Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg to speak at UA Little Rock
July 15-21, 2019
By Angelita Faller
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, will speak at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 3.
The event is part of the Frank and Kula Kumpuris Distinguished Lecture Series, hosted by the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton School of Public Service. Ginsburg will discuss her 25-year history on the nation’s highest bench and historic legal career prior to being nominated by Pres. Bill Clinton to serve as the second female justice of the Supreme Court.
The Kumpuris Distinguished Lecture Series was established with a gift from the Kumpuris Family in honor of their mother and in memory of their father. The Kumpuris Lecture Series is presented by the Clinton Foundation, Clinton School of Public Service, and AT&T.
The program is free and open to the public, but reservations are required. Due to the high popularity of the event, those interested in attending can visit Eventbrite.com and search ‘Kumpuris Lecture with the Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg’ to join a wait list for reservations.
Ginsburg has been a pioneer for gender equality throughout her distinguished career. She received her bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and attended Harvard Law School. One of only nine women at Harvard Law School in 1956, Ginsburg and her female classmates were asked by the dean why they were occupying seats that would otherwise be filled by men. Upon graduating from Columbia Law School in 1959, Ginsburg tied for first in her class.
Ginsburg clerked for Judge Edmund Palmieri of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York from 1959 to 1961. She then joined Columbia Law School’s International Procedure Project, where she co-authored a book on Sweden’s legal system and translated Sweden’s Judicial Code into English.
Continuing in academia, Ginsburg joined the faculty of Rutgers Law School in 1963, but her gender put her at a disadvantage. When she discovered that her salary was lower than that of her male colleagues, she joined an equal pay campaign with other women teaching at the university, which resulted in substantial increases for all the complainants.
In 1971, Ginsburg co-founded the Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, and served as the ACLU’s General Counsel from 1973-1980, and on the National Board of Directors from 1974-1980. She served on the board and Executive Committee of the American Bar Foundation from 1979-1989, on the Board of Editors of the American Bar Association Journal from 1972-1978, and on the Council of the American Law Institute from 1978-1993.
She was appointed a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1980. After receiving unanimous confirmation from the U.S. Senate, Ginsburg joined the Supreme Court on Aug. 10, 1993.
Source: UA Little Rock Communications
