Boom! Lawyered – Details, episodes & analysis

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 for the return of Boom! Lawyered's regular season in the fall to usher in what promises to be another unpredictable Supreme Court term.

Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that episodes like this one is only made possible with the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here.

And sign up for The Fallout, a weekly newsletter written by Jess that’s exclusively dedicated to covering every aspect of this unprecedented moment.

The Biden administration's final Title IX rule, which bans sex discrimination in schools that get federal funding, took effect last week. Except, that is, in the more than two dozen states where conservative attorneys general filed lawsuits to block the rule from taking effect.

Chris Geidner joins Imani and Jess this week to parse through the legalese and where it leaves LGBTQ+ students as the school year nears.

Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that episodes like this one is only made possible with the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here.

And sign up for The Fallout, a weekly newsletter written by Jess that’s exclusively dedicated to covering every aspect of this unprecedented moment.

Two years ago today, Politico published the bombshell leak heard around the world—Justice Samuel Alito's 98-page majority draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade.

In this flashback episode, Jess and Imani react the following afternoon to the absolute sucker punch.

For more coverage of the leaked opinion, check out our next episode, "Processing the Fallout of the Supreme Court Leak."

Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that Boom! Lawyered—especially emergency episodes like this one—is only made possible by the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here.

And sign up for The Fallout, a weekly newsletter written by Jess that’s exclusively dedicated to covering every aspect of this unprecedented moment.

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! 

Mentioned in the episode:

• Rewire News Group's virtual, subscriber-only event hosted by Jess
• In Utah Jails, a Rare Reproductive Rights Bright Spot Emerges
• These 5 Cases Could Finish Off Abortion Rights for Good

Starting October 25, episodes of Boom! Lawyered will be released Monday afternoon.

Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that Boom! Lawyered is only made possible by the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here: https://rewirenewsgroup.com/donate.

And sign up for The Fallout, a new weekly newsletter written by Jess that’s exclusively dedicated to covering every aspect of this unprecedented moment. https://rewirenewsgroup.com/subscribe.

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 the ground doing the work. (More on this with Jess at a special Zoom event on Tuesday!

Articles mentioned in the podcast: 

https://rewirenewsgroup.com/ablc/2021/09/30/panty-grab-how-evangelicals-are-rewriting-sexual-privacy-rights/ 
https://rewirenewsgroup.com/ablc/2021/09/20/the-forgotten-story-of-how-voting-rights-drive-abortion-access/

Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that Boom! Lawyered is only made possible by the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here: https://rewirenewsgroup.com/donate

And sign up for The Fallout, a new weekly newsletter written by Jess that’s exclusively dedicated to covering every aspect of this unprecedented moment. https://rewirenewsgroup.com/subscribe 

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 alarming week by peering into our very messy future.

Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that Boom! Lawyered is only made possible by the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here: https://rewirenewsgroup.com/donate

And sign up for The Fallout, a brand new weekly newsletter written by Jess that's exclusively dedicated to covering every aspect of this unprecedented moment.  https://rewirenewsgroup.com/fallout

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 Roe v. Wade. At worst, it's a complete dismantlement of 50 years of abortion rights precedent via casual inaction. Either way, you can bet more bans like this are coming to a state near you. To make as much sense of the chaos as possible, Jessica Mason Pieklo and Imani Gandy hop on the mics for an emergency episode of Boom! Lawyered.

Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that Boom! Lawyered is only made possible by the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here: https://rewirenewsgroup.com/donate

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) announcing their retirement.

On the last Boom! Lawyered before our own summer break, Jess and Imani break down the final crush of news from the Court and give the latest update on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. Barring any major breaking news, Boom! Lawyered will be back in September. If you want more Jess and Imani in the meantime, follow their Rewire News Group adventures on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook!

Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that Boom! Lawyered is only made possible by the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here.

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 couples. What's even more shocking is that Justice Elena Kagan signed on. And so did Justice Stephen Breyer. And so did Justice Sonia Sotomayor!

What gives? How can all of Court's liberal justices have signed onto this requirement to certify an agency that discriminates? Well, on this rapid reaction episode of Boom! Lawyered, Jess and Imani have some answers. And what those answers say about the state of case law protecting so-called "religious freedom" is as fascinating as it is alarming.

Boom! Lawyered is a part of Rewire News Group, a nonprofit media organization. That means we rely on supporters like you to help make our show possible. And right now, we're running an amazing campaign—if you donate here today, a generous supporter will match your gift!

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.

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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 allow anyone to sue to enforce the ban—and not just anyone in Lubbock or Texas. Anyone in the country could decide to sue a Lubbock abortion provider. Or a few thousand people could decide to sue one of those providers at once.

The law can't take effect for now, thank goodness, but that could change.

Planned Parenthood, which provides abortions in Lubbock, challenged the constitutionality of the ordinance in federal court. But in a shocking decision, the court dismissed the case. And the logic used to justify the decision should alarm anyone concerned about abortion rights. Because the Lubbock ban isn't the only one with this terrible clause—the statewide Texas ban, which is also currently unenforceable, would also allow for private enforcement of their ban should it ever take effect.

On this episode of Boom! Lawyered, Jess and Imani dissect the impact of this shocking decision. They also give their weekly update on the latest developments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the direct challenge to Roe v. Wade that the Supreme Court is expected to hear in the fall.