The National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) has recognized Michigan Law Professor Leah Litman, ’10—along with her cohosts of the Strict Scrutiny podcast—with the Arabella Babb Mansfield Award.
“The highest award recognizing women in the legal profession, the Arabella Babb Mansfield Award is presented in recognition of lifetime professional achievement, positive influence, and valuable contribution to women in the law and in society,” according to the association. The oldest award given by the group, it is named after the first woman admitted to a state bar in the US.
Past recipients of the award include Stacey Abrams, the author, activist, and former Georgia legislator; Deborah Archer, the president of the American Civil Liberties Union and an associate dean at the New York University School of Law; Rhonda Powell, chief legal officer and corporate secretary for Buzzfeed; Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota; and Supreme Court justices Sonia Sotomayor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Elena Kagan.
NAWL presented this year’s award to Litman along with Melissa Murray and Kate Shaw. Together, they host the popular Strict Scrutiny podcast from Crooked Media. Strict Scrutiny takes an irreverent look at the US Supreme Court and the culture surrounding it.
“I’m honored and moved to be recognized with this award alongside my co-hosts,” Litman said. “Elevating and highlighting women’s voices was an important part of starting the podcast, and hearing from women law students and aspiring law students—or just women interested in the law—is one of the best parts of it. It is very meaningful to have our podcast and its unique perspective mentioned alongside such incredible previous honorees like Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Justice Elena Kagan, and Stacey Abrams.”
In addition to this latest recognition, other recent honors awarded to Litman have included the American Constitution Society’s Ruth Bader Ginsburg Scholar Award, the American Law Institute’s Early Career Scholars Medal, and Michigan Law’s L. Hart Wright Teaching Award. Strict Scrutiny won an Ambie Award in 2023 for Best Politics or Opinion Podcast.
Litman teaches and writes on constitutional law, federal courts, and federal post-conviction review. Her research examines unidentified and implicit values that are used to structure the legal system, the federal courts, and the legal profession. Earlier this year, she published the New York Times best seller Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes (Atria/One Signal Publishers, 2025). Litman’s other recent work has appeared in several prominent law reviews and news outlets.
In addition to teaching, Litman maintains an active pro bono practice. She was part of the ACLU’s litigation team in Rouch World v. Dep’t of Civil Rights, the Michigan Supreme Court case holding that the state’s public accommodations law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Litman argued the case before the Michigan Supreme Court. In 2023, US Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson cited her work in a dissent to Jones v. Hendrix, along with work by Professor Eve Brensike Primus, ’01.
The mission of the National Association of Women Lawyers is “to provide leadership, a collective voice, and essential resources to advance women in the legal profession and advocate for the equality of women under the law.” The group has been active since 1899.
