Freezing rain. Why have we come here today we have come here for respect for women for equal rights for. Our daughters for mothers that sisters. This is here has been the winter of our discontent. Here waking and awake. Balancing women take to the streets across the country to mark the 1st anniversary of Trump's inauguration and start a women's March over here from the pioneering women's rights attorney Gloria Allred represents survivors of sexual assault and is a survivor herself plus actresses Jean contact and Tessa Thomas all 3 spoke here at a rally in Park City then we look at the new documentary r b g about the light of the Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Suspect. This. 37 there are. No doubt this. Was the right. Place. This is the. Next. We'll speak to the directors of. Betsy West and Democracy Now Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg herself about her song on the need to movement stand time's up all that and more coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now Democracy Now dot org The War and Peace Report I mean the goodman lawmakers are on Capitol Hill today amidst the 3rd day of a partial government shutdown hundreds of thousands of so-called nonessential government workers are furloughed meaning they're barred from working and won't be paid during the shutdown the 2 agencies hardest hit by this shutdown are a 2 d. The Department of Housing and Urban Development and the e.p.a. The Environmental Protection Agency the government shutdown at midnight on Friday night after lawmakers failed to reach a budget deal at the heart of the showdown as President Trump and the Republicans failure to compromise on a plan for the nearly 800000 young undocumented immigrants known as dreamers Trump rescinded DACA Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program last year Democrats are refused so far to agree to a budget deal that does ACA The Senate is slated to vote today at noon on a resolution that would fund the government for the next 3 weeks hundreds of thousands of women took to the streets across the United States Saturday steers a star of women's March protesting President Trump's inauguration in New York City 200000 people took to the streets among them Deseret Jordan who is protesting violence against queer women of color. You're basically to spray the names of the black women the black lesbians that were murdered recently and this with no media coverage particularly women that are silenced by me and it's periphery not to hear these women's names mentioned we all know Trayvon Martin we all know all the men Eric Garner That was murdered. We need to know the names of the women and the lesbian black presidents particularly who are murdered in this country and there there is nothing in our media that it's true for respect to think about a woman being killed just for being who they are Saturday's March comes amidst the nationwide me too and times movements in which women across industries and class and racial lines have joined their voices to denounce pervasive gender based violence and to demand an end to sexual harassment and abuse and Los Angeles tens of thousands of women protested including the Academy Award winning actress feel a date or. Listen I am always introduced as an award winning actor but my testimony is one of poverty my testimony is one of being sexually assaulted and very much seeing a childhood that was robbed from me and I know that every single day when I think of that I know that the trauma of those events are still with me today and that's what drives me and to to the voting booth that's what allows me to listen to the women who are still in silence. That's Academy Award was March in Morristown New Jersey Saturday the new 1st lady of 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 and 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 here in Park City Utah after headlines in Michigan female gentleness who survived sexual assault and abuse by former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nascar continue to testify against the doctor in court now stars already admitted to sexually abusing the athletes when they were children adolescents and then covering up the abuse by pretending it was part of the medical treatment this is the Olympic gold medalist Ali Raisman testifying Friday I am here to face you Larry you can see I have regained my strength that I am no longer a victim I am a survivor now is the time to hear before us now who perpetrate the worst epidemic of sexual abuse in the history of sports who is going to be locked up for a 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 survivors are here standing tall and we are not going anywhere during her testimony Olympic gold medalist Ali Raisman also attacked USA Gymnastics and the u.s. Olympic Committee for allowing the sexual abuse to continue for decades. Your abuse started 30 years ago but that's just the 1st reported incident we know of over these many years just one Adele listened. And had the courage and character to act. This tragedy could have been avoided neither USA Gymnastics nor the us so see have reached out to express sympathy or even offer support not even to ask how did this happen what do you think we can do to help why have I and others here probably not heard anything from the leadership at the u.s.o.c. Why has the United States led by a committee been silent at least one woman has also tell abuse 2 officials at Michigan State University where Dr Lowery Nascar also practiced sports medicine a growing number of sexual assault survivors current students and even one Michigan State University trustee are calling on university president Luan assignment to resign over questions about what she and the university knew about Dr now stars systematic sexual assault of female athletes on campus Palestinian leaders of boycotting vice president Mike Prince's visit to Israel refusing to meet with him in protest of the trumpet ministrations recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and its plans to move the u.s. