Ginsburg-Scalia Fellowship
Ideologically Opposed.
Collegially Engaged.
The New Civil Liberties Alliance is pleased to announce that applications are open for the Ginsburg-Scalia Fellowship program, taking place one night each week from May 29 to July 31, 2024 in Washington, D.C.
Fellows who complete the program receive $1,000 honorarium.
Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia defended civil liberties, albeit from opposite ends of the jurisprudential spectrum. Their legendary friendship was a beacon of collegiality in a world increasingly clouded by partisan rancor.
In their honor, the New Civil Liberties Alliance has instituted the Ginsburg-Scalia Fellowship, a prestigious summer program for law students to explore the denial of core constitutional rights by the Administrative State: freedom of expression, freedom of association, religious liberty, due process, freedom from unreasonable search, and equality before the law.
NCLA selects 18 Fellows from both sides of the political aisle – nine Ruth Bader Ginsburg Fellows and nine Antonin Scalia Fellows – nominated for participation by the law firms where they will be working as summer associates. Fellows attend nine evening dinner lectures in May, June and July, led by renowned legal scholars, judges, government officials, and respected legal practitioners, including Randy Barnett, Don Elliott, Philip Hamburger, Gary Lawson, Hon. Neomi Rao, John Yoo, and others.
In honor of the collegial tradition of Justices Ginsburg and Scalia, the fellowship opens with an introductory dinner and visit to the Opera House at the Kennedy Center to see an opera. The program culminates in a civil public debate between two notable attorneys who come at a key constitutional issue from opposite ideological perspectives. This final debate celebrates the nonpartisan nature of our basic civil liberties, as well as the legal profession’s historical role in safeguarding those freedoms against infringement by the Administrative State.