Risa Goluboff Gives Second Annual Soifer Lecture
Goluboff’s lecture at Richardson Law explored reverence for the rule of law and the American tradition of dissent
On March 3, 2026, the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa hosted the second annual Soifer Lecture, welcoming renowned legal historian Professor Risa Goluboff for a discussion on the role of law in American society.
Professor Goluboff, who served as the 12th dean of the University of Virginia School of Law and is a nationally recognized scholar of constitutional and civil rights history, posed a central question for the audience: What does it mean for Americans to revere the law, and how does that reverence interact with the traditions of critique, dissent, and protest that are equally central to American life? Drawing on Abraham Lincoln’s Lyceum Address, her lecture offered historical perspective on how respect for the rule of law has shaped—and been challenged by—American democracy across generations.
The Soifer Lecture Series honors Professor Emeritus Avi Soifer, a distinguished constitutional law scholar who served as dean of Richardson Law from 2003 to 2020 and continued teaching until his retirement in 2024. The series was established through a generous gift from the Hundt Family Foundation. Reed E. Hundt, Refounding America’s CEO and co-founder of the Foundation, was a classmate of Soifer’s at both Yale College and Yale Law School.
The inaugural Soifer Lecture, delivered in 2025 by Rutgers Law Professor Ellen P. Goodman, explored a related question: whether Americans should still revere the law, and how that reverence can be made justifiable and effective. Professor Goluboff’s lecture continued that inquiry by examining how legal reverence coexists with a robust tradition of democratic dissent.