Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, receives SUNY Honorary Degree at University at Buffalo

BUFFALO, N.Y. — When the Hon. Ruth Bader Ginsburg visits the University at Buffalo (UB) at the start of the 2019-2020 academic year, she will become the first U.S. Supreme Court Justice to receive a State University of New York (SUNY) Honorary Degree.

The second woman appointed to serve on the Supreme Court, she received the SUNY Honorary Doctorate in Laws at UB during an Aug. 26 campus ceremony presided over by UB President Satish K. Tripathi, Acting SUNY Board of Trustees Chairman Merryl H. Tisch and SUNY Chancellor Kristina M. Johnson.

At the event, Justice Ginsburg delivered remarks and engage in an on-stage discussion with UB School of Law Dean Aviva Abramovsky. Established in 1887, The UB School of Law is among the nation’s premier public law schools. The only law school in the SUNY system, it is widely regarded for its interdisciplinary programs and scholarship, its commitment to public service and its robust clinical education opportunities.

Justice Ginsburg’s time at UB marks the first campus visit by a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. Previously, the School of Law hosted two U.S. Supreme Court Justices at events in downtown Buffalo: Antonin Scalia in 2001 and Samuel Alito in 2016.

“It is an immense honor to host Justice Ginsburg at the University at Buffalo,” said Tripathi. “During her trailblazing career, she has had, and she continues to have, a transformative impact on society. Time and again, she has demonstrated her formidable legal acumen and great moral clarity in the pursuit of social justice for the vulnerable and the disenfranchised.

“As such, she truly embodies the values and ideals of our university and our SUNY system, and we are delighted that she has accepted our invitation to receive a SUNY Honorary Degree at UB.”

Tisch described Justice Ginsburg as “an American hero—an outstanding citizen who leads by example and embodies the values we strive for at SUNY.

“Her commitment to fairness, justice, decency and her life story are inspirational. I join the entire SUNY community in thanking her for her daily reminder of what makes America great.”

Johnson said: “When President Clinton nominated Justice Ginsburg to be the 107th justice to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court in 1993, he described her as a ‘path-breaking attorney, advocate, and judge.’ Over the course of her career on the Court, she has proven to be all that and much, much more.

“A true crusader for justice, and a pioneer in challenging gender discrimination, Justice Ginsburg fights for the essential dignity and human rights of all individuals.”

A native of Brooklyn, Justice Ginsburg graduated from Cornell University. She attended Harvard Law School as one of only nine women in a class of more than 500 students and served as the first female member of the Harvard Law Review before transferring to Columbia Law School, where she graduated first in her class.

Following a District Court clerkship, she chose to follow a path in academia. As a professor of law at Rutgers University, Justice Ginsburg became actively involved in women’s rights, co-founding both the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Women’s Rights Project and The Women’s Rights Law Reporter, the first law journal in the country devoted to issues of gender equality. She later joined the faculty at Columbia University Law School, where she became its first tenured female professor and wrote the first textbook on sex discrimination law. As general counsel for the ACLU during the 1970s, she argued more than 300 gender discrimination cases, including six landmark cases before the Supreme Court — five of which she won.

In 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed Ginsburg to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Thirteen years later, President Clinton announced his nomination of Ginsburg to the U.S. Supreme Court. Serving the nation’s highest court for more than 25 years, Ginsburg is renowned for her highly engaged participation in oral arguments, for lending her voice to numerous crucial cases, and for her strongly worded and incisive opinions, many of which concern women’s rights and discrimination.

After her much-anticipated visit to UB, Ginsburg will meet with members of the Western New York legal community, including at an evening event at Kleinhans Music Hall.