tv Democracy Now LINKTV January 22, 2018 8:00am-9:01am PST
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01/22/18 01/22/18 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from park city, utah, at the sundance film festival, this is democracy now! >> you have come through the snow, freezing rain to stand up and why have we come here today? we have come here for respect for women, for equal rights for all of our daughters, for our mothers, sisters, and our aunts. this entire year has been the winter of our discontent. but it is also in the year of
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our awakening, and a awake we a. amy: hundreds of thousands of women take to the streets across ththe country to mark the first anniversary of trump''s inauguguration and thehe historc women's march. we will hear from the pioneering women's rights attorney gloria allred, who represents survivors of sexual assault and is a survivor herself. plus, actresses jane fonda and tessa thompson. all three spoke here at a rally in park city. then we look at the new documentary "rbg" about the life of supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg. , we urgthehe court abolionist an advote of thglobal rigs fomen anwomen wh said "i ask no favor for my sex.
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ask - -- amamy: we wiwill speak to the julie cohen and betsy west, and democracy now! speaks with ruth bader ginsburg. all of that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. lawmakers are on capitol hill today amid the third day of a partial government shutdown. hundreds of thousands of so-called non-essential government workers are furloughed, meaning they are barred from working and won't be paid during the shutdown. the two agencies hardest hit by
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the shutdown are hud, the department of housing and urban development, and the epa, the environmental protection agency. the government shut down at midnight on friday night after lawmakers failed to reach a budget deal. at the heart of the showdown is president trump and the republicans' failure to compromise on a plan for the 800,000 young undocumented immigrants known as dreamers. trump rescinded the deferred action for childhood arrivals program daca, last year, which , democrats have refused so far to agree to a budget deal that doesn't include a resolution on daca. the senate is slated to vote today at noon on a resolution that would fund the government for the next three weeks. hundreds of thousands of women took to the streets across the united states on saturday to mark the first anniversaryry of last yeaear's s storic wen''s rch protesting president tru's auguraraon. in new yorcicity, 0,00000 people tooko o the reetets.
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among emem wasesirireeordan,n, who was protesting violence against eer women of color. >> we're here to sayhehe bla women from the black sbsbians ththat we mumurdered here cently and there has been n nmedia coverage. particularly women that are sincnced. itit ihorrifif not to hear tse women's names mentioned. we a know trayvon martin. wewe allnow w alof thehe men, ec garner, o o was rderered we need to know e e nameof t the blackin the lesbians, lesbians, rtrticully, , whare rderededn this country. there isotothingn ouour media. it is hoifific tthinink about a womabeing kied jusfor ing who ey are amy: satday's march cos amid the natiwide #meo and me's up! moments,n which won across iustrieand clasand racial les have ined the ices to announcpervase genderased violence and to demand an and to sexual harassment and abuse. in los angeles, tens of thousands of women gathered
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to prorotest, including viola davis. >> listen. i am alwlways introduced as an awaward-winning actor. but my testimony is one of poverty. my testimomony is one of being sexually assaulted, and vevery much seeing a childhdhood that s robbed from me. and i know that evevery single y whwhen i think of that, i know that the trauma of those events are still with me today. to that is what drives me the voting booth. that is what allows me to listen to the women who are stitill in silence. amy: that's academy award-winning actress viola davis. at a women's march in morrisistown, new jersey, , on
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saturday, ththnew first t lady f new jersey tammy murphy said she was a survivor of an attempted sexual assault while she was a sophomore in college. in total, there were protests in hundreds of cities across the united states and around the world, including in frankfurt, germany, kampala, uganda, and osaka, japan. we'll hear more voices from the women's march at park city, utah, after headlines. in michigan, female gymnasts who survived sexual assault and abuse by former usa gymnastics team doctor larry nassar continue to testify against the doctor in court. nassar has already admitted to sexually abusing the athletes when they were children and adolescents, and then covering up the abuse by pretending it was part of a medical treatment. this is olympic gold medalist aly raisman testifying friday. >> i'm herere to face you, larr, so you can see i have regained my strength, that i'm no longer a victim, i'm a survivor. now is the time to acknowledge
