The robe was dedicated at the on Nov. 16 with university officials and Brandeis descendants taking part in the event.

“We have several artifacts of Justice Brandeis’s in our archive collection, but the robe he wore while serving as a justice personifies him in a way that no other item can,” said Brandeis School of Law Dean Melanie B. Jacobs. “Seeing the robe – and knowing its history – is thrilling and brings us closer to him as a person in a way no other artifact does.”

The robe was donated by Rick Raushenbush, Brandeis’s great-grandson, on behalf of the family of Walter Raushenbush. Rick Raushenbush and his brother, the Rev. Paul Raushenbush, took part in the dedication ceremony with UofL Provost Gerry Bradley and Jacobs.

The Brandeis School of Law Class of 2011, led by Dean’s Advisory Board Chair Gulam Zade of Nashville, provided funding for the protective case necessary for the robe’s permanent home in the law school’s Cox Faculty Lounge. Assisting Zade with raising funds were Class of 2011 alumni Chris Ballantine, Guion Johnstone and Sandra Moon.

A native of Louisville born in 1856, Brandeis did not attend college at the University of Louisville. However, he was a strong supporter of the university and its law school, which was named after him in 1997. He donated his personal papers, books, pamphlets and library, which includes rare texts on early civil and common law, to the school. 

The Brandeis School of Law lives up to Brandeis’s belief in a strong devotion to public service, an interdisciplinary approach to law and a commitment to liberty. Brandeis law students are required to complete 30 hours of public service at approved placements after the first semester of their first year of law school.

Brandeis was nominated for the court by President Woodrow Wilson in January 1916. Known as the “People’s Lawyer,” he was a prominent attorney of his time. He challenged monopolies, criticized investment banks, advocated for workers’ rights and called for the protection of civil liberties.

He also was the first Jewish jurist to be nominated to and sit on the Supreme Court. His nomination was grueling, with opponents accusing him of being radical and lacking judicial temperament. However, he became one of the most respected and influential members of the Supreme Court. He served on the court from June 1916 until his retirement in February 1939.

Brandeis died in 1941 and his cremated remains are interred at the Brandeis School of Law along with those of his wife, Alice Goldmark Brandeis (1866-1945). 

Lawrence keynoted the school’s commemoration of Constitution Day 2023, which kicked off a in celebration of as UofL’s 19^th president and was part of the yearlong series of events marking the university’s 225^th anniversary.

Lawrence today is the secretary of the Phi Beta Kappa Society and was previously president of Brandeis University and dean of George Washington University’s School of Law. His topic was the role of universities in a fully functioning democracy.

He opened with a quotation from Justice Louis D. Brandeis: “If we are to be led by the light of reason, let our minds be bold.” And he closed with a quote from Brandeis’ protégé, Justice Felix Frankfurter: “To regard teachers—in our entire educational system, from the primary grades to the university—as the priests of our democracy is … not to indulge in hyperbole.”

“It is the special task of teachers to foster those habits of open-mindedness and critical inquiry which alone make for responsible citizens who in turn make possible an enlightened and effective public opinion (needed to create a functioning democracy),” he said.

“A renewed and strengthened national commitment to accessible and inclusive education will not only permit members of our society to live more meaningful lives, and more productive lives, but it will allow our nation to resist authoritarian impulses and embrace the openness of mind and spirit that are as essential today for a self-governing people in a democratic society as they were … 236 years ago when the framers signed the Constitution. …

“Indeed, the ultimate authority of their signing and the ultimate authority to which we must continue to appeal and which our nation is duty bound to educate, is, ‘We the People.’”

Lawrence’s address was followed by a spirited panel discussion that included Brandeis Law professors Cedric Merlin Powell, Enid Trucios-Haynes and Joe Dunman and UofL General Counsel Angela Curry.

The presentation can be viewed in its entirety A photo gallery from the event is