In 1993, she said, there was a "true bipartisan spirit" in the U.S. Senate. Even so, there were some among her supporters who were worried about her connections to the American Civil Liberties Union. However, not one question about those connections came up during her Senate hearings. Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah was in her corner then, she said.

"Today, he would not be," Ginsburg added.

She expressed hope for a return to a more bipartisan approach in government.

"Enough of this dysfunctional legislature. We're supposed to serve the people of the the United States," Ginsburg said.

She also expressed her distaste for the idea of expanding the Court from its current nine members.

The evening was held in Kleinhans in honor of the late Wayne Wisbaum, an attorney and former Cornell University classmate of Ginsburg's who served as president and board chair of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Kleinhans Music Hall Management. He was a grade below her, but they stayed in touch over the years, she recalled.

"Every time he came to D.C. to attend the American Law Institute ... he used to say the same thing: 'Please come to Buffalo.' And he was persistent,"