Boom! Lawyered

SisterSong v. Kemp may be the first major lawsuit centering the reality that attacks on access to abortion care disproportionately harm communities of color. Imani and Jess explain the case and how it could introduce the concept of reproductive justice to the Supreme Court.  

Last week, a Department of Justice lawyer stunned the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals when she argued that it is “safe and sanitary” to confine immigrant children for indefinite periods of time without basic needs like soap or toothbrushes. Jess and Imani explain the legal framework meant to protect these children and how the Trump administration intends to dismantle it.

Last week, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that policies targeting transgender people are sex-based discrimination that must meet heightened scrutiny to be constitutional. This is a big deal! Imani and Jess evaluate this important—but qualified—win for transgender rights and what it means for those rights in the future.

The fight over the Trump administration’s questionable efforts to add a citizenship question to the census has reached the Supreme Court, and a decision looms. Jess and Imani explain the case and how a bad decision could cement inequality for generations.

Jess sits down with Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum to discuss the challenges facing progressive attorneys general in the era of Trump and how they are fighting back against his administration.

This week, the Supreme Court ruled that a provision of an Indiana law mandating the burial or cremation of fetal remains could take effect. At the same time, it blocked a separate provision of the Indiana law banning abortions based on the race, sex, or disability of a fetus. Imani and Jess explain Tuesday’s decision, Justice Clarence Thomas’s opinion equating modern-day family planning with eugenics, and signals from the Court’s conservatives that access to birth control is in their crosshairs. Read Imani's award-winning Margaret Sanger piece here.

Conservative lawmakers are passing total and near-total abortion bans with the explicit hope that they will be used to overturn Roe v. Wade. But how would that work, exactly? Imani and Jess explain the arguments that would fuel a legal challenge to Roe and how a bad decision could then be used to attack state laws protecting abortion rights. Download Imani's highlighted copy of the Roe v. Wade decision. To see the highlights, use Adobe Acrobat on a computer or a PDF app on your phone.

Franchise Board of California v. Hyatt may not be the most important case of the Supreme Court term, but the fallout from the Court's decision to overturn decades of precedent could have major ramifications for Roe v. Wade. In fact, Justice Stephen Breyer sounded the alarm himself in his dissenting opinion. In this episode of Boom! Lawyered, Imani and Jess explain what happened and what it could mean for abortion rights, marriage equality, and more.

The near-total ban on abortion recently passed in Georgia contrasts sharply with the landmark decision in Kansas that declared abortion a natural right. Jess and Imani explore which of those paths other states are likely to follow and the main reason there's still hope for abortion rights in America.

The Supreme Court announced this week that it will hear three cases that could determine what, if any, protections LGBTQ employees have from job discrimination. Jess and Imani explain what it means that the Court agreed to hear all three cases together and how the effects of a bad ruling could extend into housing and health-care discrimination.