculty Scholarship

When Justice John Paul Stevens passed away on July 16, 2019, I was flooded with personal memories of my year clerking for him. The standard words of comfort when someone dies are that they will live on through the individuals that knew and loved them. Justice Stevens sat on the Supreme Court for more than three decades; his loss would be felt beyond those who knew him personally. I wondered how history would remember him.

A Tribute To Justice Byron R. White, Lewis F. Powell Jr., Rhesa H. Barksdale, David M. Ebel, Lance Liebman, Charles Fried

Faculty Scholarship

Of 107 Justices in 205 years, only twelve have served longer than thirty years, and every long-serving Justice has made a substantial contribution to the institution - offering a steady and dedicated response to the judicial challenges of an era, asserting leadership at a time of national crisis, or articulating a large constitutional vision. The personal qualities and life experiences that a new Justice brings to the Court contain the seeds of the individual's judicial service. Justice White, a skeptical but unflinching democrat, was no exception.