Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg "Legally Speaking" Interview Airs Nationally Tonight (9/30/11)

SAN FRANCISCO, 9/30/11 -- University of California Hastings College of the Law, the first law school of the American West, was honored to welcome U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on September 15, 2011. Justice Ginsburg was interviewed by Professor Joan C. Williams before a fully packed auditorium of legal students, alumni, faculty, and practitioners and others as part of Legally Speaking, a series of probing interviews with prominent lawyers, judges, and academics, co-produced by UC Hastings and California Lawyer.  

• The debut C-SPAN2 airing is tonight, Friday, September 30, at 5:00pm PST.  
• An additional C-SPAN2 airing is set tonight for 10:05pm PST.
• A third airing is set for C-SPAN on Sunday, October 2, at 1:25pm PST.     

Professor Williams began the conversation by thanking Justice Ginsburg for her presence, and alluded to an incident the day before in which Justice Ginsburg was forced to evacuate her flight to San Francisco.

"Not everybody is willing to jump out of a plane onto an inflatable slide," joked Professor Williams.

"I had not planned that as part of my journey here," replied Justice Ginsburg.
 
The interview touched on a broad range of subjects, from opera to marriage to work/life balance, doctrinal questions, gay rights, the death sentence, and cases from the 1970's to present, including the court's role in establishing individual rights and equal protection.
 
"You can have all the rights in the world," said Justice Ginsburg, "but if you can't enforce them, they don't mean very much."

Related Links

• C-SPAN Library: Conversation with Justice Ginsburg.  
• Ruth Bader Ginsburg San Francisco Speech: Supreme Court Justice Talks Death Penalty, Gay Rights At UC Hastings -- Article by Paul Elias, Huffington Post
• Legally Speaking: Conversations with the Most Interesting Lawyers in the World
• Professor Joan C. Williams, Distinguished Professor of Law, UC Hastings Foundation Chair, Founding Director of the Center for WorkLife Law
• Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Historic Visit to UC Hastings, Meets Students, Interviewed by Professor Joan C. Williams 

About UC Hastings College of the Law

UC Hastings College of the Law was founded in 1878 as the first law department of the University of California. Located in San Francisco's Civic center, steps from City Hall, the State and Federal Buildings, the State Supreme, Superior and Appellate Courts as well as the United States District Court and Court of Appeals, the law school is an integral part of the fabric of the City of San Francisco and the California Judicial System. Over the past 133 years, UC Hastings has served as the law school of choice for an ever-increasing diversity of students. UC Hastings alumni span the globe and are among the most respected lawyers, judges, public servants, and business leaders today.