Boom! Lawyered

Buckle up, y’all—we have a doozy for you today. This week, Imani and Jess get into the Supreme Court oral arguments in A.J.T. v. Osseo Area Schools . It was supposed to be a narrow education rights case that looked at whether students have to meet an impossibly high bar to sue schools under the Americans with Disabilities Act—that is, until Supreme Court litigator Lisa Blatt entered the chat and m...

School libraries are not indoctrinating kids with “LGBTQ+ ideology”—I know that, you know that, we know that. But conservatives love pretending they don’t. This week, Jess and Imani get into Mahmoud v. Taylor , a Supreme Court case that could upend First Amendment rights with the potential to fundamentally erase the separation of church and state in public schools. Rewire News Group is a nonprofit...

Editor's note: This episode was recorded on April 16, 2025. The Trump administration’s lawlessness is hard to exaggerate—and especially so in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who the White House admitted was mistakenly deported to a detention center in El Salvador. And even though the Supreme Court ordered the administration to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States, Trump and h...

This week, Jess and Imani join Lizz Winstead and Moji Alawode-El of Feminist Buzzkills live from The Black Cat in Washington, D.C. for a rowdy takedown of the latest abortion case to reach the Supreme Court, the election results in Wisconsin, and more. Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that episodes like this one are only made possible with the support of listeners l...

President Donald Trump famously has a… strained relationship with the law, to say the least. His first term saw numerous legal challenges to attempted policies—not to mention his two impeachments.  Now, barely two months into his second term, Trump is already facing more than 100 lawsuits over his attacks on birthright citizenship, gutting of the federal workforce, and more. In this episode, Jess...

We have a treat this week—more attorneys! Law professor David S. Cohen and sociologist Carole Joffe join the pod to talk about their newest book, ' After Dobbs .' They chat with Jess and Imani about the legal battle over abortion pills, the Comstock Act, the importance of abortion care advocates, and what’s next in the abortion fight. Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which mean...

We’re sweating! We’re hyperfixating! Because a bunch of conservative attorneys general have filed a lawsuit trying to weaken or eliminate Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which served as a precursor to the Americans with Disabilities Act. This week, Jess and Imani get into the conservative legal movement’s attempts to roll back Section 504—and how it could constitute government-sponsored eug...

You asked, we answered! On a special Q&A episode of Boom! Lawyered, Jess and Imani answer listener questions. They cover everything from what could happen if fetal “personhood” becomes enshrined into law to whether abortion bans allow states to assert dominion over people’s bodies. Mentioned in this episode: Juridical Persons Are Not Natural Persons, And Why it Matters Why Being Born Kind Of Matte...

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed and sworn in as the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. And almost immediately, Trump fired off another executive order establishing a “Make America Great Again” commission. The group, made up of leadership from multiple federal agencies, was tasked with making healthy food more affordable and fighting chronic disease. Sounds reasonabl...

Abortion, and dildos, and porn, oh my!  No but actually, there’s a dusty old law on the books that could unravel reproductive health access for years to come—the Comstock Act. And it’s just waiting for someone like the recently-confirmed U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to enforce it.  On today’s episode of Boom! Lawyered, Imani and Jess revisit how the Trump administration could effectively ban ab...

While Elon Musk has been taking over the government, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals quietly overturned a 60-year-old law that prevented federally-licensed firearms dealers from selling guns to anyone aged 18 to 20. Seems bad! This week, Jess and Imani get into the weeds of Reese v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives , a Second Amendment case out of the Fifth Circuit that, sur...

We’re on week one of Donald Trump’s second administration, and we’re already tired. On his first day in office, Trump signed executive orders attempting to end birthright citizenship and declaring that the United States only recognizes two genders, male and female. Okay! On today’s episode of Boom! Lawyered, Jess and Imani talk through Trump’s flurry of early executive orders. They also go down a...

