Media

Editorials & blog posts

I was the author of Questions Presented, a regular column in Bloomberg Law, April 2023 – Aprl 2024. Questions Presented examined thorny issues facing the US Supreme Court and ethics in the legal profession.

Tonja Jacobi, In ruling for Trump, the Supreme Court applied special rules, Atlanta Journal Constitution, March 12, 2024

Tonja Jacobi, It’s Not Just Embryos. Even the Dead Have More Rights Than Women, Questions Presented, Bloomberg, March 6, 2024 (PDF)

Tonja Jacobi, Supreme Court Launches Latest Salvo in War on Federal Government, Bloomberg, Jan. 22, 2024 (PDF)

Tonja Jacobi, The Supreme Court Fails These Three Measures of a Justice System, Bloomberg, December 20, 2023

Tonja Jacobi, Supreme Court’s ‘New’ Ethics Code Won’t Actually Change a Thing, Bloomberg, Nov. 17, 2023

Tonja Jacobi, Criticisms of Trump Gag Orders Echo Supreme Court’s Selectivity, Bloomberg, Nov. 13, 2023

Tonja Jacobi, A Donald Trump Gag Order Would Be a Test for the Justice System, Bloomberg, Oct. 24, 2023

Tonja Jacobi, US Supreme Court Expands Ambitious Agenda on Free Speech, Guns, Bloomberg, Sept. 26, 2023

Tonja Jacobi, Roberts Steers Supreme Court’s Arguments if Not Its Decisions, Bloomberg, Aug. 30, 2023

Tonja Jacobi, Trump’s Jail Time Doesn’t Matter, But Drawing a Red Line Does, Bloomberg, Aug. 16, 2023

Tonja Jacobi, Justice Jackson Didn’t Win Often, But What She Said Mattered, Bloomberg, July 7, 2023

Tonja Jacobi, High Court Stretched to End Affirmative Action. It Didn’t Have To, Bloomberg, June 30, 2023

Tonja Jacobi & Cory Conley, Some Justices Favor State House Power Over Presidential Elections, Bloomberg, June 28, 2023

Tonja Jacobi, Don’t Celebrate Yet: Justices Set Table for Civil Rights Rollback, Bloomberg, June 21, 2023

Tonja Jacobi, Justices Sign on to Loosened Ethics In and Out of the Courtroom, Bloomberg, May 17, 2023

Tonja Jacobi, Thomas Gives Himself a Pass, But Judges Others by the Book, Bloomberg, April 21, 2023

Tonja Jacobi, Female Justices Still Interrupted at Argument, But Barrett Less, Bloomberg, Mar. 30, 2023

Tonja Jacobi, “Supreme Court justices now have to show us where the money is from,” in More Judicial Reforms Are Needed, But Observers Diverge on Scope, Bloomberg, Mar. 30, 2023

Tonja Jacobi & Warren Snead, In voting rights battle, moderate Republicans are allowed to duck the issue, Chicago Tribune, Jan. 24, 2022

Tonja Jacobi, This Supreme Court guards the First Amendment — and neglects the Fourth, Washington Post, June 28, 2021

Tonja Jacobi & Matthew Sag, The Supreme Court needs 15 Justices, Bloomberg, May 4, 2021

Tonja Jacobi & Matthew Sag, The Supreme Court Is the Final Hurdle for Voters’ Rights, Bloomberg, Mar. 31, 2021

Tonja Jacobi, The COVID relief package shows why Democrats must abolish the filibuster, Bloomberg, Feb. 22, 2021

Tonja Jacobi, The high court’s telephonic oral arguments mute its female and liberal justices, Washington Post, September 18, 2020

Leah Litman & Tonja Jacobi, Does John Roberts Need to Check His Own Biases? New York Times, Jun. 2, 2020

Tonja Jacobi, Timothy Johnson, Eve Rinsgmuth & Matthew Sag, Look who’s talking less: Supreme Court justices, Washington Post, Nov. 1, 2019

Tonja Jacobi, Standards for police are low enough. Supreme Court must stand against police retaliation. USA Today, Mar. 29, 2019

