Goat-Herding Nuns Are Making Their Case to SCOTUS

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 shortage of work for the pro-abortion movement. Plus, the trio chats about Grimes’ new media venture—the feminist blog The Flytrap—and why collective media could be the future of journalism.Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that episodes like this one are 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.

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 Imani get into why this argument is essentially constitutionally-mandated eugenics and how it could expand state police power. We could be entering an entirely new era of constitutional law.Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that episodes like this one are 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.

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 Alito-esque move to tee anti-choicers up to use the Spending Clause to upend EMTALA for good.Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that episodes like this one are 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.

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 threat to reproductive health care. From disavowing abortion to its “life agenda,” the parade of horribles would, if implemented, entrench the country further into Christofascism. Mentioned in this episode:National Women’s Law Center Project 2025 reportRewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that episodes like this one are 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.

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 health insurance plans.In this week's Boom! Lawyered, Jess and Imani get you caught up on Diocese of Albany v. Harris, and the Becket Fund's petition to the Supreme Court asking the justices to take up their case.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.

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 other than a Republican operative?Is there real momentum for meaningful Supreme Court reform?What is Elie's proposal for expansive Court reform?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.

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.

Editor's note: This episode was recorded before President Joe Biden's SCOTUS reform proposals. Black women law nerds, unite! "We're having a moment," as this week's special guest Madiba Dennie says.Dennie is a lawyer, deputy editor and senior contributor at Balls and Strikes, and the author of The Originalism Trap. She joins Jess and Imani to discuss how originalism is not a legitimate intellectual theory, the idea of "jurisdiction stripping," and the next Supreme Court term.Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that rapid reaction 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.

Boom! Lawyered is back for a summer session with four episodes before fall—and first up is Lizz Winstead, the founder of Abortion Access Front and co-creator of the Daily Show.It's a smorgasbord of all things reproductive rights, including serious things like expanding the courts and abortion access and not-so-serious things like a debate between "Anthony Comstock" and Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith that Winstead will moderate in the fall, and starting a band called Mife and Misotones.Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that rapid reaction 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.