--- title: New Clinton Docs Disparage Ginsburg, Underscore Security Concerns at Atlanta Olympics description: Among other revelations in the newly-released papers, the White House warned of the Supreme Court candidate's "halting speech" and "laconic nature" in one memo canonical: https://time.com/3006010/clinton-documents-ruth-bader-ginsburg-atlanta-olympics-sonia-sotomayor/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-18T19:41:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:08:05.096Z article:section: Politics og:title: New Clinton Docs Disparage Ginsburg, Underscore Security Concerns at Atlanta Olympics og:description: Among other revelations in the newly-released papers, the White House warned of the Supreme Court candidate's "halting speech" and "laconic nature" in one memo og:url: https://time.com/3006010/clinton-documents-ruth-bader-ginsburg-atlanta-olympics-sonia-sotomayor/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt29ba3180361a1dea/69869c6613c79f7964193296/bill-clinton.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Clinton Global Initiative America Meetings Begin In Chicago og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: New Clinton Docs Disparage Ginsburg, Underscore Security Concerns at Atlanta Olympics twitter:description: Among other revelations in the newly-released papers, the White House warned of the Supreme Court candidate's "halting speech" and "laconic nature" in one memo twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt29ba3180361a1dea/69869c6613c79f7964193296/bill-clinton.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # New Clinton Docs Disparage Ginsburg, Underscore Security Concerns at Atlanta Olympics > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=161c08b0-ecc4-4699-867d-51fb84021da2&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Jul 18, 2014 7:41 PM UTC  Former President Bill Clinton listens as Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel speaks to guests at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) on June 13, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. Former President Bill Clinton listens as Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel speaks to guests at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) on June 13, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. Scott Olson—Getty Images by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Jul 18, 2014 7:41 PM UTC The latest trove of previously-unreleased documents from the Clinton White House reveal the administration’s candid and at times unflattering assessment of Ruth Bader Ginsburg before her confirmation to the Supreme Court. The [memo](http://www.scribd.com/doc/234384271/RBG), drafted by then-White House Associate Counsel Ron Klain to David Gergen, lists Ginsburg’s defense of the American Civil Liberties Union and “her failure to make eye contact, her halting speech, her “laconic” nature” as potential “performance pitfalls” for her in Senate confirmation hearings. It also includes the underlined warning that, “Judge Ginsburg views the White House’s interest and her interests as being at odds with each other.” “She sees us as having a stake in presenting her as a moderate and in getting along well with the Senate; she sees her interests as ‘being herself,’ preserving her ‘dignity,’ and promoting her ‘independence,'” the memo continued. The document is part of the latest batch of memos from the Clinton administration that have been released by the Clinton Library over the past several months. Also in this release is a [memo](http://www.scribd.com/doc/234384272/Breyer) from Klain outlining the subjects President Bill Clinton should bring up and which to avoid in a conversation with soon-to-be Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. Also of note is the multiple-choice [memo](http://www.scribd.com/doc/234384274/Trip-Planning) to Clinton seeking his preferences for a planned trip to Spain, Poland, Romania and Denmark, and a White House [memo](http://www.scribd.com/doc/234384273/Olympics) outlining contingency planning for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. Bonus: With this check mark, President Bill Clinton began the process of nominating Sonia Sotomayor to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.  Clinton Library The Ginsburg memo: \[scribd id=234384271 key=key-2COYmTCp7OGXcshYiMZ5 mode=scroll\] The Breyer memo: \[scribd id=234384272 key=key-xitr9eEo7uEh41VqGTuE mode=scroll\] The Olympics memo: \[scribd id=234384273 key=key-0n8J40ugRqQOHKV5T3Ny mode=scroll\] The trip planning memo: \[scribd id=234384274 key=key-fxYMs15xPWTkywCWrJjU mode=scroll\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3006010/clinton-documents-ruth-bader-ginsburg-atlanta-olympics-sonia-sotomayor/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3006010/clinton-documents-ruth-bader-ginsburg-atlanta-olympics-sonia-sotomayor/"},"headline":"New Clinton Docs Disparage Ginsburg, Underscore Security Concerns at Atlanta Olympics","datePublished":"2014-07-18T19:41:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:08:05.096Z","description":"Among other revelations in the newly-released papers, the White House warned of the Supreme Court candidate's \"halting speech\" and \"laconic nature\" in one memo","url":"https://time.com/3006010/clinton-documents-ruth-bader-ginsburg-atlanta-olympics-sonia-sotomayor/","keywords":["Supreme Court","olympics","White House","Ruth Bader Ginsburg","Bill Clinton"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt29ba3180361a1dea/69869c6613c79f7964193296/bill-clinton.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt29ba3180361a1dea/69869c6613c79f7964193296/bill-clinton.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Clinton Global Initiative America Meetings Begin In Chicago","caption":"Clinton Global Initiative America Meetings Begin In Chicago","creditText":"Scott Olson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3006010/clinton-documents-ruth-bader-ginsburg-atlanta-olympics-sonia-sotomayor/","name":"New Clinton Docs Disparage Ginsburg, Underscore Security Concerns at Atlanta Olympics"}}]}] ```