[074] MTSU plans Sept. 13 screenings, discussion of ‘RBG’ film about U.S. Supreme Court justice

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — As the Senate Judiciary Committee considers the most recent nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, MTSU will present the popular documentary about one of the high court’s most provocative jurists.

“RBG” will be shown Thursday, Sept. 13, at 2:40 p.m. in the Keathley University Center and at 6:30 p.m. in the Student Union Ballroom. The film examines the life of Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton and sworn in on Aug. 10, 1993.

A discussion with the film’s co-director, Julie Cohen, will follow the 6:30 p.m. showing. Both screenings are free and open to the public.

The documentary was an official selection at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival.

Off-campus visitors attending the event should obtain a special one-day permit from MTSU’s Office of Parking and Transportation at 1403 E. Main St. or online at http://www.mtsu.edu/parking/visit.php. A campus parking map is available at http://tinyurl.com/MTSUParkingMap.

The film reviews Ginsburg’s career as a law clerk, researcher, professor, general counsel and board member for the American Civil Liberties Union and judge, as well as her 64-year marriage to taxation law expert Martin Ginsburg, who died in 2010.

As an attorney, Ginsburg argued cases before the Supreme Court challenging laws that permitted discrimination on the basis of sex. In her 38-year career on the bench, Ginsburg has written opinions in cases that are seen as victories for gender equality.

In 1996, she wrote the majority opinion in United States v. Virginia, in which the Supreme Court struck down Virginia Military Institute’s “men only” admissions policy. In 2017, she wrote the majority opinion in Sessions v. Morales-Santana, which struck down a provision of immigration law that required different criteria for men and women.

A cult of personality has sprung up around Ginsburg, inspiring T-shirts, tote bags, coffee mugs and other items referring to her as the “Notorious RBG,” a takeoff on the late rap star The Notorious B.I.G.

Among those interviewed for the documentary are National Public Radio correspondent Nina Totenberg; activist Gloria Steinem; U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah; Eugene Scalia, son of Ginsburg’s late colleague Associate Justice Antonin Scalia; and the 85-year-old Ginsburg’s personal trainer, Bryant Johnson.

MTSU’s Department of Recording Industry and the College of Media and Entertainment are sponsoring the screenings and discussion, and the events are being co-sponsored by the June Anderson Center for Women and Nontraditional Students. For more information, call the college at 615-904-8490 or the department at 615-898-2578.