Tonja Jacobi & Ross Berlin, Why won’t the US Supreme Court do anything about racism? Aeon, Dec. 12, 2018

Tonja Jacobi & Matthew Sag, Supreme Court justices are speaking up more because they’re not afraid to be partisan, Washington Post, April 6, 2018

Tonja Jacobi & Dylan Schweers, How men continue to interrupt even the most powerful women, Aeon, May 26, 2017

Tonja Jacobi & Dylan Schweers, If Gorsuch is like his colleagues, he’ll constantly interrupt the female justices, Washington Post, April 11, 2017, 9:51am

Tonja Jacobi & Dylan Schweers, Female Supreme Court Justices Are Interrupted More by Male Justices and Advocates, Harvard Business Review, April 11, 2017

Tonja Jacobi & Dylan Schweers, Justice, interrupted – Gender, ideology, and seniority at the Supreme Court, SCOTUSblog, Legal scholarship highlight, April 5, 2017

Media appearances

Supreme Court oral argument interruptions:

Follow up to Justice, Interrupted, MORE PERFECT, Radiolab, coming soon

The Supreme Court Episode: Raw Political Power with guest Prof. Tonja Jacobi, Madness Café, November 02, 2023

Supreme Court Arguments, Civics 101, New Hampshire Public Radio podcast, June 27, 2023

Supreme Court Ethics, Civics 101, New Hampshire Public Radio podcast, June 3, 2023

Justice Breyer’s retirement, The 21st, ILLINOIS PUBLIC MEDIA, Jan. 31, 2022

Packing the Court, Lawyer 2 Lawyer, Legal Talk Network, May 21, 2021

Listen: Pardon The Inter…, DISCOVERY Podcast, Season 2, University of Washington School of Law, March 16, 2020

Two Surprising Ways to Predict How Supreme Court Justices Will Vote, KelloggInsight, Dec. 10, 2018

Why women of the Supreme Court get interrupted more th—
Feminist Fight Club, KUOW Puget Sound Public Radio, AUG 21, 2018 at 7:47 AM

How Impartial Are U.S. Supreme Court Judges? Steve Goldstein, KJZZ 91.5, April 24, 2018

Women and Liberals On The Supreme Court Are Interrupted Most Often
Newsy, April 20, 2017

Justice, Interrupted, More Perfect, Radiolab, Dec 18, 2017

Central Time, Wisconsin Public Radio, April 18, 2017, 4:15pm

Female Supreme Court Justices Are Interrupted More,
Michaela, CNN, April 13, 2017, 10:44am

Justice interruptus, CBS evening national news, April 12, 2017

BBC weekend news programme, April 9, 2017, 6:20am (GMT)

Supreme Court Reform:

Kavanaugh’s nomination renews debate over Supreme Court term limits, CBS News, Oct 2, 2018

Should We Reform the Supreme Court? Planet Lex podcast, Sep 19, 2018

Criminal procedure:

Michael Waters, Supreme But Not Relevant: The Supreme Court’s silence on criminal justice issues, And how liberal justices can fix it,
The Outline, July 9, 2018

Subtle Differences in Legal Procedures – Profile on research on Gender in Criminal Procedure,
KUAF, Ozarks at Large, January 25, 2017

The hidden psychology of constitutional criminal procedure featuring Tonja Jacobi, Conversations with the Legal Academy, University of Arkansas, January 24, 2017

The Affordable Health Care Act and the Court:
Special on Supreme Court Ruling on the Affordable Health Care Act,
WBEZ, The Afternoon Shift with Steve Edwards, June 28, 2012

The indictment of Gov. Rod Blagojevich:
Panel with Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich at Northwestern University,
The Daily Northwestern, March 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

Commentary & Profiles

James Van Bramer, The Law of Disposable Children, The Crime Report, October 27, 2022

Margaret Talbot, Justice Alito’s Crusade Against a Secular America Isn’t Over, The New Yorker, September 5, 2022

Adam Liptak, Supreme Court Tries to Tame Unruly Oral Arguments, New York Times, November 1, 2021

