On The Issues With Michele Goodwin

On today’s show, we’re tackling issues women face in online spaces — from privacy to misogyny to censorship of women who use their voices to speak out, and more. We’re taking on the tech platforms and we’re talking about how women are fighting back.  To help us unpack these crucial topics, we’re joined by two special guests: Danielle Citron: Professor Citron is the Jefferson Scholars Foundation Sc...

In this episode of On The Issues, lawyer and writer Dahlia Lithwick returns to our show for an intimate conversation with Dr. Michele Goodwin about the Supreme Court, her career, and new book, Lady Justice: Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America.   They dive deep about the women saving America and why Lithwick says she "quit the Court" after the confirmation of Justice Brett Kava...

On today’s show, we’re delving into the lives and work of the women coming together to save our democracy. Election administration has become one of the most challenging jobs in the U.S. government. One in three election officials reports feeling unsafe because of their job. Americans are doubting the legitimacy of our elections, despite the fact that experts described the 2020 election as the “mo...

In this episode, we consider the American landscape as children go back to school.  As mass shootings devastate communities across the country, parents are packing bulletproof protection in their children’s backpacks and sending them to school with lessons on how to survive a mass shooting. Jackson Katz joins Dr. Michele Goodwin to discuss the complicated issues at the heart of this crisis includi...

In this episode, we are live with the National Women’s History Museum for an incredibly important episode addressing reproductive health rights and justice from a historical point of view.  In the wake of the overturn of Roe , we've seen horrific cases: a 10-year-old girl fleeing the state of Ohio to get to Indiana in order to terminate a pregnancy after rape; a Wisconsin woman bleeding for m...

After a Supreme Court term unlike any other in nearly a century, confidence in what was once a revered body has sunk to a historic low. Only 25 percent of Americans report having confidence in the United States Supreme Court.   In this episode we are joined by a sold-out, live studio audience at the Irvine Barclay Theatre to capture the 2022 Supreme Court Term in Review.  Our host, Dr. Michele Goo...

The unspeakable has finally come to pass: The Supreme Court has ruled, in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson , to overturn Roe v. Wade and roll back abortion rights across the U.S. For the first time, the Court has taken away a fundamental right that so many depend on.  This unprecedented assault on bodily autonomy will unleash significant harms across the country — particularly for those most marginali...

In this episode, we’re recognizing the 50th anniversary of Title IX — the historic federal legislation that transformed the landscape of gender equality in public education. We’re also honoring the legacy of its chief proponent: Patsy Takemoto Mink, who defied all odds in many ways as the first woman of color in Congress.   Joining Dr. Goodwin for this episode is a very special guest: Professor Gw...

In May, we learned in a leaked draft opinion obtained by Politico that the Supreme Court is expected to reverse itself on Roe v. Wade, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, and a legacy of abortion jurisprudence upholding reproductive freedom — profoundly dismantling abortion rights in the U.S.  If Roe and Casey are overturned in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization , grave consequences are in...

The future of abortion care is here: A safe, legal abortion in the comfort of your own home—accessed via mail and telehealth, delivered right to your door.   So, what do you need to know about abortion pills? How do they work? How long has medication abortion been available? Is it safe? (The answer’s yes!) Is it legal? (Yes!) Is it effective? (Extremely.)   Joining Michele Goodwin for this episode...

In this episode, we’re turning back to Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation hearings, and the messaging we saw play out. Ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, what were Republican senators signaling? What's ahead for the First Amendment?  Criminal Justice?  LGBTQ equality?  Are senators signaling the desire to do away with fundamental constitutional protections and why?  What issues...

In this episode, "On the Issues" continues its Road to Confirmation series, unpacking Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's historic Supreme Court confirmation hearings, including her seeming walk through fire. We examine the hearings, including Judge Jackson's judicial temperament, judicial and legal experience, as well as conduct of the Senate Judiciary Committee. How did a process m...

