Roman L. Hruska Institute
The Roman L. Hruska Institute was pleased to host United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who spoke in Lincoln on April 7, 2006, at the University of Nebraska College of Law. Her lecture was titled, "Maintaining the Independence of the U.S. Judiciary." (For pictures, click here.) Please see the Omaha World Herald article below.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was born in Brooklyn, New York, March 15, 1933. She married Martin D. Ginsburg in 1954, has a daughter, Jane, and a son, James. She received her B.A. from Cornell University, attended Harvard Law School, and received her LL.B from Columbia Law School.

Ginsburg served as a law clerk to the Honorable Edmund L. Palmieri, Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, from 1959-1961. From 1961-1963, she was a research associate and then associate director of the Columbia Law School Project on International Procedure. She was a Professor of Law at Rutgers University School of Law from 1963-1972, and Columbia Law School from 1972-1980, and a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in Stanford, California from 1977-1978.

In 1971, she was instrumental in launching 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.

Ginsburg was appointed a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1980. President Clinton nominated her as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, and she took her seat August 10, 1993.

The Roman L. Hruska Institute for the Administration of Justice was established in 1995 to "educate lawyers, law students, and the public-at-large in Nebraska to the importance of the administration of justice, particularly at the federal level through the conduct of symposia or lectures." In planning the symposia or lectures funded by the Institute, a special effort is made to reflect the issues and activities to which Senator Roman L. Hruska devoted his professional and Congressional career.

The Institute recognizes the career of the late Senator Hruska who served as United States Senator for Nebraska from 1954 to 1977, and who participated prominently in efforts to enhance the administration of justice in the Federal Courts. His contributions to the law include many of the crime control reform acts of the 1970's.

The Hruska Institute is a joint effort of the Nebraska State Bar Foundation and the University of Nebraska College of Law.

 


Sen. Roman L. Hruska

 

 

 

 

Published Friday
April 7, 2006

Ginsburg: Foreign rulings instructive

BY BILL HORD
WORLD HERALD BUREAU

LINCOLN - To a round of applause, Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Friday that it would be "a bad idea" to allow Congress to overturn U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

The applause came from an appreciative audience at the University of Nebraska College of Law in Lincoln, where more than 500 students, local judges, lawyers and administrators listened to her 40 minute lecture on the value of an independent judiciary.

Ginsburg, 73, was guest lecturer for the Roman L. Hruska Institute for the Administration of Justice at the law college. She is the third Supreme Court justice to give the institute's annual lecture.

She was appointed in 1993 by President Bill Clinton. With the retirement of Sandra Day O'Connor, Ginsburg is the lone woman on the high court.

Ginsburg said the independence of the U.S. judiciary has survived past attempts to exert legislative control but is once again being challenged.

"In some political circles," Ginsburg said, "it is fashionable to criticize and even threaten federal judges who decide cases without regard to what the home crowd wants."

She cited various proposals that, if successful, would restrict the independence of federal judges.

Congressional leaders, Ginsburg said, have suggested that Congress hold the judiciary accountable for unpopular decisions. The House Judiciary Committee considered creating an office of inspector general for the judiciary to investigate allegations of judicial misconduct.

Ginsburg said she was troubled by another congressional proposal to keep federal courts from referring to foreign legal decisions. She said justices examine foreign legal cases but do not consider them binding.

Another troubling proposal, she said, would allow a two thirds vote of Congress to overturn a judicial decision.

She said the legislative branch's ultimate weapon against judges was impeachment.

"History bears out that Congress is unlikely to employ the nuclear weapon impeachment against judges who decide cases in a way that the home crowd does not want," Ginsburg said.

In 217 years, the House of Representatives has impeached 13 judges, all for illegal behavior, not for making unpopular decisions,

Another serious threat, she said, is the "political hazing" of Supreme Court nominees during the confirmation process.

She said attempts to uncover hidden ideological agendas, rather than examine qualifications, started with Clinton nominees and have continued with nominees of President Bush.

Ginsburg's topic resonated with the law students.

"It was very exciting hearing from a sitting Supreme Court justice," said first year law student Kristin Farwell of Kearney. "The entire theme made it a very remarkable address."

Christie Higgins, a law student from Grand Island, was impressed that Ginsburg made her points about judicial independence by giving historical examples of restrictions in other countries such as Russia, Ecuador and Uganda.

Earlier in the day, Ginsburg answered questions of a mass media law class during a 45 minute appearance at the College of Journalism and Mass Communications.

She told the journalism students that her own confirmation process in 1993 was "dull" by today's standards.

"No one was trying to trip me up," she said.

Reprinted with permission from the Omaha World Herald.