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem Pence's already met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a slated to speak to the Israeli parliament today Arab members of Israel's parliament are planning to boycott Prince's address he says the embassy will move in 2019 in Afghanistan at least 18 people were killed in a 14 hour siege of the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul the Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack among the dead was peace activist Ahmed farse on his and working at Afghanistan's High Peace Council. Turkey's launched a bombing campaign and ground offensive against the Syrian Kurdish city of African and northern Syria the u.s. Backed Kurdish militia controlling the area says least 10 people were killed 7 civilians including one baby the bombing comes after the United States announced plans to provide military backing for thousands of Syrian Kurdish fighters to form of border security force along the border with Turkey Turkey's accused the Syrian Kurds of being terrorists. In 100 protesters staged another round of nationwide demonstration Saturday against alleged widespread voter fraud in the reelection of incumbent u.s. Backed President Wonderland. Dem demonstrators blockaded dozens of roads and highways nationwide the one during military it's killed at least a dozen protesters since the demonstrations erupted after the November 26th election including 160 year old man who was killed at a blockade on Saturday this is the opposition candidate Salvadoran Estrada. The birth of someone a moment we're going to continue protesting throughout this entire week but logic tells us it's going to be difficult because people don't have enough to eat and then you add in that the regime is killing people like the man that killed yesterday that all the people the meat milk and all of that is now in the hands of the United Nations and the human rights organizations that's it I'm not convinced that these organizations have the capacity or the combativeness needed to resolve this I'm getting the impression but I hope I'm wrong about this the d.c. International organizations are primarily decorations and that they're scared because they're funded by the United States in Africa protesters stage a nationwide demonstrations on Sunday in the Democratic Republic of the Congo demanding the resignation of President Joseph Kabila whose term officially ended in December of 2016 at least 6 people were killed during a military crackdown against protesters dozens more were wounded it's the 2nd mass demonstration in recent weeks over the continuation of Camillus 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 a stand simply in order to prevent theft police have arrested the owner of the factory a new report by Oxfam says global economic in a. Ality why it in last year with 82 percent of all wealth created going to the richest one percent in contrast the poor 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 history 90 percent of all billionaires are men the Department of Justice has dismissed charges against $129.00 protesters who are facing the possibility of decades in prison for protesting at precedent trumps Inauguration Day disruption a 20 protests one year ago however $59.00 protesters are still facing multiple felony charges the group defends a 20 resistant says the $59.00 defendants are facing up to 60 years in prison to see our full coverage of the j. 20 trials go to Democracy Now dot au Archie 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 insurance 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 amidst an investigation into reports he was the defendant into sexual harassment lawsuits while working at previous companies the search engine company out to Vista and Rupert Murdoch's News Corps and those are some of the headlines This is Democracy Now Democracy Now dot org The War and Peace Report I mean a good man hundreds of thousands of women took to the streets across the country Saturday to mark the 1st anniversary of last year's historic women's March protesting president trumps inauguration in New York City authorities estimated over 200000 people March protests were also held in Washington Chicago Los Angeles and hundreds of other cities and towns here in Park City Utah protesters brave freezing temperatures and snow storm Saturday to take part in the respect rally speakers included the longtime women's rights attorney Gloria all read. No 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 a mothers our sisters and our ads this entire year has been the winter of our discontent but it has also been the year of her awakening and our wake we are to the lack of respect and the for our rights for women do you agree I. This marks the end of fear being used as a weapon does silence women and to deny our rights do you agree. This is the year that women's voices have been heard the year when women broke our silence about the injustices we have suffered and the year when we said to rich powerful famous men you can break our hearts but you can not break our spirit. We will not be silenced we have reached the breaking point we have reached the tipping point we demand respect for our daughters our granddaughters mothers our sisters lesbian sisters gay man transgenders and all minorities. To our rights 7. We demand the right to be free of sexual assault rape and abuse say after me right resist and says persist a lack now resist. Person. And says to our luck to I we demand the right to control our bodies and our lives resist. Her says I like to wage a man the right to choose legal safe and affordable abortions and not have our lives placed at risk by illegal unsafe abortions which cause many of us to be mutilated and die * like I almost died when Roe v Wade was not yet the law and abortions were illegal raise this to us and serviced her says I lucked. We demand the right to have contraceptives when men