Tuesday marked an important day for the Arizona State University community; particularly those associated with ASU’s Law School. Since its inception in 1965, the Sandra Day O’ Connor College of Law has remained where ASU’s main campus is, in Tempe, Arizona. However the construction of the new $129 million law school building in downtown Phoenix has been underway since July 2014. On June 9, the final beam was hoisted atop a six-story building under construction, attesting to the fact that the initial plans for the building’s completion by 2016 are still very alive.

Dozens of residents, council members, community leaders, law school faculty, and many more crowded at the foundation of the structure on Tuesday. One by one they signed their names and the date on a large piece of steel meant to complete the final piece of the foundation. The crowd cheered away as if at a Cardinals vs. Seahawks game as the massive section was hoisted up by crane and carried to its place six stories up.

Located in downtown Phoenix, the new location of the law school could not be more ideal. With more than 12 major law firms located within walking distance of the new campus, students will have even more networking and job opportunities than ever before. In a press release, the school’s president, Michael M. Crow, stated the following:

Having the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law in downtown Phoenix fits perfectly with ASU’s mission of building strong learning and career connections with media, health care, corporate and government organizations for the more than 11,500 students at the downtown campus.

The new location is set to have high-tech equipment and state-of-the-art facilities with the goal of taking teaching and learning to a new level. Amid the 280,000 square foot structure, students can expect a brand new Ross Blakely Law Library, two think tanks, multiple centers with cross-disciplinary focus, and also the new ASU Alumni Law Group, the first teaching law firm associated with a law school. The new law school will also feature one large lecture hall for undergraduate students, as well as cafes and restaurants on the first floor.

Funding for the new law school comes from a combination of donors and alumni, as well as $12 million and land from the city of Phoenix. Local Phoenix attorney Leo Beus and his wife Annette donated $10 million to the effort.

As witnessed Tuesday on site, the majority of the ASU community is thrilled about the new location for the Sandra Day O’ Connor Law School. Despite having established a well known presence and fostered a home within the learning environment for thousands of students throughout its 50 years at Tempe, those affiliated with the school view the construction as a positive change. Many alumni expressed that as long as the College of Law maintains the same standards and ensures that the Armstrong name is honored–the current law school sits in Armstrong Hall– the new location for the law school is a big leap forward.

Symon Rowlands

Symon Rowlands is a member of the University of Miami Class of 2016 and was a Law Street Media Fellow during the Summer of 2015. Symon now blogs for Law Street, focusing mostly on politics. Contact Symon at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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It’s Women’s History Month, and I think it’s pretty widely recognized that four great role models are the three sitting and one former female Supreme Court justices. As the only women ever on the highest court, Justices Sandra Day O’Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotamayor are pretty recognizably badass, regardless of their various ideologies. Ginsburg, Kagan, and Sotomayor anchor the liberal wing of the Supreme Court, and consistently write some of the most on point and compelling decisions. O’Connor, despite having retired in 2006, continues to work as an activist. In fact, her startup non-profit iCivics was recently awarded a MacArthur Grant to continue its amazing work in American civics education.

Now these four ladies are obviously recognized and lauded on a near-daily basis. There are a lot of awards, speaking engagements, and the like. But I think they just got one of their coolest honors recently–a fan made a set of Legos called the “Legal Justice League” that depict the four justices.

Image courtesy of Maia Weinstock via Flickr

How adorable is that? RBG even has her signature white collar, and Kagan’s hairstyle is spot on. Here’s another picture–look at them working!

Image courtesy of Maia Weinstock via Flickr

Anyway, these are a great, sweet representation of some of the top female minds in American jurisprudence. The creator, Maia Weinstock, stated about her figures:

This set of custom-designed LEGO minifigures, U.S. Supreme Court replica, and SCOTUS library/study aims to celebrate the accomplishments of women in the legal realm, and to encourage girls and women to work toward high positions in the U.S. judicial system.

While I personally think this would be a great set for LEGO to manufacture, the company turned down the idea after Weinstock submitted it. It has a “no politics or political symbols” rule. However, the Supreme Court isn’t, in and of itself, political. It’s actually supposed to be the opposite–a politically agnostic institution tasked with interpreting the law regardless of party lines. While that doesn’t always necessarily happen in practice, I don’t know that making figurines of the female Supreme Court justices–three liberal and one conservative–really makes any sort of political statement.

Although toys have been moving toward being more gender neutral and inclusive in recent years, many little girls’ toys–particularly dolls–still fall more into the Barbie or Bratz category. While there’s nothing wrong with those toys per se, it would be great for young girls to have more options and more exposure to real female role models.

Regardless of LEGO’s decision not to run with them,  Weinstock’s Legal Justice League figures are a great homage to the indubitably awesome female justices, and a great celebration of Women’s History Month!

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.

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If you like to collect Supreme Court memorabilia (I mean, who doesn’t?) one of the greatest things you can have is a Supreme Court bobblehead doll.

Law professor Ross Davies from George Mason University came up with the idea about ten years ago. He claims it just came to him while he was in the shower. Since then, he has designed 16 miniature bobblehead versions of Supreme Court justices. Created in Bellvue, Wash. by Alexander Global Productions, four sitting justices are featured: Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Antonin Scalia, and Anthony Kennedy.

Every single detail of the justices’ likenesses has some sort of hidden meaning. For example, mini bobblehead Sandra Day O’Connor wears the same shoes real O’Connor wore when she made history as the first female Supreme Court justice. Little David Souter plays a Modest Mouse song that he referenced in a copyright case when he sat on the court. Tiny Ginsburg stands on the parade grounds of Virginia Military University, a reference to the opinion she wrote striking down their all-male admissions policy. Collectors get together to decode all the details of their favorite bobbleheads. According to one of Davies’ co-creators, Gregory Jacob, “It’s like proof of their legal geekdom.”

Now before you rush out to the store to try to get one, it’s important to point out that these delightful little items are not available for sale — they’re given out for free. The easiest way to get your hands on one is to subscribe to The Green Bag, a legal journal co-edited by Davies. Whenever a bobblehead is finished, one is sent to the justice, and others are given out for free to people with vouchers who claim their prizes at a Washington DC law office. If you aren’t one of those lucky, voucher-winning fans, you might still get one through the occasional law school fundraiser auction, or perhaps for hundreds of dollares on Ebay.

The Justices themselves are great fans of their ceramic likenesses. Davies still has a thank you letter from former Chief Justice Rehnquist, who was the subject of the first bobblehead. Stephen Breyer collects his coworkers. They’re popular among other legal scholars as well. Charmiane Claxton is a federal judge in Tenn. who collects them, even getting her Scalia and O’Connor dolls signed by the justices themselves.

Because of the format in which they are released, some experts have called them  “some of rarest bobbleheads ever produced.” Certificates were recently released for the newest justice to be immortalized in bobble form: John Blair. According to Davies, he’s working on Stephen Breyer’s bobblehead now.

So on that note, Happy New Year everyone! One of my new New Year’s resolutions is to get one of these bobbleheads in 2014 — who’s with me?

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Anneliese Mahoney (@AMahoney8672) is Lead 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.

Featured image courtesy of [Jeff Kubina via Flickr]

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.

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