5 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 21

Nina Totenberg, veteran legal affairs correspondent for National Public Radio, will be the featured speaker for Northwestern’s 36th annual Leopold Lecture.
 
Totenberg will reflect on the U.S. Supreme Court, top legal issues affecting everyday Americans and the important cases being considered by the court. Her conversation partner is Laura Beth Nielsen, Board of Lady Managers of the Columbian Exposition Chair and professor of sociology at Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences.

As dean of the press corps covering the Supreme Court and one of the country’s most respected journalists, Totenberg has covered headline-making judicial cases for more than 40 years for NPR, where her reports were regularly featured on “All Things Considered,” “Morning Edition” and “Weekend Edition.”

The Leopold Lecture series has brought a variety of distinguished speakers to Northwestern over the years, including U.S. Senators Russ Feingold and Richard Lugar, presidential nominee George McGovern and former Mexico President Vicente Fox. Professor Leopold’s undergraduate students established the Richard W. Leopold Lectureship in 1990 to honor the late eminent diplomatic historian and dedicated educator. For more than 40 years, most of them at Northwestern, Leopold distinguished himself as an attentive teacher.

Totenberg is the author of “Dinners with Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships,” a tribute to her nearly 50-year friendship with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. 

In addition to winning every major journalism award in broadcasting, Totenberg is the first radio journalist to have won the National Press Foundation’s “Broadcaster of the Year” award in 1998. She was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame by the Museum of Broadcast Communications in 2023.

The Leopold Lecture is free and open to the public, but reservations are required. Members of the public can submit a question and register online here.