This week, Imani and Jess dive into Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton , a case out of Texas that could upend First Amendment free speech law. At issue in the case is a Texas law that requires age verification to visit websites that offer pornographic content. An adult entertainment trade organization, the Free Speech Coalition, is arguing that the law puts internet users’ privacy and security at ris...

This week, Jess and Imani read Chief Justice John Roberts’ annual “state of the judiciary report” so you don’t have to. It’s one of the country’s worst New Years’ traditions, and this year was no exception. In the 2024 report, Roberts waxed poetic about the importance of protecting judicial independence, comparing Black Americans’ civil rights struggle to internet criticism of judges.  The one wor...

Donald Trump was elected president just over a month ago, and even though he’s not in office yet, the horrors have already started. He’s threatening to halt birthright citizenship via executive action.  This week, Jess and Imani get into the history of birthright citizenship, what could happen if Trump manages to wipe it out, and how, even though people have declared he can’t upend more than a cen...

Today, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in United States v. Skrmetti , a case out of Tennessee that could determine whether trans minors have the right to gender-affirming care.  In this rapid reaction episode, Jess and Imani break down the case made by Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar and the American Civil Liberties Union’s Chase Strangio, the conservative justices’ nonsense, heartless...

The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in United States v. Skrmetti , a case that could determine trans minors’ right to gender-affirming care, in December. It’s coming on the heels of Donald Trump’s successful election campaign, which he closed by attacking Democrats left and right on trans rights. This week, Jess and Imani walk through what to expect from this case—and it’s not looking...

Well… Donald Trump is back for a second term. We hate it here! This week, Jess and Imani go through what reproductive health-care hellscape we can expect from the next Trump administration: legally establishing fetal “personhood,” federal surveillance of pregnant people, and banning abortion pills—all eventually leading to a national abortion ban.  We’re preparing for a parade of horribles.  You’v...

With the election less than a week away, abortion rights and democracy are both on the line—and that’s no coincidence. Andrea Grimes, journalist and vice president of research at Reproaction, joins Jess and Imani this week to talk about the importance of opposition research into anti-abortion activists, how the anti-abortion and anti-democracy movements work hand-in-hand, and why there’s no shorta...

Can pro-natalists go touch some grass?  A trio of conservative attorneys general filed a complaint in federal court claiming the availability of mifepristone, one of two drugs used in medication abortions in the United States, creates a “sovereign injury” to the states themselves. They argue that mifepristone lowers teen birth rates in violation of the states’ “population interests.” Jess and Iman...

This week, we’re talking about EMTALA—yes, again. The Ninth Circuit will hear arguments over Idaho not wanting to abide by the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act in December, and the case is sure to make it back to the Supreme Court. This time, though, conservatives have a new weapon: the Spending Clause. Much to Jess’ chagrin, she and Imani get into how Amy Coney Barrett pulled an A...

Project 2025, the 2024 election’s big bad wolf, is coming for reproductive justice. The Heritage Foundation’s policy prescription for a second Donald Trump administration would turn the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) on its head and explicitly allow anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination. This week, Jess and Imani dive into the Project 2025 policy positions that pose the biggest thr...

If there’s one thing conservatives like doing, it’s finding the perfect plaintiff to be the face of a court challenge to a policy that will strip people's rights. Enter: the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and their plaintiffs: a group of goat-herding Anglican nuns, who are challenging a New York state regulation that requires employers to provide medically necessary abortions in their employee...

Welcome to a new season of Boom! Lawyered, which also means a new Supreme Court term is around the corner. What better way to usher that in with friend-of-the-pod Elie Mystal joining Jess and Imani on the season premiere of the podcast? They try to answer important questions weighing on all our minds, including: Is the gig finally up for Chief Justice John Roberts and his reputation as anything ot...

How can Vice President Kamala Harris go beyond “restore Roe " messaging during her presidential run? What are the odds that a state like Michigan, where voters enshrined abortion rights into the state constitution, could have that overturned in a second Donald Trump presidency? Join Jess and Imani this week as they respond to these questions and more—submitted by you, our listeners. And stay tuned...