Who: Ruth Bader Ginsburg interviewed by Nina Totenberg
What: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
When: January 28, 2010
Where: 92nd Street Y
Thumbs: Up, in the Majority

The walls of Kaufmann Concert Hall at the 92nd Street Y are adorned with the names of some of history's greatest thinkers: Jefferson, Shakespeare, Maimonides. When Ruth Bader Ginsburg joined them on stage, she fit right in.

The assembled crowd, overwhelmingly made up of people within Ginsburg's demographic, gave the justice a standing ovation when she entered, and the palpable excitement never died down. (more...)

What I would like to know is who thought this was a good idea? In this year's NYT's Annual Holiday Gift Guide there is a section devoted to "Of Color | Stylish Gifts." From the intro to the section. (more...)

VIDEO If you knew one thing about Sonia Sotomayor in the days before her confirmation hearing, it probably had something to do with her 'wise latina' comment. But which crack journalist pulled this dirty tidbit from Sotomayor's past and thrust it into the center of national news coverage of public debate? (more...)

Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony and ... most recent SCOTUS addition Sonia Sotomayor are probably the most famous Nuyoricans we can think of. And they're friends, too! Gossip Cop reports today that Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony hosted a dinner in honor of Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina Supreme Court Justice. From Gossip Cop:

Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony hosted a dinner in honor of Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina Supreme Court Justice. The intimate get-together was last night at the couple’s Long Island, New York home. Gossip Cop is told the dinner was preceded by a cocktail party and attended by about a dozen people, mostly political types. Everyone in the Lopez and Anthony camps are remaining mum about the private dinner party.

Gossip Cop rates this a "10" on the Truth-o-Meter, so clearly we can trust this report more than those rumors of Sotomayor hitting the clubs with Paris Hilton and Snoop Dogg.

It started as a quiet radio talk show—a dialogue between two journalists from competing Hispanic television networks. Both were praising the way their stations had been covering the ongoing hearings of Sonia Sotomayor before the Senate Judiciary Committee. It was the usual display of Hispanic pride, respect for the accomplished judge and her mother, and the reshaping of the American Dream. (more...)

VIDEO Over the weekend a tipster directed our attention to a part of the "President Obama's African Journey" AC 360 special featuring the interviews Anderson Cooper conducted with President Barack Obama during his trip to Ghana. One line of the President's stood out as possible fodder for criticism in much the same way Judge Sonia Sotomayor's "wise Latina" comment became a conservative talking point. (more...)

Where is the Hispanic New Yorker? What would a Latino-oriented equivalent look like? Questions like these have haunted me ever since I started working for a local Spanish TV station four years ago. And while I am aware that "a Hispanic New Yorker" could be an oxymoron —it can be seen as a product of a white-dominated world— the idea may be useful to try to explain the lack of sophisticated national outlets for the largest minority in the country. (more...)

If you've been wondering why the Sonia Sotomayor hearings seem to have ended today, you probably haven't been watching CNN. The "Most Trusted Name in News" is the only of the big three cable news networks to devote significant time to the coverage of the hearings today, while witnesses testify for and against Sotomayor. We asked CNN why they chose to stick with the story in Day 3. (more...)

If you were wondering how former TV star Sen. Al Franken would begin his political career, we found out today in his Q&A with Judge Sonia Sotomayor: with TV references. The newest U.S. Senator spent the first three minutes of his time reminiscing about what apparently was a favorite show of his and Sotomayor's. (more...)

News reporters like to catch readers' attention with a few zingy lines at the start of an article. Sometimes, these so-called "ledes" go horribly wrong. In Today's Worst News Ledes, we highlight some of the worst offenders:

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Lights! Camera! SCOTUS! All eyes this week are turned toward the confirmation hearing of Justice Sonia Sotomayor, President Barack Obama's first nominee to the Supreme Court and the person who has added "Wise Latina" to our lexicon. Legal eagles from around the land have flocked to the nation's capital to breathlessly cover these hearings, or at least stream them live on C-SPAN so that various Senators can put on their best camera-ready outfits (smashing blazer, Kristen Gillibrand!) and invoke those twin American traditions - case law and baseball  - in sonorous, stentorian voices and, in the case of Chuck Schumer, voices that sound like my former rabbi. (more...)

Here we go again - Chris Matthews has another one of those thrills. Following MSNBC's wall-to-wall coverage of the Sonia Sotomayor hearing, Matthews, Andrea Mitchell and Richard Wolffe were recapping the highlights. And then, just as he famously did with President Barack Obama, Matthews described a "thrill" watching the hearings (more...)

MSNBC, 2:32pmET: "Live, from Washington, D.C. it's Al Franken at the Sonia Sotomayor hearing!" Franken's opening statement was just a few minutes, and got interrupted by a protester like some of his other Democratic colleagues. The "I know that I have a lot to learn" chyron choice by MSNBC was employed by a couple other networks, so we included a few more from his soon-to-be-replayed-incessantly comments. (more...)

After what felt like eons of Michael Jackson coverage, the news mags turn their attention back to politics. In the week following Obama's G-8 jaunt, and with Sonia Sotomayor's hearings on deck, political celebrities — young and old — are back on the cover.

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The confirmation hearing of a Supreme Court nominee allows senators an opportunity to put on an oratorical show for the viewers.  The Sonia Sotomayor hearing taking place today, and all week, is getting wall-to-wall coverage by cable news networks hanging on their every word, providing each senator free reign to bloviate for the viewing public. But one thing sure to annoy the senators is any unforeseen interruption to their moments in the spotlight - loud and vocal protesters that take the camera away from the senators themselves. (more...)

According to TVEyes.com, there were more than 20,000 mentions of "Michael Jackson" yesterday. There won't be as many, but expect to hear a lot of "Sonia Sotomayor" on every channel come Monday, as Pres. Obama's first Supreme Court nominee begins her confirmation hearings. (more...)