Drexel To Host Exclusive Central Ohio Premiere Of RBG

On Thursday, May 10, the Drexel Theatre will present the central Ohio premiere of Sundance Film Festival sensation, RBG, the 97-minute documentary chronicling the extraordinary life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States since August 1993.

Immediately following the screening, the Friends of the Drexel will host a panel discussion moderated by U.S. District Judge Algenon L. Marbley, Southern District of Ohio. Panelists include Rachel Bloomekatz of Gupta Wessler PLLC who presents appeals before the nation's highest courts; Professor Martha Chamallas, the Robert J. Lynn Chair in Law at OSU Moritz College of Law; and Dan Kobil a constitutional law professor at Capital University Law School.

"One of the goals of Friends of the Drexel is to bring added value through special post-film discussions," stated Judy Fisher, Board Chair of Friends of the Drexel. "It's exciting to have such a wonderful panel of constitutional law professionals share their view on Justice Ginsburg's impact as a member of the Supreme Court."

Tickets are $20 and can be purchased through Eventbrite at http://bit.ly/RBG-preview. Price includes admission to the screening and post-screening panel discussion.

At the age of 85, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has developed a lengthy legal legacy while becoming an unexpected pop culture icon. But the unique personal journey of her rise to the nation's highest court has been largely unknown, even to some of her biggest fans - until now. RBG explores Ginsburg's life and career. From Betsy West and Julie Cohen, and co-produced by Storyville Films and CNN Films. www.RBGmovie.com

Ginsburg was born in Brooklyn, New York, on March 15, 1933. She married Martin D. Ginsburg in 1954, and has a daughter, Jane, and a son, James. She received her BA from Cornell University, attended Harvard Law School, and received her LL.B. from Columbia Law School. She served as a law clerk to the Honorable Edmund L. Palmieri, Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, from 1959-1961. From 1961-1963, she was a research associate and then associate director of the Columbia Law School Project on International Procedure. She was a Professor of Law at Rutgers University School of Law from 1963-1972, and Columbia Law School from 1972-1980, and a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in Stanford, California from 1977-1978. In 1971, she was instrumental in launching the Women's Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, and served as the ACLU's General Counsel from 1973-1980, and on the National Board of Directors from 1974-1980. She was appointed a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1980. President Clinton nominated her as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, and she took her seat August 10, 1993.

Judge Algenon L. Marbley is a federal judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. Upon recommendation from Senator John Glenn, President Bill Clinton appointed Judge Marbley to the bench in 1997. In his 20 years serving as a district court judge, Judge Marbley has presided over some of the most important cases in central Ohio and the county. Prior to serving on the bench, Judge Marbley was a partner at Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease, where he practiced civil, criminal, and administrative law for 17 years. Judge Marbley also remains active in the community. He served on the board of trustees for The Ohio State University, and currently serves on the boards of the KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) School and Nationwide Children's Hospital. The Washington Post adopted one of his statements during a trial as its motto - "Democracy dies in darkness."

Rachel Bloomekatz is a principal at Gupta Wessler PLLC where she focuses on appeals before our nation's highest courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, the Ohio Supreme Court, and federal circuit courts. Her practice focuses on a wide range of public interest issues, including class actions, workers' rights, immigrants' rights, juvenile justice, public health, and voter protection. Before joining Gupta Wessler, Bloomekatz was a member of the issues and appeals practice group at Jones Day, and worked as an assistant attorney general in Massachusetts. Her practice draws on her extensive appellate experience in both the public and private sectors, as well as insights gained in her clerkships with Justice Stephen Breyer on the U.S. Supreme Court, Chief Justice Margaret Marshall on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and Judge Guido Calabresi on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. She is a huge fan of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who once wrote her a note saying her that her hamantaschen (cookies) were "super delectable, better than grandmother made them."

Martha Chamallas is the Robert J. Lynn Chair in Law at The Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law where she teaches courses on gender and the law, civil rights, and torts. She is the author of a leading treatise on feminist legal theory and numerous law review articles, books, and book chapters addressing topics such as sexual harassment, stereotyping, pay equity, and race and gender bias in the civil justice system. She has received the Distinguished Lecturer and Distinguished Scholar awards from OSU, and has taught as a visiting faculty member at several law schools in the U.S. (Harvard, Washington University in St. Louis, Richmond) and across the world (Belgium and Israel). Before joining the Moritz law faculty in 2002, she was a law faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh, University of Iowa, and Louisiana State University.

Daniel T. Kobil is a professor of law at Capital University Law School where he has taught principally in the area of constitutional law since 1987. Professor Kobil has researched and published extensively on the subject of clemency, particularly as it relates to the death penalty. His writings have appeared in legal journals such as the University of Texas Law Review, the Ohio State Law Journal, and the Capital University Law Review. Professor Kobil has also testified before Congress, written numerous newspaper articles, and made many media appearances on issues involving constitutional law generally, and the clemency power in particular. He has participated in cases involving constitutional issues in the U.S. Supreme Court such as Ohio Adult Parole Authority v. Woodard, 523 U.S. 272 (1998), and Harbison v. Bell, 556 U.S. 180 (2009), and has also litigated a number of free speech cases in Ohio's federal courts.