Nina Totenberg
Nina Totenberg is NPR's award-winning legal affairs correspondent. Her reports air regularly on NPR's critically acclaimed newsmagazines All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and Weekend Edition.
Totenberg's coverage of the Supreme Court and legal affairs has won her widespread recognition. She is often featured in documentaries — most recently RBG — that deal with issues before the court. As Newsweek put it, "The mainstays [of NPR] are Morning Edition and All Things Considered. But the creme de la creme is Nina Totenberg."
In 1991, her ground-breaking report about University of Oklahoma Law Professor Anita Hill's allegations of sexual harassment by Judge Clarence Thomas led the Senate Judiciary Committee to re-open Thomas's Supreme Court confirmation hearings to consider Hill's charges. NPR received the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award for its gavel-to-gavel coverage — anchored by Totenberg — of both the original hearings and the inquiry into Anita Hill's allegations, and for Totenberg's reports and exclusive interview with Hill.
That same coverage earned Totenberg additional awards, including the Long Island University George Polk Award for excellence in journalism; the Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists for investigative reporting; the Carr Van Anda Award from the Scripps School of Journalism; and the prestigious Joan S. Barone Award for excellence in Washington-based national affairs/public policy reporting, which also acknowledged her coverage of Justice Thurgood Marshall's retirement.
Totenberg was named Broadcaster of the Year and honored with the 1998 Sol Taishoff Award for Excellence in Broadcasting from the National Press Foundation. She is the first radio journalist to receive the award. She is also the recipient of the American Judicature Society's first-ever award honoring a career body of work in the field of journalism and the law. In 1988, Totenberg won the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Silver Baton for her coverage of Supreme Court nominations. The jurors of the award stated, "Ms. Totenberg broke the story of Judge (Douglas) Ginsburg's use of marijuana, raising issues of changing social values and credibility with careful perspective under deadline pressure."
Totenberg has been honored seven times by the American Bar Association for continued excellence in legal reporting and has received more than two dozen honorary degrees. On a lighter note, Esquire magazine twice named her one of the "Women We Love."
A frequent contributor on TV shows, she has also written for major newspapers and periodicals — among them, The New York Times Magazine, The Harvard Law Review, The Christian Science Monitor, and New York Magazine, and others.
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Supporters and opponents of Judges Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Barrett have waged a fierce battle for their candidate. But are the differences little more than a summer camp color war? -
President Trump has reportedly narrowed his list of Supreme Court nominees down to three. NPR's Nina Totenberg talks to Ailsa Chang about who is on that list — and what we know about them.
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Trump said he will make the announcement Monday night at 9 p.m. at the White House. He is deciding between Judges Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett and Raymond Kethledge. -
The Supreme Court justice may believe that rights once recognized will not be taken away, but President Trump is about to get his second nominee to the court and it's sure to be a conservative. -
The Supreme Court term ended this week with several big decisions and a retirement announcement that is still sending shock waves through Washington, D.C. NPR's Nina Totenberg and Tom Goldstein of SCOTUSblog review the big takeaways from the term.
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Kennedy, a moderate and a champion for gay rights, is retiring. President Trump will likely replace him with a staunch conservative, which would fundamentally shift the culture of the court.
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Justice Kennedy is a moderate and a champion for the gay-rights movement. President Trump will likely replace him with a staunch conservative, which would fundamentally shift the culture of the court. -
The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that public sector unions are no longer allowed to compel workers to pay dues. This represents a blow to organized labor.
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The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that states may not force public employees to pay agency fees to unions of which they are not a member. -
The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the Trump administration's travel ban. It also struck down California rules that forced crisis pregnancy centers to disclose their anti-abortion rights policies.
