George Mason University School of Law to Be Renamed After Justice Antonin Scalia

The George Mason University School of Law, located just outside of Washington, DC, in Arlington, Virginia, is getting a new name. After a series of donations totaling $30 million, the school will be renamed after the late, great Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. The new full name of the school will be the Antonin Scalia School of Law at George Mason University.

The $30 million total in donations was the largest fundraising haul in the school’s history. An anonymous donor gave a staggering $20 million, and the Charles Koch Foundation donated $10 million. The Board of Visitors approved renaming the law school to honor Antonin Scalia’s recent passing–the $20 million donation was contingent on that name change.  By July, the name change will be complete, including signs and logos.

The money will go to funding three new scholarships at the law school. According to Bloomberg:

One, called the Antonin Scalia Scholarship, will award students with top academic credentials. Another, the A. Linwood Holton, Jr. Leadership Scholarship, will award students who have overcome barriers to academic success, demonstrated outstanding leadership qualities, or who have helped others overcome discrimination in any facet of life. The third, the F.A. Hayek Law, Legislation and Liberty Scholarship, will award students who have demonstrated interest in studying the application of economic principles to the law.

George Mason’s Law School does have a conservative lean, rendering the new Scalia name particularly appropriate–many of its professors are known for being libertarian.

Scalia’s colleague, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg lent her support for the renaming, stating:

Justice Scalia was a law teacher, public servant, legal commentator, and jurist nonpareil. As a colleague who held him in highest esteem and great affection, I miss his bright company and the stimulus he provided, his opinions ever challenging me to meet his best efforts with my own. It is a tribute altogether fitting that George Mason University’s law school will bear his name. May the funds for scholarships, faculty growth, and curricular development aid the Antonin Scalia School of Law to achieve the excellence characteristic of Justice Scalia, grand master in life and law.

If George Mason Law is looking to climb up in various law school rankings and attract more students–offering these scholarships is certainly a solid start.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.