President Biden has announced Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as the nominee to succeed Justice Stephen Breyer on the United States Supreme Court.  Who is she?  What’s her background? And why is she one of the most qualified and prepared nominees that this process has seen in nearly a century? In this episode, we unpack Judge Jackson’s qualifications and examine what’s next in the process.    This epi...

In this episode, we kick off our Road to Confirmation series. “On the Issues” will be following the nomination and confirmation process of President Biden’s nominee to replace Justice Stephen Breyer on the U.S. Supreme Court. The Road to Confirmation series will take you through each step of the confirmation process as it happens in real time, with commentary and analysis from experts.     We laun...

 In this episode, we’re delving into the fight for a $15 minimum wage. Even before COVID, Americans in all 50 states were facing severe economic struggles, making it difficult to afford rent, mortgage, childcare and basic needs. The pandemic has made economic disparity exponentially worse. Admittedly, then, it may be hard to understand why discussion of minimum wage is controversial at all.  So wh...

Saturday, Jan. 22, 2021, marks the 49th anniversary of Roe v. Wade . But it may very well be its last. In a few short months we face the likelihood the Supreme Court will overturn Roe . Already, 2021 was the worst year for abortion rights in almost half a century. And in Texas, abortion has already been virtually outlawed. In 1972, Ms . ran a bold petition in which well-known U.S. women declared t...

In this episode, we’re bidding farewell to 2021 and hello to 2022 with our annual year in review episode!  It’s been just over a year since armed insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an effort to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential win. In the year since, what have we learned about the attack, and what it says about the current state of American demo...

In this episode, we are on the ground after the oral arguments in one of the most important Supreme Court cases of a generation. On December 1, the Supreme Court held oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization— a case that some believe could overturn Roe v. Wade. The case involves a Mississippi abortion provision, banning most abortions after 15 weeks, with no exceptions for ra...

In this episode, we’re talking about a uniquely American form of terrorism — violence at the abortion clinic. Our episode comes as Americans grapple with the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse on five counts in the wake of his killing two protestors and injuring a third last year in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  Meanwhile in Georgia, the fate of three men caught on camera killing Ahmaud Arbery has yet to be dec...

In this episode, we take our program to the community: We are on the ground with the American Constitution Society (ACS) for a show with Colorado state Representative Leslie Herod and Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford. Along with host Michele Goodwin, Herod and Ford discuss being Black in public office: namely, how they deal with the challenges and demands while staying true to themselves.  (This...

It’s been just over a year since Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died. We reckon with recent revelations and ask the important questions: How did her death shape the current fight around abortion rights and other issues? Should she have retired? And what comes next at the Supreme Court?    Helping us to sort out these questions and set the record straight is special guest: Irin Carmon , senior corresp...

In this episode, we discuss the dark money underwriting anti-abortion laws like Texas's near-total abortion ban, S.B. 8, which bans abortion after six weeks of pregnancy with no exceptions for rape or incest AND places a bounty on those who aid or abet people who want to terminate their pregnancies.  But people are fighting back. The Abortion Ban Accountability project—led by Corporate Accoun...

In August, the United Nations General Assembly moved to create a Permanent Forum on People of African Descent. There was pushback. Yet, on an international level, the demand for a reckoning with anti-Blackness reverberates around the world. Advocates know learning about the African Diaspora, histories of anti-Blackness and the need for reparations is more important than ever. Consider this: The Br...

Today’s show is all about reproductive health, rights and justice. We are unpacking the Texas abortion law, S.B. 8, talking about the Supreme Court, and what the legacies of legislative interference with reproductive decision-making and autonomy mean for women, people who can become pregnant, and for U.S. democracy.    We’re diving right in with a very special guest and pioneer in the reproductive...

It’s 20 years after 9/11—what have we learned? In May, when U.S. and international troops began to withdraw from Afghanistan, feminists and Afghanistan experts warned of the brutal impact that would likely be felt by women and minorities with the return of the Taliban and in the vacuum of leadership. They were right.   The Taliban have announced their provisional government, which does not include...