ninatotenberg

it was a civil rights division meeting early in the Reagan Administration, when longstanding policies were being reversed. So I just went. Of course, one of the bosses recognized me and asked me, unceremoniously, to leave. So, I did what you describe below, asked for volunteers to call me to tell me what happened in the meeting.

the biggest change is that Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a Reagan conservative with a centrist bent, has been replaced by Justice Samuel Alito, a George W. Bush appointee, who is a movement conservative. That means that the court has moved in a dramatically more conservative direction--witness Alito's decision last term in the Hobby Lobby case, ruling for the first time ever that some for-profit corporations may be exempt, on religious grounds, from a generally applicable federal law.

We have lots of listeners, including pols. Early in then Sen. Obama's Senate tenure, I got an elevator with him, and he was incredibly nice about my legal coverage. It was the one and only time I met him!

1. uh, I have no team. It's just me, and an intern. And aside from laughing my head off, I am not doing anything on John Oliver.

2. No vocal training. I am blessed with a big, somewhat operatic voice, but that is God's hand, not mine. My father, see above, always told me that his father had a beautiful singing voice.

I have noticed from questions submitted earlier that there is a misunderstanding about the way audio is released. It posted online on Friday afternoon of every argument week, not on the same day as arguments take place. There are rare exceptions, i.e., the same sex marriage arguments, Obamacare, where the audio is released when the argument is over. But on a normal day, we do not get audio, though we now do get an unofficial transcript in the afternoon, so I am able to check my notes against that. Until quite recently, there was no way to check, so we reporters used to gather in the press room afterwards to see who got what precisely, and then we just agreed, that was the quote.