are getting by agro law. And service to her service to our luck to we demand the end of sexual harassment and all violence against women and girls resist her sister and sister I lucked out we demand the enforcement of child support laws for must so mothers can support their children and not be forced under welfare and lives of poverty raising. And says to her sister I lucked we demand the end to pregnancy discrimination in the workplace raising. Ancestor her sister lacked and we demand the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment that in clover they have right. Shall Not Be did not hide or bridge by the United States or by any state and account of sex raises to her says to. You don't forget insist serviced. Ad let me tell you you know we have 36 states who have ratified the Equal Rights Amendment most recently Nevada and now it is time for you. And says to her sister. Act ad give our hearing to the e.r. And. Yes Sarah. Is my huge zoning to be introducing the on the medical day. I am thank you for being here in the cold in the snow yes sundown serves I we're still boy cheering we're still protesting but now we have to also organize. Last September 50 women took a bus from Los Angeles to San Diego to join the hundreds of grassroots organizers who been canvassing there to flip the 49th congressional district that went toward the door and talked to people some of whom were ardent avid Trump sans the women didn't talk about a candidate they never mentioned a Democratic or Republican Party they focused on issues the issues that people left the 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 trumps could tell Deborah I suck retire Oh yes I know * he was scared away by organizing. Listen to this to change party with the Koch brothers who learned what works they learned. The successes of the labor the civil rights * movement the women's and the Elegy of $82.00 movements and they've been organizing under the radar for years and that's how they've taken over state legislators and county supervisors. And governorships and this is really important because governors determine redistricting so if we want to protect our voting rights we have to take that governorships are democracy's survival and the earth survival the patterns on our ability to get people the facts help them understand who is really on their side and they're not alone and then get them registered and motivated to vote out or Jane Fonda speaking at the respect roundly in Park City Utah Saturday to mark the 1st anniversary of the historic 2017 women's March before that the women's rights attorney Gloria all read during the rally and I also interviewed the actress Tessa Thompson who you may know from her roles as the superhero in the film 4 or playing Samantha Sam and dear white people or performing as Diane Nash in Selma I spoke to her just after she addressed the respect around I am going to be good for her so now I know who you are I know where you are going even though you and your thoughts today on this 1st anniversary of the inauguration of President Trump but also the 1st that a verse 3 of the mass of women marches around the country I mean you know it's incredible to be here I think that you know a lot of movement has happened since then and in many ways not enough I think that we can really create systemic change in legislation and in policy will continue to March and that was something that was echoed by Jane Fonda and we're all right like I think that's where we are and so I was really. Very good to hear particularly the words. Jane helping us understand the ways in which it's important to organize because I feel like we're in such a cultural moment from time to critically in this media space that we live in where you can feel like we tweeting or hash tag ing is enough and I think we really need to get to a place of understanding in you know been a real way with our friends and our family what how what we can do how we can really create change. When you played Diane Nash Zama out about the civil rights leader and what this kind of activism from a half a century ago if we're seeing it expressed today we're seeing it expressed. The thing that was so incredible about Diana is every leader that I spoke to that still alive and can tell me about Diana of course I got to meet her as well as just how radical She was you know that she really felt like an important component of creating real change is a tension that she wasn't afraid to create even with the people that she collaborated with and that kind of bravery and real dedication to getting to the core of of an idea I think is so fantastic particularly in a political space and so I was continuously struck by that and she and she is that way still I mean she has such leaders and integrity and really believes in America so much that she is that she can be quite critical and that's I think what we we we need I know you are a black woman superstar and you talk about your message to young women in the world I think would have really been incredible about that obviously the character about Cory is not a story of Glee a woman of color although she is in the context of the of the comics she is depicted and sometimes a bisexual so she that where woman but it's been incredible to see on women come up to me in say that it means so much to them because they can see themselves reflected in the film like that and I think for me you know when I 1st got the part I couldn't believe it and I think a part of that is because I hadn't I had not seen it before and so I think that's where representation in media is really important and important people are ingesting their public or they're also ingesting images that make them feel hopeful about their sense of possibility. That's actress Tessa Thompson at the respective rally on Saturday here in Park City when we come back from break we look at our b.g. a New documentary about the life of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who is here in Park City as well stay