George Mason University Renames Law School after Justice Scalia
George Mason University has renamed its law school the "Antonin Scalia School of Law" in honor of the late Supreme Court justice.
The Board of Visitors announce the decision Thursday after the university received donations totaling $30 million.
George Mason's law school has grown rapidly over the years, but Justice Scalia will always be an important figure in the school's history. Justice Scalia spoke at the dedication of the law school building in 1999 and was a guest lecturer at the university.
"It is a tribute altogether fitting that George Mason University's law school will bear his name... Scalia, grand master in life and law," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said of her late colleague.
"His career embodies our law school's motto of 'learn, challenge, lead," said law school Dean Henry N. Butler in a statement. "As a professor and jurist, he challenged those around him to be rigorous, intellectually honest, and consistent in their arguments."
Leonardo A. Leo, a member of the Federalist Society and friend of the Scalia, also commented on the school's renaming in a statement released by the university.
"The Scalia family is pleased to see George Mason name its law school after the justice, helping to memorialize his commitment to a legal education that is grounded in academic freedom and a recognition of the practice of law as an honorable and intellectually rigorous craft," he said.