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the very person who sits b befoe us now who perpetrated the worst epidemic of sexual abuse and history of sports, who is going to be locked up for a long, long, long time. this monster was also the architect of policies and procedures that are supposed to protect athletes from sexual abuse. abusers, your time is up. the survivorors are here standig tall and we are not going anywhere. amy: during her testimony, olympic gold medalist aly raisman also attacked the usa gymnastics and the u.s. olympic committee for allowing the sexual abuse to continue for decades. started 30 years agago, but that is just the firt reported incident t we know w o. if over these many years just one adult listened and have the courage and character to act, this tragedy could have been avoided. neither usa gymnastics nor the u.s. have reached out to express
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of the or even offer support. not even to asask how did this happen? what do you think we could do to help? why have i and others here probably not heard anything frorom the leadership f the u.s.? why has the united states olympic committee been silent? amy: at least one woman has also testified that she reported the sexual abuse to officials at michchigan state university, whe dr. larry nassar also practiced sports medicine. a growing number of the sexual assault survivors, current students, and even one michigan state university trustee are calling on university presidentt lou anna simon to resign over questions about what she and the university knew abouout nassar's systematic sexual assault of female athletes on campus. palestinian leaders are boycotting vice president mike pence's visit to israel, refusing to meet with him in protest of the trump administration's recognition of jerusalem as israel's capital and its plans to move the u.s. embassy from tel aviv v to jerusalem.
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pepence has already met with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and is slated to speak to the israeli parliament today. erb memberers of israel's parliament are planning planning to boycott pence's address. he sayays the embassy will moven in afghanistan, at least 18 2019. peopople werere killed in n a 1r siege of thehe intercontinental hotel in kabul. ththe taliban has claimed responsibility for thehe attack. amamong the dead was p peace activist ahmad fararzan, who was in kabulul teaching classes and working g at afghanistan's high pepeace council. turkey has launched d a bombing campaign and ground offefensive against the syrian kurdish city in northern syria. the u.s.-backed kurdish militia controlling the area says at least 10 people were killed, seven civilians, including one baby. the bombing comes after the united states announced plans to provide military backing for thousands of syrian-kurdish
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fighters to form a border security fororce along the bordr wiwith turkey. turkey has accused the syrian kurds of being terrorists. in honduras, protesters staged another round of nionwide demonstratnsns satday y to -- again w widesead d vor aud in the reelection of incumbenen u.s.-baed p predent an orlrldo hernandez. demotrtratorblocockad dozezens of roads a h highws nationwide. the honduranan milary has lleded at least d dozenrotetests nce the demonstrations eptpted after thnovevemb 26thh election, clcludin160-0-ye-old n, whohoas killed at a blockade on saturday. this i is opsition cdidadate salvlvador nasraralla. >> we're going to continue otestinghrhrought this enti w week. the logic tells it willee diffict because peopleon't ve enough to eatndnd the y you add in theegegime is s lling people, like the m t they killed yestday.y. and all of the people they have beatenp.p.
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all of that is in the nds of ththe uned n natns andnduman ghts organizatio. 'm not convinceththese ororgazationonhave the capacity ededed tresolve is.. i am getting the impression, i hope im m wron that the arnatatiolrganizations prarily deration andhat they are scared because they are funded by the united states. amy: in africa, protesters staged nationwide demonstrations on sunday in the democratic republic of the congo, demanding the resignation of president joseph kabila, whose term officially endeded in decembmber 2016.. at least six people were killed during a military crackdown against protesters. dozens more were wounded. it is the second mass demonstration in recent weeks over the continuation of kabila's presidency and the delay of new elections. in india, at least 17 workers died after a blaze broke out at a firecracker factory on the outskirts of the capital, new delhi. officials say workers were trapped inside the building when the fire broke out because grills had been illegally installed on exits, ostensibly in order to prevent theft.
