National Public Radio Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg delivered the 36th annual Leopold Lecture at Cahn Auditorium on Tuesday night.
Speaking to hundreds of attendees, Totenberg reflected on decades of experience reporting on the Supreme Court and provided insights into modern-day legal developments, such as the Court’s shift to a 6-3 conservative majority and the increased use of the emergency docket. Sociology Prof. Laura Nielsen moderated the sold-out talk in a Q&A format.
The Leopold Lecture, established in 1990, invites esteemed public figures and scholars to NU’s campus in memory of history professor emeritus Richard W. Leopold.
Totenberg, who has been NPR’s legal correspondent since 1975, has won prestigious journalism awards throughout her career. In 2022, Totenberg published a New York Times bestselling memoir titled “Dinners With Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships,” in which she reflected on her relationship with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Totenberg began by recounting her path into legal journalism and describing her approach to covering the Court — particularly having not attended law school.
When covering a story, Totenberg said she focuses on understanding the situation by highlighting the principal arguments, being accurate and not getting “stuck in the weeds.” She said her ultimate goal is bringing understanding to her audience.
“You have to make it easier,” Totenberg said. “The idea is not to make it so complicated that nobody wants to listen to it or hear it.”
Totenberg also emphasized the importance of including strong interviews on both sides of her stories so that “there’s some tension.”
When asked about her own consumption of legal journalism, however, Totenberg’s response prompted laughter from the audience.
“When I get home after a long, hard day, do I want to listen to a podcast about the Supreme Court?” Totenberg said. “No, I want to watch ‘Law and Order.’”
Addressing the Supreme Court’s current 6-3 conservative makeup, Totenberg said President Donald Trump’s three first-term appointments fundamentally reshaped the Court’s ideological divide, with the conservative justices being “far more conservative” than any group of justices she had previously covered.
“There is no center,” Totenberg said. “I don’t personally think that’s a healthy thing for a Court, but it is what it is.”
Despite this, Totenberg said she doesn’t think the U.S. is in a constitutional crisis — at least not yet.
Totenberg highlighted the Court’s expanded use of the emergency docket, requests for immediate intervention made without full briefings or arguments, particularly in regard to the last three administrations.
She said she believes more dockets are being granted because the court is “very deferential to the executive branch.”
“When the executive branch comes in and says, ‘This is an emergency. We need you to block the lower court decision, and the consequences will be very dire if you don’t,’ I think their natural instinct is to grant it,” Totenberg said.
Tackling hot-button issues, Totenberg’s lecture drew members of the NU community as well as Evanston residents.
Weinberg freshman Julia Knispel, who attended the lecture, said it sparked her interest due to the way it merged her interests as a pre-law student studying political science.
“I don’t know a lot about journalism, but hearing her perspective as a journalist and not necessarily a lawyer or something that you would typically hear from, I thought that would be interesting,” Knispel said.
Knispel also said Totenberg “humanized” Ginsburg, who Knispel described as a “stoic, serious person,” through descriptions of their friendship.
A fan of Totenberg since she was young, Weinberg freshman Sarah Price, who also attended the lecture, said the conversation highlighted journalism’s role in sustaining an informed democracy.
“It’s really on citizens to find out about their government, and I think journalists really help us with that,” Price said. “I would have no idea what the Supreme Court is doing if it weren’t for NPR and hearing Nina Totenberg as a kid every morning.”
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