Marcia Coyle, The Supreme Court’s Legitimacy In Peril; Are The Times Of One Lone Judge Tipping The Scale Over?, National Law Journal, November 1, 2021

Justice, Interrupted, The Experiment Podcast, October 21, 2021

Kashish Bhatia, Supreme Court justice Sotomayor addresses judicial mansplaining at NYU event, Washington Square News, October 18, 2021

Per My Last Email, Strict Scrutiny podcast @ 11:38–16:10

The Curious Case of Jailing Children, Advisory Opinions podcast @ 3:25–8:25

Maya Yang, Let her finish: interruptions of female justices led to new supreme court rules, The Guardian,  October 15, 2021

Kaelan Deese, Supreme Court changes oral argument format because female justices were being interrupted, Washington Examiner, October 14, 2021

Melissa Quinn, Sotomayor says Supreme Court adjusted argument format partly over interruptions of female justices, CBS News, October 14, 2021

Ariane de Vogue, SCOTUS changed oral arguments in part because female justices were interrupted, Sotomayor says, CNN Politics, October 13, 2021

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Comments on the impact of Justice Interrupted, in A Conversation with Justice Sonia Sotomayor, NYU Law School, October 13, 2021

Marcia Coyle, A Supreme Court Advocate’s Slip Provided Rare Moment of Laughter in Virus Era, National Law Journal, March 31, 2021

Michaela Whitbourn, ‘No bias’ against female High Court judges over 25-year period, Sydney Morning Herald, August 31, 2020

Michael Pelly and Hannah Wootton, No gender bias against women judges in Australia, says US expert, Financial Review, August 27, 2020

Debra Cassens Weiss, ‘Laughter is a blood sport at the court’ when used by SCOTUS justices, new study says, ABA Journal, March 12, 2019

Marcia Coyle, ‘Laughter Is a Blood Sport’ at the Supreme Court, Scholars Say in New Study, National Law Journal, March 8, 2019

Amanda Mull, Congresswoman, Interrupted, The Atlantic, December 11, 2018

Richard B. Cohen, Even Female Judges Get Harassed!, Above the Law, October 19, 2018

Stephanie Francis Ward, New blog uses data analysis from oral arguments to make Supreme Court predictions, ABA Journal September 18, 2018,

Melissa Heelan Stanzione, Law Profs Aim to Predict SCOTUS Outcomes Via Transcript,
Bloomberg Law, September 6, 2018

Marcia Coyle, Who’s the Most Polite Justice?, Supreme Court brief, National Law Journal, August 22, 2018

Marcia Coyle, Sotomayor, Kagan Are Interrupted the Most at Oral Arguments: Study
National Law Journal, August 7, 2018

Michael Waters, Supreme But Not Relevant: The Supreme Court’s silence on criminal justice issues, And how liberal justices can fix it, The Outline, July 9, 2018

Anthony Gaughan, The Ghost of Felix Frankfurter, The Faculty Lounge, April 27, 2018

Teal Burrell, The science behind interrupting: gender, nationality and power, and the roles they play, Post Magazine, March 14, 2018

Marcia Coyle, Supreme Court Justices Are Ever More ‘Advocates,’ New Law Study Contends, National Law Journal, March 9, 2018 01:53 PM

Adam Liptak, On Tour with Notorious RBG, New York Times, Feb. 8, 2018

Amanda Frost, Academic highlight: Jacobi & Rozema on predicting outcomes based on interruptions at oral argument, SCOTUSblog, December 18th, 2017 10:38 am

William Vogeler, Do Judicial Interruptions Reveal Conflicts on the Supreme Court?
FindLaw, Sept. 25, 2017 5:56 AM

Timothy P. O’Neill, At 51, Miranda starting to show its age; a tune-up may be in order
Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, July 10, 2017

Julia Zorthian, Supreme Court ‘Manterruption’, Time, Jun 01, 2017

Ally Mauch, NU law school study finds female Supreme Court justices more likely to be interrupted by men than male justices, The Daily Northwestern, May 2, 2017