with us. When. Support for Redwood community radio comes from humble pinball community the paintball center located in Samoa provides an extreme sport experience in a safe secure and interactive environment they provide full rentals of paintball gear including markers hoppers tanks masks and paint balls humble pinball is open every weekend from 11 to 5 pm reach them at 7 o 7 or line 84835 and humble paintball community dot com. Hard. To. Imagine. And read singing Ruth Bader Ginsburg's here on Democracy Now Democracy Now dot org The War and Peace Report I mean a good man this is our 1st day of our week long broadcast from the fan dance film festival here in Park City Utah one of the 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 2018 marked her 25th year on the court and she has no plans to retire Justice Ginsburg 1st gained fame in the 1970 s. When she co-founded the Women's Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union where she argued 6 Gender discrimination. Cases before the Supreme Court when President Bill Clinton nominated her in 1903 he compared her to another pioneering attorney and judge she went on to become a Supreme Court justice many admirers of her work say that she is for the women's movement what former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall was or. 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 the pinions in 2013 she wrote a scathing dissent in Shelby versus holder a landmark case that eradicated a key part of the Voting Rights Act She wrote quote throwing out pre-clearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you're not getting wet descents like that helped Ginsburg cement her role as a feminist icon she gained the nickname notorious r b g which became the name of the bestselling book she's been portrayed on Saturday Night Live details of her exercise workout routine have gone viral and now she's the subject of a feature length documentary here at Sundance Film Festival simply called r.p.g. The film premiered on Sunday night and none other than Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was in the audience to see the film for the 1st time afterward she joined the directors Betsy West and Julie Cohen on stage and it was there they had a question to ask her a question as you flew into Sundance on Saturday thousands of women around the country were marching rallying and saying you need to and times and I'm wondering your thoughts on this movement and whether that and you made so many decades ago you. Take the part that. You think. That. Liberals. And I'm going with it with that that all of the leaders. And he's getting ready for. That meeting with Team. Meeting which if you things are going to. Be needed to. Take. The responsibility when the. Need to. Take a teammate. And. Good morning. Again in a limited. Field that encourages. Living . In basis for this. Mission is a statement if they didn't position. The place in a big expansion in. The. Universe. Let me. Just. And I think that. If. That Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg speaking Sunday night after the premiere of the new documentary. 2018 marked Ruth Bader Ginsburg's 25th here in the u.s. Supreme Court we're joined now by the directors of the film Julie Cohen and Betsy Wright Julie is a long time filmmaker who's made 8 documentaries and was the creator of court t.v. Supreme Court watch that sea west is a $21.00 time anyway her for her work as an a.b.c. News producer who now teaches at the Columbia School of Journalism Julie Cohen and that's right it is so great to see you Betsy West it is so great to see you both Julie why don't you start off by talking about why you decided to take on Ruth Bader Ginsburg as the subject of your film why did you decide to follow her you know how could you not is almost a question with with our big. Betsy and I had each individually for separate projects done interviews with her. Several years ago we had followed her kind of stellar rise to rock stardom as young women became the sort of idolized far as the glorious or. And we just don't like you know someone ought to do a full dress serious documentary covering this extraordinary woman's life and why not have it be us so Betsy West you've covered many different issues and. One of the things you've done most recently is the makers series women making a difference so Ruth Bader Ginsburg you both you and Julie had interviewed her separately and what most strikes you about her if you can begin by sort of giving us a not show description of Ruth Bader Ginsburg Supreme Court justice. Well. When you meet her in person she's a very tiny person and yet she has a kind of commanding presence I think that's the contrast about her that really strikes you she's a very serious person the kind of person if you say hey how are you she doesn't immediately jump in to tell you how she is she thinks about it she's very deliberate in everything she says so as she just said to us and in the interview I tend to be rather sober on the other hand she has a fabulous sense of humor and as we discovered in the film she loves to laugh and so she's a very she's a multi dimensional person with an extraordinary life story and I want to talk about that life story I want to 1st though go to a clip from your documentary our b.g. Where Justice Ginsberg talks about the 1st time she argued before the Supreme Court and a case of French hero versus Richardson in 1972 the case centered on a female Air Force Lieutenant who'd been denied the same housing in medical benefits as her male colleagues Justice Ginsburg then the lawyer Ginsburg argued the Air Force a statute for housing allowances treated women as inferior and the Supreme Court ruled in her favor 8 to one was not a single question I did when on speaking and I had to time line going on they just seemed to me. Not listening. Or am I telling them something they haven't heard before they painted tension. The justices were just collude to her I don't think they were expecting to have