Author: Mary Ziegler

Mary Ziegler is a legal historian and professor of law. She is a 2023-2024 Guggenheim fellow and Martin Luther King professor of law at UC Davis. Her latest book is Personhood: The New War over Reproduction (April 2025, Yale University Press).

SCOTUS’ ‘Skrmetti’ Ruling: Without the ERA, Protections Against Sex Discrimination Remain Fragile

In 2022, the Supreme Court undid a constitutional right for the first time by declaring that the U.S. Constitution does not confer a right to abortion in the landmark decision Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

In a decision this week called U.S. v. Skrmetti, they’ve taken the next step, extending the logic of Dobbs and destabilizing much of the law on sex discrimination.

The majority in Skrmetti was careful to cite case law on sex discrimination and suggest that the law at issue, which banned gender-affirming care for transgender youth, simply raised different issues. But Skrmetti shows how fragile protections against sex discrimination have become without any explicit guarantee, like the Equal Rights Amendment. 

The Supreme Court’s Vision of Equality Likely Means the End of Abortion Rights—But It Could Mean Much More

The Supreme Court's Vision of Equality Likely Means the End of Abortion Rights—But It Could Mean Much More

During last week’s oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson, many Supreme Court justices said nothing about equality at all—but Justice Amy Coney Barrett stood out. She suggested that people relied on abortion “as a backup form of birth control in case contraception fails” because they wanted to avoid the burdens of both pregnancy and parenting.

If the Court is ready to put an end to Roe, the conservative majority might also try to redefine what the Constitution means when it comes to equality of the sexes.