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police have arrested the owner of the factory. a new report by oxfam says globobal economic inequality widened last year, with 82% of all wealth created going to the richest 1%. in contrast, the poorer half of the entire world's population received none of the new wealth at all. the report also says 2017 saw the biggest increase in billionaires in world history. 90% of all billionaires are men. are women. the department of justice has dismissed charges againsnst 129 protesters who were facing the possibility of decades in prison for protesting at president trump's inauguration day disrupt j20 protests one year ago. however, 59 protesters are still facing multiple felony charges. the group defend j20 resistance says the 59 defendants are facing up to 60 years in prison. to see our full coverage of the j20 trials, go to democracynow.org.
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and journalists at "the los angeles times" have voted overwhelmingly to unionize. journalists are demanding equal pay for women and people of color, lower health premiums, and better salaries. shortly after the votes results were announced friday, the newspaper's parent company announced the "l.a. times'" publisher, ross levinsohn, is taking a leave of absence amid an investigation into reports he was a defendant in two sexual harassment lawsuits while working at previous companies, the search engine company alta vista and rupert murdoch's news corp. and a correction to an earlier headline, the talibanan has claimed responsibilility for the attack on the intercontinental hotel in kabul, which killed at leasast 18 people. and 90% of all billionaires arm in. -- our men. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. hundreds of thousands of women
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took to the streets saturday to protest president trump's first year in office and to the first anniversary of the historic women's marches. in new york city, authoritieies estimamated over 2 200,000 peope rched.d. prototests were also held in washington, chicago, los angeles, and hundreds of other cities and towns. here in park city, utah, protesters braved freezing temperatures and a snow storm to to take part in the respect rally on saturday. speakers included the longtime women's rights attorney gloria allred. >> snow, freezing rain to stand up and why have we come here today? we have come here for respect for women, for equal rights, for all of our daughters, our mothers, our sisters, and our aunts. this entire year has been the winter of our discontent. but it has also been the year of our awakening, and awake we are
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to the lack of respect and the for women.ur rights do you agree? [cheers] of fear being end used as a weapon to silence women and to deny our rights. do you agree? [cheers] this is the year that women's voices have been heard, the year when women broke her silence about the injustices we have suffered. and they year where we said to rich, powerful, famous men, you can break our hearts, but you cannot break our spirit. [cheers] we will not be silenced. we have reached a breaking point. we have reached the tipping point. we demand respect for our daughters, our granddaughters, our mothers, our sisters, our
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lesbian sisters, gay men, transgenders, and all minorities. we demand our rights. right to be free of sexual assault r,ape, and abuse. say after me, resist, insist, persist, collect. resist. persist. insist. elect. we demand the right to control our bodies and our lives. resist. insist. persist. elect. we demand the right to choose legal, safe, and affordable abortion and not have our lives placed at risk by illegal, unsafe abortions which cause iny of us to be mutilated and
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like i'll must died when roe v. wade was not yet the law and abortions were illegal. resist. insist. persist. elect. we demand the right to have contraceptives when men are getting viagra. resist. insist. persist. elect. of sexualthe end harassment and all violence against women and girls most of resist. persist. insist. elect. we demand the enforcement of child support laws so mothers can support their children and not be forced onto welfare and lives of poverty. resist. insist.
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persist. elect. of pregnancy end discrimination in the workplace. resist. insist. persist. a liked. and we demand the passage of "rights amendment that inequality of rights shall not be denied or abridged by the united states or by any state on the counts of sex. resist. persist. elect. and don't forget, insist. let me tell you, utah, we have 36 states who have ratified the equal rights amendment, most recently, nevada, and now it is time for utah. resist. insist. persist. elect. and give a hearing to the yard a in --era in utah.
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yes, let's hear it. toit is a huge honor introduce jane fonda. here in you for being the cold and in the snow. we are still marching. we are still protesting, but now we have to also organize. last september, 50 women took a bus from los angeles to san diego to join hundreds of grassroots organizers who have been canvassing there to flip the 49th congressional district. they went toward a door and talked to people. some of her more avid trump fans . so women did not talk about a candidate, they never mentioned a democratic or republican party. they focused on issues. the issues that people at the
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door cared about. and by listening and giving people information that they have not heard before because, you know, fox news, they were able to change minds. and just a few days ago, the republican from that district, trends good how darrell issa, retired. yes. away by ourd organizing. listen to this. the tea party with the koch brothers learned what works. they learned from the successes of the labor movement, the civil rights movement, the women's and the lgbtq movements. and they have an organizing under the radar for years. and that is how they have taken over state legislators and county supervisors and governorships. and this is really important because governors to determine redistricting.
