As the Supreme Court and the nation mourn the passing of trailblazing jurist Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the College of Law looks back with gratitude on her visits here in 1988 (when she was a D.C. Circuit judge) to deliver the David C. Baum Lecture, and in 1994 (after she had ascended to the Supreme Court) to celebrate the rededication of the Law Building. While on campus during the latter visit, Justice Ginsburg gave the keynote address in the dedicatory program at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, which was followed by a ribbon-cutting ceremony outside the law school and a reception in the (then-new) Peer and Sarah Pedersen Pavilion on the ground floor. As part of the two-day celebration, University President Stanley O. Ikenberry conferred an honorary doctor of laws degree upon Justice Ginsburg, making her an honorary member of the College of Law community.
Read her remarks from the dedicatory program.
Read the Baum lecture she delivered, later published as an article in the University of Illinois Law Review: "Confirming Supreme Court Justices: Thoughts on the Second Opinion Rendered by the Senate."