Dinners With Ruth

Totenberg recalls the unpleasant surprise of needing surgery to repair a detached retina in 1976. Totenberg’s mother helped to care for her as she recovered from the surgery. The author notes that Ginsburg had already faced a similarly frightening situation, since in university, her husband Marty had undergone surgery and radiation for testicular cancer.

Later in life, Totenberg’s husband, Floyd, seriously injured his head after a bad fall. After several surgeries, Floyd was very disoriented due to “ICU psychosis” (81). Totenberg was exhausted with worry and tried from trying to live in the hospital with Floyd. She fondly remembers Ginsburg’s insightful advice to take care of herself and keep working throughout Floyd’s recovery in order to avoid burnout from caretaking. Totenberg explains, “And it was exactly the right advice, the best advice, and the words that I needed to hear” (81). Totenberg was relieved that, over time, Floyd began to recover physically and mentally. In hindsight, she realizes that she was also struggling and largely coped because of the support of her family and friends. She appreciated Ginsburg’s regular calls and frequent invitations to accompany her to dinner or the theater. Floyd’s recovery took years, and Totenberg’s mental health was impacted during this time. Her mother suggested that she take antidepressants, and her doctor agreed. After taking Prozac, Totenberg felt more in control of and optimistic about the future. Floyd’s health needs also put an extra financial burden on Totenberg, as she needed to work more to cover his medical expenses. Unfortunately, Floyd’s health worsened, and he was diagnosed with lung cancer; Totenberg again leaned on her family and circle of friends for support. Eventually, Floyd returned home from the hospital and even took up tennis and swimming again. Totenberg recalls her husband’s determination to get better and his desire to continue providing for her. A few years later, Floyd died of bronchitis while on vacation in Maine. Totenberg credits her friend Cokie with helping her to arrange his funeral and honor Floyd’s wish to be buried in the Arlington Military Cemetery. Totenberg reiterates her deep appreciation for her friends’ support during that period of her life.

Totenberg and Ginsburg’s careers continued to grow in parallel; Ginsburg was appointed to the Supreme Court, while Totenberg continued to cover the activities of that Court, as well as the District of Columbia Circuit, or “DC Circuit.” Totenberg believes that it was helpful that she and Ginsburg became close friends before either of them was a household name. The author calls Ginsburg a “fiercely loyal” friend who always advocated for those close to her (96).

The author credits President Reagan with appointing the first female Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O’Connor, who endured severe scrutiny from the press and received insulting hate mail due to her gender. A little over a decade later, the Supreme Court needed another Justice. Reagan nominated Robert Bork, who Totenberg describes as a “conservative legal theorist” with a history of upholding segregationist and sexist laws and an “overly confident” attitude toward his potential confirmation (103). The Senate voted against him, and Reagan then nominated Douglas Ginsburg (who was not related to Ruth Bader Ginsburg), though he withdrew from consideration after Totenberg publicly wrote that he had used marijuana with his students. Totenberg notes that Democrats resisted Reagan’s attempts to make the Supreme Court more conservative and claims that the Judiciary Committee who made the nominations for the Court did not sufficiently investigate the judges they nominated. Eventually, Reagan appointee Anthony Kennedy was confirmed as the new Supreme Court Justice. Totenberg reveals that only five years later, Ruth Bader Ginsburg would also be named to the Court.

Totenberg explains that in 1991, Clarence Thomas, a colleague of Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the DC Circuit, was nominated for the Supreme Court, setting the stage for what Totenberg calls “the biggest story of my career” (106). After a days-long confirmation hearing, Totenberg was puzzled by rumors that Clarence Thomas had been accused of sexual harassment and making subsequent cryptic comments by Judiciary Committee leader Joseph Biden. After contacting her sources, Totenberg was directed to Anita Hill, a law professor who had worked for Thomas at the Department of Education. Hill alleged that she had been harassed by Thomas but was hesitant to come forward publicly and wanted to remain anonymous, which Totenberg felt was impossible given the situation. Eventually, Hill contacted Biden and the Committee, and she was interviewed by the FBI, who also interviewed her witness and Thomas himself. In spite of Hill’s affidavit against Thomas, the White House considered him innocent and asked the Senate to move forward with his confirmation. Meanwhile, Hill agreed to an interview with Totenberg, who warned her that she would be attacked for her testimony. Just two days before the vote on Thomas’s confirmation, Totenberg released her story on NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday. While there were more hearings, Totenberg felt that “the truth-seeking role was lost in the shuffle,” and after a narrow vote, Thomas was confirmed as the Supreme Court’s new Justice (110).

Totenberg reveals that her story on Anita Hill’s accusations provoked furious criticism from Republican politicians such as Senator Alan Simpson. The author was particularly distressed that neither political party, or the Judiciary Committee, had thoroughly investigated Hill’s claims and taken them seriously; she laments that even many liberal politicians of the time saw sexual harassment as a “nonissue” (111). Totenberg was harassed with hateful phone messages, and several other journalists wrote critical profiles about her. Republicans accused Democrats of leaking the FBI file on Thomas to the press, and Totenberg was subpoenaed as a part of the investigation. She refused to answer any questions, since she wanted to protect her sources and her rights as a journalist. Her lawyer, Floyd Abrams, told her that in refusing to answer questions, she was risking jail time, and he instructed her to do television interviews to get public opinion on her side. Eventually, the Senate Rules Committee argued that the subpoenas on Totenberg’s phone calls violated the First Amendment, and the investigation was abandoned. Totenberg remembers feeling conflicted about the whole experience, since she was proud of the work that she did on the story but also felt stressed and afraid from the hostility she received. She writes, “Many people deeply hated me and were not shy about expressing their vitriol” (115).

Once Totenberg was out of legal jeopardy, she realized that her story on Hill was not simply a political scoop, but a long “festering” societal issue (115). Women across America responded to the hearings by faxing Capitol Hill offices, and the next year, a number of women were elected to office, including one who replaced a pro-Thomas senator. The author reveals that when Ginsburg went on to serve on the Supreme Court, she was able to maintain positive relationships with other judges with whom she disagreed, since she was able to “separate fierce intellectual disagreements from personal animus” (119). Totenberg learned to live out Ginsburg’s advice and ignore unkind comments in one’s personal and professional life.