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so if we want to protect our voting rights, we have to take back governorships. our democracy survival and the earth's survival depends on our ability to get people the facts, help them understand who is really on their side -- and they are not alone -- and then get them registered and motivated to vote. amy: jane fonda speaking at the respect rally in park city, utah, on to mark the first saturday anniversary of the historic 2017 women's march. before that, the women's rights attorney gloria allred. during the rally, i also interviewed the actress tessa thompson, who you may know from her roles as the superhero in the film "thor" or playing samantha "sam" white in "dear white people," or performing as diane nash in "selma." i spoke to her soon after she addressed the respect rally. i am amy goodman.
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>> i know who you are. amy: your thoughts on this first anniversary of the and are duration of president trump, but also the first anniversary of the country? >> it is incredible to be here. a lot of movements have happened since then and in many ways, not enough. i think until we can really create systemic change in legislation and policy, we will continue to march and that was something that was echoed by jane fonda and gloria allred. i think that is where we are. i was really spirited to hear particularly the words of jane housing is understand the way in which is it is important to organize. because i feel like we're in such a cultural moment sometimes that particularly in this media space we live in where you can feel like retreating or hashtagging is enough, and i think we need to get a place of understanding and open a real way with our friends and family, what we can do, how we can really create change. tessa thompson amy:tessa thompson, you played diane nash
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in "selma." talk about what this kind of activism from have assange rigo, if we're seeing at express today. >> we are seeing at express. the thing we saw -- so incredible about diane and every leader i spoke to they could tell me about diane -- of course, i got to meet her as well, is how radical she was. important felt component of creating real change, that she wasn't afraid of it. the people sheth collaborated with. and that kind of bravery and real dedication to getting to the core of an idea, i think is so fantastic. particularly in a political statement. byas continuously struck that. and she is that way still. i mean, she is such fierce integrity and really believes in america so much that she can be quite critical. but i think that is what we
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need. amy: and now you are a black woman superstar in "thor." talk about your message to young women. >> what is an incredible about that, the chararacr historillyy is not beeeen a woman of color, althoughgh, she is in the c cont sometimesomics, she is a bisexu, , so s is a queer woma b but it has been incribible tsee e yog womama come up to me and saitit means so muctoto thebecacausthey c c seee themselves reflected in a film like that. for meme, when i first got the part, i could not believe it. i think a part of that is because i had not seen it before. i think that is where representation immediate is really important. it is important people are ingesting the popcorn comeme alo things that make them feel hopeful about possibility. amy: that is actress tessa thompson at ththe respect rallyn saturday here in park city. when we come back from break, we
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amy: ann reed singing "ruth bader ginsburg." this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. this is our first day of our weeklong broadcast from the sundance film festival herere in park city,y, utah. one of the m most talked about documentaries here at the sundance film festival looks at the groundbreaking life of the nearly 85-year-old supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg. 2011 marks her 25th year on the court, and she has no plans to retire.