to deal with something as powerful as the sheer force of her argument that was just all encompassing and they were there to talk about a little statute in the in the government code I mean it was it was just we seize the moment to change American society. And asking the court to declare sex a suspect right to marry and. This edition also David 837 by Sarah Grimm no doubt Alison is an advocate of equal rights for men and women she said I asked. For my sense. Is that they take their feet off on next. An excerpt from our b j documentary that's just a or the Sundance Film Festival to much acclaim in that clip we also heard from Brenda fi again who is co-director with Ruth Bader Ginsburg the a.c.l.u. Is women's rights project so Julie Cohen let's talk about her life before she was the notorious sort of peaches before she was Supreme Court justice sure I mean you know that that was one of the big factors making us want to make this film a lot of the people that love her and think she's cool and know about her dissents don't really know the full story and don't appreciate how much she achieved for women's equal rights under law in her career as a lawyer particularly during those 2 of those times the women's rights projects in the 1970 s. Basically she took on. A number of cases there were 6 including that one you just played arrow that she argued before the Supreme Court winning 5 of them making the case at a time when that case wasn't widely understood or even you know sort of hard for society and the male justices of the time to register the idea that oh wait their constitution should provide equal rights for men and women this was she was following up on what Thurgood Marshall had done sort of the 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. I wanted to go to another clip Bader Ginsburg nominated by President Clinton in 1993 this is during her Senate confirmation hearing when she openly defended and this was highly unusual openly defended a woman's right to have an abortion this is something central to a woman's. Life to her dignity it's a decision that she must make. For herself and when government controls that decision for her. She's being treated as less than a fully adult human responsible for her own choices during Ruth Bader Ginsburg's 1993 Supreme Court confirmation hearing Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah questioned her stance on abortion so-called constitutional right to abortion a right which many including myself like was created out of thin air by the court but you asked me you know that question in relation to the Supreme Court's precedent and. You now ask me another question in relation to this being put precedent the Supreme Court's precedent is that access to abortion is part of the Liberty guaranteed by the well that was just out of order the moment . That 993 confirmation hearing Betsy West how unusual especially in light of now in 2018 imagine hearing a Supreme Court justice being so open about her support for freedom to choose for women about her support for and for should talk about the significance of this it was she was extremely forthright about this she's a very principled person and she was not going to pull her punches on this I mean the amazing thing is that after that she was confirmed 96 to 3 you know the 6 to those 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've been nominated by our president who happens to be a Democrat that's the way the system works it's kind of poignant and extraordinary to hear that in you know today you both interviewed Orrin Hatch I mean you interviewed him in the film. Did he say he would support her today and he was very laudatory again or he was 1st of all he said I love Ruth Bader Ginsberg he said that look cool was. Really he admires her so much he admires her brain and he admires her character what she stands for any said look I think it's a good thing for the court to have an articulate smart liberal on the court he said I think it it right it elevates the entire. Conversation the debate I was surprised by how forceful and strong he was in his ongoing support for her and talking about relationships that might surprise. Her relationship with Justice Scalia and the significance of this the history of this before Scalia died yes I mean Justice Scalia and Justice Ginsburg were quite close going back to their days together on the court of people the u.s. Court of Appeals for the d.c. Circuit in the 1980 s. Admired each other as kind of intellectual sparring partners. And really liked and loved each other as friends they both loved they both had a lot of other intro actually and interests in theater and literature or. And the fact that they disagreed so vehemently on the law extraordinarily seem to have made them closer to one another they don't you know they didn't deny that it sometimes wasn't exactly pleasant you know after what one example that the justice has talked about is you know after Bush v Gore 2 when they were like couldn't have been more opposed to each other's point of view when the stakes couldn't have been higher at one point at the end of the evening he gave her a call and said Ruth you know it's a go and go home and and take a hot bath and we'll see each other again in the morning and you know it's a kind of those who aren't familiar with Bush v Gore though they may have been familiar become familiar with the results yes the Supreme Court decision that ended the recount in Florida and led to George w. Bush becoming president of the United States being chosen as President by the u.s. Supreme Court and used to send it right yes Justice Scalia was one of the one of the architects of the majority decision saying. Having George Bush become the president and Ruth Ginsburg wrote a wrote one of several I think there were a number of dissent in that case but what it was one of the dissenters in that case and this issue of Ruth Bader Ginsburg being. The decenter. Young people who are following her now that's all they would think