It's Official: Scalia Is Name of GMU Law School

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA -- Members of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia unanimously affirmed a revised resolution Tuesday -- that George Mason University's Board of Visitors has the final say in the renaming of its law school for late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

The law school will be named for the controversial conservative Scalia, after an anonymous $20 million donation was made asking that it be name for him and $10 million donation from conservative philanthropist Charles Koch.

The unamious affirmation by voice vote Tuesday of the revised resolution was based on legal advice from the Office of the Virginia Attorney General, which stated that the new name is honorary and does not change the mission, programming or enrollment in ways that would make it come under SCHEV's authority, the Council said.

Speakers at the meeting's public-comment period, who included Del. Marcus Simon who started a petition to stop the naming of the school after Scalia, represented many points of view, according to a spokesman.

Simon tweeted out this message Tuesday:

Other speakers included faculty and students who spoke both for and against the proposal, as well as the dean of the law school and the president of the university, the Council spokesman said.

David Rehr, senior associate dean and professor of law at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, issued a statement Tuesday:

“We are pleased with the unanimous consent from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV)," he said.

"The generous major gifts to George Mason University will help position us prominently among leading law schools and open many doors for future students through scholarships and other major academic objectives. We thank the many scholars, public officials and legal experts from across the ideological spectrum who have lent their name in support of the Antonin Scalia Law School.”

PHOTO of late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia/US Supreme Court photo