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justice ginsburg first gained fame in the 1970's when she co-founded the women's rights project at the american civil liberties union where she argued six gender discrimination cases before the supreme court. when president bill clinton nominated her in 1993, he compared her to another pioneering attorney and judge who went on to become a supreme court justice. >> many admirers of her work say that she is to the women's movement what former supreme court justice ththurgood marshal wawas to thehe movement of the rights of african-americans. amy: in recent years, justice ginsburg's public profile has soared as the court has swerved to the right. ginsburg often now finds herself on the dissenting side of opinions. in 2013, she wrote a scathing dissent in shelby v. holder, a landmark case that eradicated a key part of the voting rights act. she wrote -- "throwing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away
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your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet." dissents like that helped ginsburg cement her role as a feminist icon. she gained the nickname "notorious rbg," which became the name of a best-selling book. she has been portrayed on "saturday night live." details of her exercise workout routine have gone viral. and now she is the subject of a feature-length documentary here at sundance film festival simply called "rbg." the film premiered on sunday night and none other than ruth bader ginsburg was in the audience to see the film for the first time. afterwards, she joined the directors betsy west and julie cohen on stage, and was there at a chance to ask her a question. as you flew into sundance on saturday, thousands of women around the country were marching, rallying saying #metoo
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and time's up! i'm wondering your thoughts on this movement and whether that demand you made so many decades ago you feel still stands for "take the boots off our neck"? >> i would like to see that the first march -- i wondered if it would stop at that or whether the movement would continue. yesterday was proof that it would continue. women that are out there doing things, the better off all of us will be for it. the responsibility of women is
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get out there and t to make a gd show. the more people are out t there doing things, the more youounger feel they havave the courage to go on. i'm heartened by the n number of womenn who will bebe in races fr our congress and state legislative posititions. the expression of martin , "the moral of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice." and i headed d to that. if there are people who willll strive with all ththeir might. any code that is supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg speaking on sunday night at the
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premiere of the new documentary "rbg." 2018 marked ruth bader ginsburg's 25th year on the supreme court. we're joined now by the directors of the film, julie cohen and betsey wright. julie is a longtime film maker who has made a documentaries and was the creator of court tv's supreme court watch. betsy west is a 21-time emmy winner for her work as an abc news producer who now teaches at the columbia school of journalism. julie cohen and betsy wright, it is so great to see you both. tobetsy west, it is so great see. start out why you decided to take on ruth bader ginsburg as the subject of your film. why y did you decidede to follow her? >> how could you not as honest the question with rbg. betsy and i had each individual for separate projects had
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done projects with her. tohad followed her and begin idolize her as the notorious rbg. we just felt like someone oughgt to do a full dress s serious documentary covering this extraordinary woman's life, and why not have it be as? info betsy west, you covered many different issues and one of the things you have done most recently is the makers she series. you inteterviewed her separatel. what most strikes you about her? if you can begin by sort of giving us a nutshell description of ruth bader ginsburg, the supreme court justice. >> well, when you meet her in person, she is a very tiny person. and yet she has a kind of
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commanding presence. i think it is the contrast about her that really strikes you. serious person, the kind of person if you say, hey, how are you? she doesn't immediately jumped in tell you how she is, she thinks about it will step she is very deliberate and everything she says.. as she said to us in the interview, "i tend to be rather sober." on the other hand, she has a fabulous sense of humor. as we discovered in the film, she loves to laugh. so she is a multidimensional person. lifean extraordinary story. amy: i want to talk about that life story. i want to first go to a clip from your documentary rbg where justice g ginsberg talks about e first time she argued before the supreme court in the case
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frontiero v. richardson in 1972. the case centered on a female air force lieutenant who was denied the same housing and medical benefits as her male colleagues. justice ginsburg, then the lawyer ginsburg, argue the air force's statute for housing allowances treated women as inferiors supremcocourt ledd in hereravor eight to one. >> without a sine question, i jujust wt on speakin a, at e time, wondered, are they justndndulgi me and not listeng, or am i telling them someing theyave not ard before? anare theyaying atntion? glu toustes wer r. i n't ink theyere expeing thato do wi someing as perful as a shear force of her argument that was
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ju all-encpassing. and they were there ttalk about lilittle stutute in e gornmentodode. mean, we seizehe moment chan america siety. court toki the rge the sition stated i 1837, ba noted abitionist and advate fo eaglrights f men andomen. she said " ask no favor f my sex. all i ask of our brother and i that they te their fe off our nes." anecho sucked from rb, the cumenty that just air as an is fi festivato muc acclaim. inhahat cl, we aoeard from th cirector wit rh bader nsburg of e aclu's won's rightsroject. julie con, let's talk aut he lifbefore she washe