about but that actually wasn't always the case and you have a really interesting sort of image that you have in the film r b g where you show her right in the center there you know much closer to the conservatives and then how she moves to the left that's the West Yeah and one of our interviewees said she was never meant to be the great dissenter she always wanted consensus and she still wants consensus her she has a very practical view of the law and she's always trying to bring people over to her side it's a very important to her that she have collegial relationships with her fellow justices and that she makes a reasoned argument she's not a bomb thrower However when push comes to shove and she feels that that the Constitution is not being followed she's not afraid to issue a very scathing dissent and as she says look I can rather be in the majority. But when I'm not I will write in and she's got to do a lay collars that's what I call them because they look like. The different ones when I say. Oh excuse me excuse me. And she and Sandra Day O'Connor came up with this together and then she got the different ones for when she was in the Gertie opinion or when she was expressing the decided this said yes she has a great fashion sense and she brings her fashion sense to her close to the Supreme Court and you know when Supreme Court justices come out to read opinions it's not publicly known yet what the decision is going to be so. If you're in the courtroom of course there aren't cameras in the courtroom but if you're in the courtroom you get to do a preview if you. Minutes earlier coz from Justice Ginsburg's choleric she's going to read an opinion and she's wearing that lovely Stuart of black sparkly fan shaped collar you know she's about to deliver to us that we're going to go to a break and then we're going to come back and Pier really interesting comment from Justice Ginsburg just yesterday she spoke at the filmmakers lodge she was interviewed by N.P.R.'s Nina Totenberg and she talks about this seminal foundational work of Catherine the canon and how it changed her view also of women's rights then what the whole issue of gender harassment is all about this is Democracy Now we're talking about a film that just premiered at Sundance Film Festival it's called or b g innocent that the Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Stay with us. Written in part by whether top nursery in Lane Ville on Harmon drive they have all the garden needs inside now including a wide variety of angels perennial shade trees house plants weather top nurseries open Monday through Friday 8 to 6 Saturday 9 to 6 and Sunday tend to for more information at 9846385 or whether to news for ya. This is Democracy Now Democracy Now dot org The War and Peace Report I mean a good many We're broadcasting from the Sundance Film Festival in Park City Utah and we will be here for the week yes from the Sundance Film Festival where a film about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg called our b.g. Has just premiered well before the film on Sunday Justice Ginsburg who flew in to Park City Utah this weekend was interviewed by N.P.R.'s Nina Totenberg a dear friend of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Totenberg ask in the spirit if she had ever been sexually harassed herself this was the Supreme Court justices answer. The answer is yes every woman there might have been. Knows. What sexual harassment is although we didn't have a name for it the attitude to sexual harassment was simply. Get past it. Boys will be boys. Well I'll give you just one example I'm taking a chemistry course. Cornell. And my instructor said. Because I was uncertain amount of my ability in Kiran he said I'll give you a practice exam. So he gave me a practice exam the next day and the test the test is the practical there and I knew exactly what he wanted in return. And that's just one of many examples this was not considered anything you could do something about that the law could help you do something about until the book was written by and then young woman named Kitty making. Catherine MacKinnon And it was called sexual harassment in the workplace and I was asked to read it by a publisher. And give my opinion on whether it was worth publishing. It was a revelation the 1st part described incidents like the one I just mentioned and the next was how is this. Added discrimination more Title 7 which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race national origin religion and sex how that could be used as a tool. To stop sexual harassment it was opening and it was the beginning. That didn't exist until then. So just to close here from. What did you do about the professor did you just stay clear of him what did you do . I. Went to his office and I said how dare you. Thank you. And that was the end of. The enders. I assume you did quite well on that exam. When I did liberally made 2 mistakes. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg speaking with N.P.R.'s Nina Totenberg a woman who has interviewed her for decades they've known each other for 40 years and she is one of the people interviewed in the new documentary about Ruth Bader Ginsburg that will go throughout the week called our b g Our guests again are the film's directors and producers Julie Cullen and Betsy West Betsy West the significance of what Justice Ginsburg said saying that Katherine McKinnon was so seminal Well I had never heard her talk about this but it's absolutely true that there really was no word for sexual harassment when Ruth Bader Ginsburg was being discriminated against as a young woman and then. Later all of the women who flooded into the workplace in the seventy's just sort of felt like hey this is the price of entry something we've got to put up with in order to have these fantastic jobs and it was Catherine McKinnon who as you who was really just of a young just out of the law school she may still have been in laws when she started working on this concept and wrote this