Foley Women’s History Month Program: A Fireside Chat with Nina Totenberg about the Next SCOTUS Nominee

Foley’s National Women Attorneys Network hosted a virtual conversation with NPR award-winning legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg and Foley partner Jeanne M. Gills on March 8 in honor of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day.

As one of America’s foremost reporters on the United States Supreme Court, Totenberg reflected on the role of women on the Court and provided insights about President Biden’s SCOTUS nominee — Ketanji Brown Jackson.

When Totenberg started at NPR, she said it was a little-known radio program carried by mostly female talent willing to accept the low pay. When she started covering the Supreme Court, it was made up mostly of white protestant men. Today, “NPR is on every platform you can think of” and “it’s a completely different Supreme Court” on the verge of history, Totenberg said.

“There are so many qualified Black women on the bench today, but Judge Brown Jackson was a no-brainer for Biden.” With her superb education and practice qualifications, key endorsements, and recent promotion to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, “it was my sense from the beginning that this was always going to be her nomination.”

Sharing her insider’s perspective, Totenberg explained that if the Senate Judiciary Committee members do most of the talking during Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearings “that’s all to the good.” She also said not to expect many votes from the Republican side given how polarized the process has become. And if Brown Jackson is confirmed, her background as a public defender is likely to be reflected in her decisions. “A new justice always changes the chemistry of the Court – and it’s not insignificant that she would be the first Black woman on the Court.”

Gilles pivoted the conversation to Totenberg’s long-time professional and personal relationship with the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. They first met when Totenberg called Ginsburg to learn more about the Supreme Court brief Ginsburg had submitted on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union in Reed v. Reed. This brief marked the beginning of Ginsburg’s strategy focused on the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and the Court’s decision marked a turning point in the fight to advance gender equality.

Totenberg closed the program by thanking the 400+ firm members and clients – both women and men – who tuned in, and offering a piece of advice to the women:

Pick your battles. You can’t have a battle on everything and win.

At Foley, we are proud of the remarkable women doing notable work throughout our 25 offices and inspired by the accomplishments of Ginsburg, Brown Jackson, Totenberg, and the many women of influence throughout history.

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