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w wass rbgbefore s the supreme court justice. > sur thatas o one of e big factors making us want to make this film. a lot of the people that love her and think she is cool and don'tout her dissents know the full story and don't appreciate how m much she achied for wowomen's equal rights undnr law in her careeas a lawyer particularly during those times, the women's rights projects in the 1970's. -- there, she took on were six, including that one you just played that she argued before the supreme court, winning five of them, making the case at a time when that case was not widely understood or even sort of hard for s society anand the amount justices at the time to register the ideaea tha, ohoh, wait, the constitution should provide equal rights for men and women? she was following up on what
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thurgood marshall had done sort of a decade earlier, basically a slow legal march for civil rights for people of all races, and she was applying that idea to gender and had extraordinary success with it. amy: i want to g go to another clip. ruth bader ginsburg nominated by president clinton in 1993. this is during her senate confirmation hearing when she openly defended, and t this was highly unusual, openly defended a women's right to have an abortion. centrtral tomething a woman's lifife, to her dignit. it is a decision which she must .ake for herself and whenen government controlsls that dececision for her, she e s bebeing treated as less than a fully adult human responsible
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for her own choices. her 1993 supreme cocourt confirmationon hearing republican senator orrin hatch of utah questioned her stance on ababortion. >> the so-called cononstitutionl right to abortion, a right which many, quitting myself, think was created out of thin air by the court -- >> but you asked me the question in relation to the supreme court's precedents. ask me another question in relation to the supreme court's precedents, thee suprpreme court't's president is that access to abortion as part of the liberty guaranteed i -- >> that was just -- amy: that 1993 confirmation hearing, betsy west, how unusual, especially in light of now in 2018, imagine your
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supreme court justice being so open about her support for freedom to choose for women, about her support for abortion. talk about the significance of this. >> she was extremely forthright about this. she's a very principled person. she was not going to pull her punches on this. the amazing thing is, after that, she was confirmed 96-3. 96-3-3. and you heard, i mean, orrin hatch basically saying, look, we disagree but i think you are well-qualified to serve on the supreme court and you have been nominated by our president, who happens to be a democrat, that is the way this system works. it is kind of poignant and extraordinary to hear that today. amy: you both interviewed orrin hatch. you interviewed him for the
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film. did he say he would support her today? he was very lot a jujury of her. >> he was. first of allll he said, "i love ruth bader ginsburg." he said that. what? really, he admires her so much. he admires her brain and he admires her character. what she stands for. he said, "look, i think it is a good thing for the court to have in our to gillett, smart, liberal on the court -- articulate, smart, liberal on the court. i think it elevates the entire conversation, the debatete. i was surprised by how forceful and strong he was in his ongoing support for her. amy: and talking about relationships that might surprise some, her relationship, julie cohen, with justice scalia and the significance of this, the history of this beforere scalia died. > justice scalia and justice
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ginsburg were quite close goioig backck to their days togogethern the u.s. court of appeals for the d c circuit in the 1980's, admired each other as kind of intellectual sparrrring parartn. and really liked and loved each other as s friends. they both loved opera. they both had a lot of other intellectual interests in theater and literature. and the fact that they disagreed so vehemently on the law sure nearly seemed to have made thehm closer to one another. i itdid not deny that sometimes wasn't exactly pleasant. one example that the justice had talked about is, you know, after bush the gore when they were -- could not have been more opposed to each other's point of view when the stakes could not have been higher, at one point at the end of the evening, he gave her
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a call and said "ruth, go home and take a hot bath and we will see each other again in the morning." gore, they might have become familiar with the results? >> the supreme court decision that ended the recount in florida and led to george w. bush becoming president of the united states. amy: being chosen as president by the u.s. supreme court. >> and she dissented. justice scalia was one of the architects of the majority decision saying, having george bush become the president and ruth ginsburg wrote one of several -- i think our number in that case, but one of the dissenters in the case. amy: and this issue of ruth bader ginsburg being the the center. young people who are following her now, that is all they would think about. but that actually wasn't always the case. you are really interesting sort
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of image that you have in the you show her right in the center there, much closer to the conservatives, and then how she moves to the left. betsy west? >> as one of our interviewees said, she was never meant to be a great dissenter. consensus.won a and she still wants consensus. she has a very practical view of the law. she is always trying to bring people over to her side. it is a very -- it is very important to her that she had collegial relationships with her fellow justices, and that she makes reasoned arguments. she is not a bomb thrower. however, when push comes to shove and she feels the constitution is not being followed, she is not afraid to d as sheery scathing
