Author: Skye Perryman

Skye Perryman serves as president and CEO of Democracy Forward, a nonpartisan, national legal organization that promotes democracy and progress through litigation, regulatory engagement, policy education, and research. Her book Ordinary People, Extraordinary Times: How to Reclaim Your Power, Fight for Freedom, and Reimagine Democracy will be on shelves Aug. 25, 2026, and is available for presale.

A Case for Court Reform

For generations, Americans have expanded the meaning of “We, the People”—not because our institutions did it on their own, but because ordinary people demanded it.

From U.S. Rep. Barbara Jordan’s powerful reminder that the Constitution did not originally include everyone, to the hard-fought victories that secured civil rights, voting rights and reproductive freedom, our democracy has always depended on people pushing institutions to live up to their promises.

Today, the Supreme Court stands at the center of that struggle.

While courts remain an essential safeguard against abuses of power, public confidence in the Court has eroded amid ethics concerns, increasing politicization and decisions that have narrowed rights and weakened democratic protections.

If the Court is to serve as a guardian of liberty for future generations, it must be willing to change—through reforms that promote accountability, transparency and greater public trust.

As the nation marks its 250th anniversary, we should remember that our institutions are not fixed. The Constitution was designed to evolve, and the Court has changed before in response to the demands of the American people. Whether through term limits, stronger ethics rules or other structural reforms, the question is not whether the Court can change, but whether we will insist that it does.

A democracy that truly serves all of us depends on nothing less.

(This is part of a new series FEMINIST 250: Democracy’s Feminist Future, a special Ms. series examining the next chapter of U.S. democracy through a feminist lens. As the nation approaches its 250th anniversary, the series explores how women and marginalized communities have shaped democratic progress, what lessons history offers for the challenges ahead, and how a more inclusive, representative and equitable democracy can be built for the next 250 years.)

The First Mother’s Day Was a Protest

Far from mimosa brunches and hallmark greetings, the first Mother’s Day in the United States occurred against the scourge of war. In 1870, abolitionist and suffragist Julie Ward Howe who still had the horrors of the Civil War on her mind and was disturbed by the plight of war abroad called for an international movement of mothers as a way to call for peace and to protest the devastation of war.

History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes. Mother’s Day comes this year as our nation and those across the globe are living with the dire consequences of a war with Iran Congress never authorized. The war has cost American lives as well as the lives of innocent children–including nearly 100 schoolgirls—in Iran. Former U.S. military officials have criticized the Pentagon’s strike and the lack of transparency around it. The president continues to threaten many of our global allies, as the rate of autocracies across the globe rise while democracies decline. All the while, costs continue to rise, making it harder and harder for working people to make ends meet. 

The only way this crisis will become a catalyst for change is if we commit not just to rebuilding our nation, but to reimagining it as a nation that can hold all of us and to demand that our leaders drive bold change to achieve true democracy and true change for the next generation. A nation where it is unacceptable for children to go hungry while others enjoy nation-building wealth. A nation where it is unacceptable to detain children and infants based on their skin color or who their parents are or where they are from. A nation where every person finds the courage to call out the cruelty. 

On this Mother’s Day, may we all be the mothers—and the fighters—our children need. If we don’t, who will? 

Will the Supreme Court Dump Women’s Lives and Futures *Again*?

We’ve come to the point in post-Dobbs America where the legal system, and the nation’s highest Court, are now entertaining questions about how long is too long for a woman to have to wait to receive emergency care when her organs—including her reproductive organs—are in danger.

Will women again be failed by this Court? Or will the justices finally be able to look at the devastation they have caused to women and families and not blink?