paper that was absolutely seminal and in fact was quoted by the Supreme Court in the mid eighty's parts of her some of the exact like which that she used and it is Ruth Bader Ginsburg said it was a revelation hey this is wrong and it's actually unconstitutional that's that's something that will that I think a lot of people don't understand and you know we can talk about your film our b.g. Without talking about. Her family her relationships and particularly her husband who was also a well known lawyer Julie Cohen if you can talk about this love story that lasted for over half a century Yeah I mean the. Love and marriage between Ruth and Marty Ginsburg is sort of like it's not just romantic but it's I think it's really an inspirational part of a feminist story. Ruth Bader Ginsburg would say often the way like a super successful man talks about his wife shall say she wouldn't have gotten where she got without him pushing and it's absolutely true they met at Cornell where they were both students they fell madly in love Marty Ginsburg. Ruth Bader Ginsburg said he was the 1st guy who even seemed to notice that she had a brain. Because he was by the way. And he basically although he was an incredibly successful tact attorney in his own right he really devoted a lot of his life both to the family he was the primary cook and he certainly shared childcare responsibilities with her and then he devoted a fair amount of his time and energy to pushing her career forth she's not the type to go around self promoting he was not a he was not shy about promoting her and talk about that because we just played that clip of President Clinton. Nominating her but how did that happen how did Ruth Bader Ginsburg come to Clinton's attention he certainly she wasn't the only one he was looking at Yeah I mean Clinton himself had said is that he wanted to nominate Governor Cuomo quot didn't want to do it and then he started looking around and. Possibly probably yes definitely because of the Marty Ginsburg campaign and others of her supporters who just felt that she was a legal giant her name came to his attention but as he says Marty. It wasn't the only person lobbying for somebody and when he met her in person he told us that within 15 minutes of their conversation he knew we was going to nominate her was kind of a meeting of the mind about the law the best way to make law and so he was really taken by her she was 16 years old when she was nominated that was actually kind of on the old side but he decided that she deserved it. I want to turn to 2007 lead better versus Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company pay discrimination case the Supreme Court rejecting let me lead bettors claim the pay discrimination a Goodyear tire plan Alabama where she worked as an overnight supervisor for 1000 years the decision move Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to return just sent from the bench a relatively rare move 1st served to criticize the majority opinion this is part of Justice Ginsburg's dissent in our view. Does not comprehend or is indifferent to the insidious way in which women can be victims of discrimination and also have an was meant to bend real world employment practices in that world is what the court and norms to do they pay disparities. And they didn't lead bitters case in small increments only over time is this. This is discrimination is it work. So the little a led better Fair Pay Act later passed in response to the Supreme Court significance truly Well the fairer the Only a better Fair Pay Act was a very important piece of legislation and the significance in the r b g story is reminding you that yes of course key role of the Supreme Court justice and what you think of as maybe their greatest potential for accomplishing change is in a majority opinion a right but Justice Ginsburg really made a huge difference in in our laws by the dissent that she wrote a little better 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 on equally but her dissent she just came right out and said like the ball is now in Congress' court like you know what. Maybe we're a little stuck. On the judicial side of Congress take some action here and Congress took her up on it and the law was passed and signed into law actually the 1st piece of legislation that President Obama signed when he was inaugurated in January 20th 2009 at Sunday's interview that N.P.R.'s Nina Totenberg did with Justice Ginsburg and she pointed out that Justice Ginsburg had hired clerks through the 2020 term and asked her about how long she'll stay on the court. And the answer to that will continue to be answered. As I can do. And will be here. So that's Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg that's the west she has chosen her clerks through the 2020 term think she's sending a signal. Yes she seems very determined to continue doing the job that she loves me one of the motor Viber of pancreatic sent a cancer and colorectal cancer one of the most amazing scenes for us was filming her in her gym with her trainer where she works out twice a week she does a grueling Well one hour workout without fail she is to and the workout involves you know Planck's pushups medicine ball the whole rates the new Jane Fonda workout. 8085 is the new 45 who knows I mean she is Turman to keep herself in shape and we have 10 seconds really what most surprised you in meeting Justice Ginsburg and doing this documentary you know there are a lot of legends that have a risen about Justice Ginsburg over the past couple of years that she's become the notorious r b g including the work out including her long work hours I think the surprise was that most of those legends are true well I want to thank Julie Cohen and Betsy West directors and producers of the documentary our gesture had its world premiere here at the Sundance Film Festival I mean a good many thanks so much for joining. Us. All right good afternoon everybody. You're listening to. Build 91 point one f.m. An h d one k m u.