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saysissent. from "look, i would rather be in the majority. but when i'm not, i will -- amy: and she has the doily collars. that is what i call them. the different ones. >> bows. amy: oh, excuse me. >> she and sandra day o'connor came up with this. amy: and she is the different once when she is in the majority or expressing dissent. >> she is a great fashion sense and she brings her fashion sense to her clothing on the supreme court. and when they come after reagan, it is that publicly known yet what the decision is going to be. if you're in the courtroom, you get a preview few minutes earlier because from justice ginsburg collar, she going to read an opinion and she is wearing that lovely sosort of dlacked,d, sparkly fan-shape
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collar, you know she's about to deliver a dissent. amy: we're going to go to break and then come back in here really interesting, from ruth yesterday.urg just she spoke of the film makers lodge. she was interviewed by him to nina totenberg. she talks about this seminal foundational work of catharine mackinnon and how it changed her view also of women's rights and what the whole issue of gender harassment is all about. we are talalking about a film tt just premiered at the sundance film festival called "rbg" about the supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg. stay with us. ♪ [music break]
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amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from the sundance film festival in park city, utah, and we will be here for the week. from the sundance film festival, where a filmlm about supreme cot justice ruth bader ginsburg called rbg has just premiered. before the film on sunday, justice ginsburg, who flew into park city, utah this weekend, was interviewed by npr's nina totenberg. a a dear friend of ruth bader ginsburg. nina asked ginsburg if she had ever been sexually harassed before she became a judge. thisis was the suprereme court justices answer. >> the answewer is, yes, every woman of my vintage knowsws w wt sexual harassment is -- although, we did not have a name for it. the attitude to sexual
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to "getnt was simply past it. boys will be boys." well, i will give you just one example. i am taking a chemistry course at cornell, and my instructor uncertataine i was ofy ability in that field -- he said,d, "i will givive you a practicece exam." so he gagave me a practice exam. the next day on the test, , the test is the practice exam. and i know exactly what he wanted in return. and that is just one of many examples. this was not considered anything you could do something about, that the locket help you do
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something about -- that the law could help you do something about, until a book was written by a then young woman named kitty mackinnon, catherine mackckinnon. it was called "sexual harassment in the workplace." i was asked to read it by a publisher and g give my opipinin whwhether it was worth publishi. revelation. the first part described incidents like the onene i just mentioned. thethe nextxt was howow internet is fromom a nion n law title e vii - -- antidiscriminan law, title vii which ribbons discscrimination on ththe base f race, national origin, religion, and s sex -- how w that couldlde used as a tool to stop sexuxual harassment.
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it was eye-opening. and it was the beginning of a field that did not exist until then. so just to close e the loop here for a minute, what did you do about the professor? did you just a clear of him? what did you do? >> i went to his office in a this!"ow dare you do [applause] end of that.. the [laughter] > i assssume you did quite wl in that exam. [laughter] two well, i deleliberately madd mistakes. [laughter] an aggressive record justice ruth bader ginsburg -- amy: supreme court justice ruruth bar
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ginsburg s speaking with nina totenberg. theyey have known each other for 40 years. she is one of the people interviewed in the new documentary about ruth bader ginsburg that will go throughout the weweek called rbg. our guests are the films the film's directors and producers. her talknever heard about this, but it is absolutely true that there really was no whenfor sexual harassment ruth bader gininsburg was being discriminated against as a young later all of the women who flooded into the workplace in the 1970's, the sort of felt like, hey, this was the price of entry, something we have to put up with in order to have these fantastic jobs. and it was catherine mackinnon who was really just a young just
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out of law school -- she may still have been a law school -- when she started working on this concept and wrote this paper that was a absolutely seminal, n fact, was quoted by the supreme cocourt in the mid-1980's. some of the exact language that she used. said, itader ginsburg was a revelation. hey, this is wrong, and it is actually unconstitutional. that is something that i think a lot of people don't understand. amy: we can talk about -- we can't talk about your film rbg without talking about her family, her relationships, in particular her husband was also well known lawyer. julie cohen, if you can talk about this love story that lasted for over half a century. >> yeah, i'm in, the love and marriage between ruth and marty ginsburg is sort of like -- it is not just romantic, but i
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think it is an inspirational part of a feminist story. would say,ginsburg often like a super successful man talks about his wife, she will say she would not have gotten where she got without him pushing. it is absolutely true. they met at cornell where they were both students. they fell madly in love. ruth bader ginsburg said he was the first guy who even seemed to notice that she had a brain. >> that is because she was so beautiful, by the way. >> yes. come althoughly he was an incredibly successful tax attorney in his own right, he really devoted a lot of his life both h to the family, he es the primary cook, and you certainly shared childcare responsibilities with her, and then he devoted a fair amount of his time and energy to pushing her career fourth. she is datatype to go around self-promoting. about promoting.
