The Ruth Bader Ginsburg Scholar Award
2024 Winner
The American Constitution Society has selected Miriam Seifter, Professor of Law, Co-Director of the State Democracy Research Initiative, and Rowe Faculty Fellow in Regulatory Law at the University of Wisconsin Law School, to receive the 2024 Ruth Bader Ginsburg Scholar Award.
Professor Seifter, who once was herself a clerk for Justice Ginsburg, has distinguished herself through her creation of the State Democracy Research Initiative in 2021, with fellow UW Law faculty member Rob Yablon. Professors Seifter and Yablon established SDRI to serve as a hub for research and dialogue on state-level democracy, government institutions, and public law around the nation—vital topics that are too often overlooked in favor of the federal legal landscape. Since 2022, the SDRI has released multiple research reports, launched three interactive websites to help educate the public about state constitutions, submitted more than a dozen amicus briefs in state supreme courts across the country, and hosted numerous convenings to build community in the field. Read more»
Selection Committee members:
- Joseph Fishkin, Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law
- Aziz Huq, Frank and Bernice J. Greenberg Professor of Law at the University of Chicago School of Law
- Dahlia Lithwick, Senior Editor at Slate
- Leah Litman, Professor of Law at the University of Michigan School of Law
- Micah Schwartzman, Hardy Cross Dillard Professor of Law; Roy L. and Rosamond Woodruff Morgan Professor of Law; Director, Karsh Center for Law and Democracy at University of Virginia School of Law
- Julie Suk, Professor of Law at Fordham University School of Law
About
The American Constitution Society’s Ruth Bader Ginsburg Award recognizes an outstanding scholar in the early stages of their academic career who has demonstrated those qualities exemplified by Justice Ginsburg: scholarly excellence, the ability to imagine how society might be more just and more equal, and the determination to use the law and one’s scholarship to creatively and strategically make the imagined real.
Recognition
The Awardee will be recognized at the ACS 2024 National Convention taking place on June 6-8, 2024 in Atlanta, GA, via media release, on the ACS website, and will receive a cash prize of $5,000.
Nominations
Nominations for the 2024 Award are no longer being accepted. Please stay tuned for information on how to nominate for the 2025 Award.
To nominate a candidate or self-nominate for the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Scholar Award, download, complete, and email this cover sheet with the following materials to RBGaward@acslaw.org:
- A resume or CV
- A statement by the person nominating the candidate or by the candidate if self-nominating of 500 to 1500 words, double spaced, setting forth the candidate’s qualifications for the award
- PDFs of three papers or a book that demonstrate the candidate’s qualifications for the award
Please contact ACS Vice President of Policy and Program Christopher Wright Durocher at cdurocher@acslaw.org with any questions.
Eligibility
For the 2024 Award, tenure-track or tenured faculty or faculty with similar status who have been full-time law teachers for 10 years or less as of June 30, 2023 are eligible. Check back for eligibility requirements for future awards.