Allison Abrams, Trickle-Down Misogyny, Psychology Today, May 1, 2017

Gabfest (podcast @ 49:20), Slate, April 20, 2017, 6:46pm

Study: Female Supreme Court Justices Interrupted More Than Male Counterparts
Here & Now, NPR, April 20, 2017

Renzo Downey, Yes, even female Supreme Court justices face sexism,
North by Northwestern, April 20 2017, 8:09pm

Jamal Andress, Women and Liberals On The Supreme Court Are Interrupted Most Often
Newsy, April 20, 2017

Adam Liptak, Let Me Finish, Please: Conservative Men Dominate the Debate,
New York Times, April 18, 2017, pA13

New York Times, The Daily (podcast), Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Adam Liptak, Why Gorsuch May Not Be So Genteel on the Bench
New York Times, Sidebar, April 17, 2017

Kristiano Ang, Even Ruth Bader Ginsburg gets ‘manterrupted’ at work. What to do when it happens to you, Moneyish, Dow Jones, April 13, 2017

Chris White, Study Shows Evidence Female Justices Interrupted Three Times More Than Male Colleagues, LawNewz, April 13, 2017, 6:18pm

Phoebe Maltz Bovy, Well Actually, Men Interrupt Women Even On The Supreme Court,
Forward, April 12, 2017

Jim Axelrod, Female Supreme Court justices interrupted more than male colleagues, study says, CBS news, April 12, 2017, 8:11pm (transcript of CBS news interview & profile)

Ann-Marie Alcántara, It’s Not Just You — Women on the Supreme Court Are Constantly Interrupted by Men, Too, Popsugar, April 10, 2017

Here’s How Frequently Women Supreme Court Justices Are Interrupted by Men,
Onbeb, April 10, 2017

Study: Female Supreme Court justices are interrupted far more often than male justices,
AOL news, April 10, 2017, 11:22pm

Maggie Mallon, Here’s How Frequently Women Supreme Court Justices Are Interrupted By Men, Huffington Post, April 10, 2017, 4:58pm (republication of Glamour profile)

Supremo Machismo: Falas de ministras têm mais interrupções na Suprema Corte dos EUA
Conjur, (Portuguese language), April 10, 2017, 10:52am

Arden Dier, Men of SCOTUS Interrupt the Women a Lot Female justices interrupted more often than men, researchers say, Newser, April 9, 2017 9:41am

Sam Speedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg gets interrupted more because she’s a woman, study shows, Mashable, April 9, 2017

Melissa Wylie, Female Supreme Court justices interrupted more often than men, Bizwomen April 7, 2017, 10:21am

Joseph Barberio, Even Ruth Bader Ginsburg Gets “Manterrupted.” Here’s How She Fights Back,  Working Mother, April 7, 2017

Who’s Interrupting Whom at the Supreme Court, Bloomberg Law, Big Business Law, April 7, 2017

Debra Cassens Weiss, Interruptions of female justices has increased with their representation on SCOTUS, study finds, ABA Journal, April 6, 2017, 10:06am

Kathryn Rubino, It Doesn’t Get Better — Women Supreme Court Justices Get Interrupted Too, Above The Law, April 6, 2017, 12:44pm

Hanna Kozlowska, Women Supreme Court justices get interrupted three times as much as their male counterparts, Quartz, April 6, 2017

Claire Zilman, Ruth Bader Ginsburg Used This Simple Trick to Cut Down on ‘Manterrupting’,
Fortune, April 6, 2017, 11:37am

Kaitlin Kimont, Female Justices Are Interrupted More Than Their Male Colleagues & It’s Not Surprising Whatsoever, Romper, April 6, 2017

Maggie Mallon, Here’s How Frequently Women Supreme Court Justices Are Interrupted by Men, Glamour, April 6, 2017, 12:04pm

Jason Kottke, Gender inequality and the Supreme Court, Kottke.org, April 6, 2017

Prachi Gupta, Even Ruth Bader Ginsburg Gets Interrupted By Men, Jezebel, April 5, 2017