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amy: talk about that. we just played the clip of president clinton nominating her, but how did that happen? how did ruth bader ginsburg come to clinton's attention? she wasn't the old one he was looking at. >> clinton himself had -- says he wanted to nominate governor cuomo. cuomo did not want to do it. then he started looking around wood, yes,t definitely, because of the marty ginsburg campaign and others of her supporters who just felt she was a legal giant, her name came to his attention. but as he says, marty ginsburg wasn't the only person lobbying for somebody. person, he met her in he told us within 15 minutes of their conversation, he knew he was going to nominate her. kind of a meeting of the minds about the law, the best way to make law. so he was really taken by her.
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she was 60 years old when she was dominated. that was actually kind of on the old side. but he decided that she deserved it. --: i want to turn to the 20 2007 lilly ledbetter fair pay -- ledbetter v. goodyear tire & rubber co. pay discrimination case. the supreme court rejected lilly ledetter's claim of pay discrimination at a goodyear tire plant in alabama where she worked as an overnight supervisor for 19 years. the decision moved justice ruth bader ginsburg to read her dissent from the bench, a relatively rare move reserved to criticize the majority opinion. this is part of ginsburg's dissent. >> in our view, the court does not comprehend or is -- the insidious way in which women can be victims of a dissemination. title vii was meant to govern real-world employment practices and that is what the court ignores today. as ansparity often occur
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ledbetter's case in small increments, only over time is there shrum cause to suspect the discrimimination is at work. amy: so the lilly ledbetter fair pay act was later passed in response to the 2007 supreme court. the significance, julie? >> well, the lilly ledbetter fair pay act was a very important piece of legislation. and the significance in the rbg story is reminding you that, yes, of course, key role of the supreme court justice and what you think of is never the greatest potential for coliseum change is in a majority opinion they write, but justice ginsburg really m made a huge differencen our laws by the dissent she wrote emily ledbetter. not only where she explained the unfairness of the statute of limitations that have been placed on how long a woman could wait to make a claim about being paid unequally, but her dissent,
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she just came right out and said, like the ball is now in congress's court. you know what? maybe we are a little stuck here on the judicial side, commerce takes some action. -- congress, take some action. the law was passed and signed into law. the first piece of legislation president t obama signgned whene was i iugurated j january 2009. amy: as in his interview that nina totenberg did with juststie ginsnsburg, she poininted out tt justice ginsburg had hirired clerks through 2020 term and asked heher about howw l long se will stay on the court. >> my current answer i is the answer t that will continue to e my answer, as long as i can do the job fulll steam, i will be here. [applause] justice ruthis bader ginsburg. betsy west, she has chosen her clerks through the 2020 term.
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>> think she is sending a signal? yes. she seems very determined to continue doing the job that she loves. amy: survivor of pancreatic cancer and colorectal cancer. of the most amazing scenes for us was filming her in hergym with her trainer where she works out twice a week. she does a grueling one-hour workout without fail. planks,workout involves push-ups, medicine ball, the whole -- amy: is the new jane fonda workout video. >> 85 is the new 45. who knows? she is determined to keep herself in shape. amy: we have 10 seconds. what most surprised you in meeting justice ginsburg and doing the secondary? >> there are a lot of legends that have arisen about justice ginsberg over the last couple of years as she has become miniature risk rbg, including the workout, including her long
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