Boom! Lawyered

Buckle up—we're taking you to Texas this week. Hosts Jessica Mason Pieklo and Imani Gandy unpack the current state of abortion access in Texas (we’re using the word “access” loosely here.)  They break down what the courts have done over the last few months as cases challenging the law have ping-ponged between the federal district and circuit courts and the Supreme Court. The TL;DR: It's not great!...

Get comfy—grab your law-nerd hats and a pillow to rage scream into, and join us for the season premiere episode of Boom! Lawyered. Jess and Imani return to the mics for: The latest in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization What’s next with Texas SB 8, the near-total abortion ban that went into effect in September via the Court’s shadow docket ruling Some special shoutouts to the advocates on...

Last night, the Supreme Court made it official: the brutal, blatantly unconstitutional Texas abortion ban is hunky-dory .  Roe v. Wade ? Not so much. Is there any chance of the Texas ban still being overturned? Will other states pass copycat laws? Is there any hope of a federal bill enshrining abortion rights? On the latest episode of Boom! Lawyered, Jessica Mason Pieklo and Imani Gandy end an ala...

The Supreme Court just let a blatantly unconstitutional abortion ban take effect in Texas. They made this unprecedented and radical move on the “ shadow docket ,” which is a fancy way of saying they avoided any hearings or scrutiny of any kind. They haven’t even had to explain their reasoning.  Now, maybe they will eventually fix this. But maybe they won't. At best, this is a major warning shot at...

Last week, the Supreme Court completed its business for this term. And by "its business" we mean "gutting the meager remaining protections for voting rights in the United States." Other highlights of their closing act include the Affordable Cart Act living to fight another day, some subtle groundwork being laid for legal religious discrimination, and a disappointing number of justices (ZERO) annou...

The Supreme Court handed down two big decisions today. First, the Court rejected an attempt by conservative attorneys general to declare the Affordable Care Act as unconstitutional. But don't get too comfortable, law nerds. There's more to this decision than meets the eye. Then the Court declared that the city of Philadelphia must contract with a foster care agency that refuses to certify same-sex...

Heads up! If you can help us reach our fundraising goal at https://rewirenewsgroup.com/donate/, Jess and Imani will film the wildest and smashiest live event in Rewire News Group history next week! Check out that donate page for more info. *** Lubbock, Texas, passed a “sanctuary city for the unborn” ordinance, a so-called heartbeat ban that would ban abortion at around six weeks. The ban would all...

This direct challenge to Roe v. Wade didn't reach the Supreme Court by accident. It was the culmination of a detailed plan that was hiding in plain sight. Actually, that doesn't do it justice—the deep-pocketed anti-choice movement was begging everyone years ago to listen to exactly how it planned to obliterate abortion rights: by passing a 15-week abortion ban in Mississippi and defending it all t...

The Supreme Court announced today it would be taking up a case that could completely upend abortion rights. Back in 2018, Mississippi passed a law that banned abortion at 15 weeks. It was struck down at the district level. Then the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, a notoriously conservative appeals court, struck it down, citing the clear precedent of Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. And...

RAGA is the Republican Attorneys General Association. It's essentially what it sounds like—a bunch of Republican attorneys general whose goal is to get other Republican attorneys general elected to office. Seems (relatively) normal, right? Well, it would be, except the group has gone completely off the deep end. On top of a lot of their members fighting to overturn the 2020 election, there are dis...

Fact #1: Everyone agrees—Mississippi’s lawyers included—that no fetus is viable at 15 weeks. Fact #2: Mississippi passed an abortion ban that takes effect at 15 weeks. Fact #3: Pre-viability abortion bans have been ruled unconstitutional. Combined, these three facts mean that courts should have no trouble striking down Mississippi's ban. And yet! Arguments over that ban have made it all the way to...

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case involving a former high school student who posted a photo of herself and a friend on Snapchat with their middle fingers raised. The caption read, “fuck school fuck softball fuck cheer fuck everything.” Have you fainted in outrage yet? Brandi Levy was a freshman at a Pennsylvania high school when she tried out for the varsity cheerleading te...

