RBG

If I were to rate this documentary solely on the basis of its subject, I would give it a 10. RBG is a very interesting person, who has had a profound impact on the law, and it is worth learning about her regardless of where you stand on the political spectrum. Nonetheless, this documentary is extremely one-sided and intentionally leaves out important facts, or distorts them, solely to make its point.

First, by only viewing this documentary, one would think that her husband gave up his legal career to support RBG and cook dinner for her and the kids. The truth is that he had a very successful legal career as a tax lawyer and tenured professor at Columbia Law School. He did move to DC to be with RBG, but became a law professor at Georgetown Law School, not some house husband. The documentary mentions that RBG was shy and that it was needed for her husband to sing her praises during Senate confirmation. What it doesn't tell you is that her husband was the attorney for future Presidential Candidate and billionaire Ross Perot, and that Perot lobbied hard to get her nominated, as a way to return the favor for the hundreds of millions of dollars Ginsburg was able to save him. Perot's influence on Republicans, as well as lobbying by the Jewish community, is what allowed her to be so easily confirmed. The documentary makes it seem like she was confirmed 96-3 because she was so exemplary that she overcame political partisanship. But it's important to remember that Scalia was confirmed 98-0. A more honest documentary would have mentioned that the backing of Perot, and other Republicans, by her tax lawyer husband was crucial in both the confirmation hearings.

The bias of this documentary shines when it describes Scalia as a right wing nut job, and claims Ginsburg was able to maintain a friendship with him because of nonsense like 'always be a lady.' Anyone who knows RBG or Scalia knows that they were close friends who met for dinner weekly. It's not that she was just ignoring his politics and trying to remain civil. They were actually close friends and didn't let politics affect that. I think for those blinded by partisanship, it's hard to imagine being friends with someone who is on the opposite side of the political spectrum. But for most people, it isn't. RBG's husband himself was close friends with Perot, who while running as an independent twice, was a lifelong Republican and always endorsed Republican candidates.

The third issue this documentary glosses over is that many on the left spoke out trying to have RBG step down while Obama was still President. This way the Democrats would be able to retain the seat on the Supreme Court. She could even have had some say over who her replacement would be, and perhaps have had one of her former clerks be her replacement. But she decided to stay on even though she was slowing down and the quality of her output was waning. Nonetheless she tenaciously clung to power, and now she is battling cancer for the 4th time, and has no choice but to remain on the Court until we have a Democratic President. This documentary quickly addresses these criticisms (from the Left, mind you) by saying she would stay on until she couldn't "go full steam." The problem is that she hasn't been going full steam for nearly a decade now, and there is a good chance Trump will be able to place another Justice on the Court because of her. Yet this whole contentious issue is downplayed by repeatedly showing excerpts of her in the gym working out to some energetic music. Those of us who follow the Court are fully aware that she has slowed down considerably, and perhaps isn't all mentally there anymore (given her extremely poor choice of wading into the election by publicly criticizing a Presidential candidate). Some energetic workout music isn't going convince knowledgeable people otherwise.

There are many other issues that the documentary should have addressed; such as the lack of diversity in her clerks (a paucity of African-American and Hispanic clerks, as well as less women than would be expected), as well as a more thorough examination of her jurisprudence. Instead we get a one-sided propaganda piece that is making RBG out to be some sort of God, and not what she is, an impressive but human figure. Even those who tend to be on the Left, like myself, are a bit dissatisfied with the childish one-sided view of RBG.