Professor Resnik and Justice Ginsburg Uphold Women’s Rights in Re-enactment of 19th Century Case

About 700 attendees of the 2011 Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference held in mid-August watched Arthur Liman Professor of Law Judith Resnik spar in a courtroom with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, ultimately convincing Justice Ginsburg to accept Myra Bradwell’s application to the Illinois State Bar. The two were taking part in the re-enactment of the 1872 U.S. Supreme Court case Bradwell v. Illinois, in which the High Court concurred with the Supreme Court of Illinois in denying Myra Bradwell’s application to the Illinois Bar because of her gender. Justice Ginsburg presided over the mock case and Professor Resnik successfully represented Bradwell, despite facing a formidable opponent in Sidley Austin attorney Carter Phillips, who has argued more than 70 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.