Just when you thought lawmakers couldn't stoop any lower to attack trans kids, Texas state senators took it to a new level with the introduction of a bill that would prohibit parents from "administering or supplying, or consenting to or assisting in the administering or supplying of puberty suppression prescription drug or cross-sex hormone to a child, other than an intersex child, for the purpose...

Jess and Imani explain three of the most alarming pieces of legislation introduced anywhere in the United States: -The voter suppression legislation in Georgia, which might be even more outrageous than most folks realize. -A new abortion ban in Texas, which goes even farther than your typical effort to criminalize health care. -The anti-trans bill in Arkansas, which is poised to take effect despit...

President Joe Biden's recent slate of judicial nominees are more than a breath of fresh air—they represent a serious step forward in building a more just legal system. And we need good judges now more than ever because state legislatures around the country are trying to pass some terrible laws. For example, an alarming new bill in Arkansas could strip trans kids of necessary health care. Meanwhile...

On this episode of Boom! Lawyered, Imani and Jess talk about the increasing violence against the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, the importance of allyship in its wake, and how racist stereotypes against the AAPI community are also fueling new anti-choice legislation. In a bit of good news, the Biden administration's getting serious about new judicial nominees and the candida...

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed a bill Tuesday that would ban all abortions in the state except those deemed a “medical emergency.” If it takes effect in August as planned, it'll be the most restrictive abortion ban in the country. Fortunately, legal challenges should be on the way. But is that what they want? In better news, the COVID-19 stimulus package has a lot of health-care goodies in it...

One year ago today, Jess Pieklo and Imani Gandy were on the steps of the Supreme Court for the oral arguments in  June Medical Services v. Russo . Since then, everyone's lives—and the Supreme Court itself—have been turned completely upside down. On this episode of Boom! Lawyered, Jess and Imani reflect on everything that's changed and what lies ahead. Rewire News Group is a nonprofit, so your supp...

Justice Clarence Thomas has gone full election truther. And if that's not enough to make you sweat, the most conservative Supreme Court of our lifetimes just took on its first abortion rights case of 2021. Oh, and a Virginia school district is going back to court because apparently they're that desperate to discriminate against trans kids. On this episode of Boom! Lawyered, Jessica Mason Pieklo an...

The impeachment trial was going so well! Alas, the Democrats managed to tie themselves into knots and fumble away the narrative. But all is not lost, thanks to a creative lawsuit that invokes the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871. Meanwhile, the Biden administration took some bold steps to rescue the Affordable Care Act from a Supreme Court disaster while 30 (!) states are gearing up to attack abortion rig...

This week, the nation reckoned with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's terrifying account of the insurrection at the Capitol. Democrats also discussed plans to un-bleep the courts, but will they go far enough? And the Department of Justice signaled a major sea-change on immigration. Imani Gandy and Jessica Mason Pieklo help you make sense of all of these topics and more in this latest episode of Boom! Law...

The filibuster was created by accident. Now, it's one of the most controversial and crucial components of our clunky mess of a government. But is it a good thing or a bad thing? On this episode of Boom! Lawyered, Jessica Mason Pieklo and Imani Gandy dig into whether the filibuster helps or hurts progressives in the long run, how to work around it, and whether those workarounds offer any path to st...

On day one of his White House term, President Joe Biden made big moves to protect LGBTQ and undocumented folks, called out the dangers of white supremacy, and more. It was a helluva start! But there was one minor kerfuffle at the end of the day. On this episode of Boom! Lawyered, Imani Gandy and Jessica Mason Pieklo break down the moments to celebrate and explain why Biden and his surrogates shoul...

Last week, President-elect Joe Biden announced his key nominees for the Department of Justice. And those nominees—Merrick Garland, Vanita Gupta, and Kristen Clarke—talked a big game about dismantling fascism and advancing progressive justice. It was exciting stuff! But who exactly are these folks? Can we trust them to back up their words with actions? And what can we expect from them regarding the...

Welcome to the re-release of We’ll Hear Arguments, a mini-series from the Boom! Lawyered team that dives into the dramatic arguments of the most important Supreme Court cases in history. To honor the absurd shenanigans of the Roe v. Wade arguments, we complete our mini-series with a reality tv-style reunion episode that will leave you with all the feels.   Expert Repro Journalism That Inspires.&nb...