Abortion providers in Louisiana are getting hit from all sides this summer. First, Louisiana state lawmakers passed restrictive legislation that, if allowed to go into effect, may force the closures of most clinics in the state. Then, the local Catholic Bishop in New Orleans waged an ongoing campaign to stop the construction of a new Planned […]
On July 19, 1984, U.S. Rep. Geraldine Ferraro (D-NY) accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination to be vice president of the United States, the running mate for presidential candidate Walter Mondale. She told the cheering crowd of delegates, Change is the air, just as surely as when John Kennedy beckoned America to a new frontier; when […]
Affirmative action survived a federal appellate court challenge in Texas on Tuesday. In a 2-1 split, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the University of Texas at Austin can consider race in its admissions process. Writing for the three-judge panel, Judge Patrick Higginbotham wrote, “We find force in the argument that race here […]
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) updated its pregnancy discrimination guidelines this week for the first time in more than 30 years. The new guidelines mirror the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) and classify discrimination against pregnant employees as a form of sex discrimination. The EEOC guidelines make it clear that an employer cannot discriminate against a worker […]
UPDATE: Minutes ago, the Senate voted 56-43 to reject the Protect Women’s Health from Corporate Interference Act of 2014, also known as the “Not My Boss’ Business Act.” It fell four votes short of the required 60 needed to pass the legislation. The Senate will vote today on a bill intended to reverse the Supreme Court’s […]
There was no one scandal that prompted Nowmee Shehab, 22, to become heavily engaged in efforts at Emory University to create a supportive environment for survivors of sexual assault. She readily acknowledges that she doesn’t have a single, all-encompassing answer to the question of why she first got involved. Elizabeth Neyman, 21, will be a […]
For years, civil rights organizations have successfully argued to overturn voter ID laws on the grounds that they disproportionately disenfranchise poor and minority voters. But this week, college students are having their say as well. Lawyers for seven North Carolina college students joined the NAACP, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Department of Justice to […]
In the flurry of media coverage surrounding the recent Hobby Lobby decision and its curtailment of women’s rights, the dissent of Ruth Bader Ginsburg—now known throughout the Internet as Notorious R.B.G.—became ubiquitous. Full of blistering one-liners, her assertion that the Court had “ventured into a minefield” were the mots de jour, as many wondered what […]
The University of California prides itself on being one of the best public university systems in the country. It boasts that its 10 schools attract the “best and brightest,” and that its students consistently expand the horizons of research. Two of its undergraduate campuses are ranked among the top 25, six among the top 50 and […]
After a week of frustrating, even devastating Supreme Court decisions in regards to women’s rights, it’s both instructive to realize that the suffragists of the 19th century had even more problems than we do today in terms of achieving equality and justice. Couldn’t these words of the famed suffragist Susan B. Anthony–”The judiciary above the […]
