Nina Totenberg: Oops She Did It Again
In our recent post about Nina Totenberg's poorly received graduation speech at Georgetown University Law Center, we solicited your anecdotes about her. La Nina is the Great Diva of the Supreme Court press corps, and colorful stories about her are legion.
We received a few submissions. Here's one to get the ball rolling:
My county bar colleagues and I got sworn in to the SCOTUS bar back in [the late 1990s]. It was a real thrill. We got to meet the Clerk of Court and had a private coffee-and-danish session with Justice Ginsburg.The thrill of it was almost ruined by seeing Nina Totenberg chewing gum in court while a couple of decisions were handed down. We're talking chewing it like cud, Britney Spears style. I was not impressed.
And later that day, Totenberg was spotted driving down Constitution Avenue... with a baby in her lap!
We recognize, of course, that Nina Totenberg has many defenders and devoted fans -- groupies, even. After all, "[d]ue of extremely high demand," this NPR gift item -- the Nina Totin' Bag -- is out of stock:
Troubling. Deeply, deeply troubling.
Have a Nina Totenberg tale to tell? Send it to us by email (subject line: "Nina Totenberg"). Thanks.
The Nina Totin' Bag [NPR Shop]
Earlier: Worst Graduation Gift: Nina Totenberg as Your Commencement Speaker
Comments
Lat4SCOTUS!
Posted by: Anon | July 6, 2007 02:02 PM
...Nina's no Avril.
It's not that complicated.
Posted by: She's nice but... | July 6, 2007 02:06 PM
"Hey hey you you, I can be your... Supreme Court correspondent!"
Posted by: Anonymous | July 6, 2007 02:07 PM
Where's LEWW?
Posted by: LEWW Fan | July 6, 2007 02:07 PM
2:07, I think I love you.
Posted by: She's nice but... | July 6, 2007 02:10 PM
You'd think that someone fired for plagiarism (1972) would be a bit more humble.
Posted by: High Standards | July 6, 2007 02:31 PM
Nina Death Mountain (literal translation of her name from German) was the graduation speaker at my commencement some years ago. It was just as bad as the one at Georgetown. In other words, she was a total douchebag and treated it like some sort of lark. She's not even a lawyer, which made her speech even more bizarre - a journalist lecturing a bunch of lawyers-to-be about lawyering is like a circus clown lecturing medical school graduates about being a doctor.
Posted by: Anonymous | July 6, 2007 04:31 PM
At least she must have been entertaining and it was someone people know. When I graduated, our commencement speaker was Tad Foote. (Silence as the reader tries to remember who this guy is). Exactly. Tad Foote. No one has ever heard of him, except students at UM who couldn't get into Georgetown. The guy was not only a complete non-entity, his entire speech was dedicated to "shout outs" to professors and other people he knew in the audience. What a joke.
Posted by: GULC Grad | July 6, 2007 05:24 PM
Chewing gum in a courtroom? What a jackass.
Posted by: Anonymous | July 8, 2007 04:58 PM
I was there for the Tad Foote graduation! I remember sitting there, hung over, wondering who this assclown on the stage was. I'd never heard of him. He went on forever about absolutely nothing, and my head was pounding. Afterwards, I promised myself that if I ever ran into him in real life, and I thought I could get away with it, I would punch him in the boys.
Posted by: GULC Grad II, Electric Boogaloo | July 11, 2007 04:18 PM
Does Nina have an Email address for ELI?? Thanks!
richard
Posted by: Richard Downey, Jr. | September 10, 2007 02:27 PM