New Episode of Ms. Magazine’s On The Issues with Michele Goodwin Podcast Takes on Trump’s Stacking of the Courts

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | October 6, 2020

On the Issues with Michele Goodwin is a new issues- and policy-focused podcast featuring feminist analysis, insightful conversations and exciting guests. This is the first podcast from Ms. magazine, a legacy feminist publication.

In each bi-weekly episode, host Dr. Michele Goodwin and special guests will tackle the most compelling issues of our times, centering feminist concerns about rebuilding our nation and advancing the promise of equality.

A new episode—Trump Stacked the Courts. Now What?—is available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotifyand MsMagazine.com.

President Trump has appointed, and the Republican-controlled Senate has confirmed, a record number of judges to the federal bench in just four years. Nearly one-third of all active federal judges on the U.S. appeals courts have been appointed by Trump. He and Senate Republicans have stacked the courts with right-wing jurists, moving the American judiciary far to the right for decades to come. In our new episode, Dr. Goodwin and her guests discuss what can be done about it.

Dr. Goodwin is joined this week by Nan Aron, the founder and president of Alliance for Justice, the foremost progressive organization providing research and resources on federal judicial nominees; Joan Biskupic, a full-time CNN legal analyst who has covered the Supreme Court for 25 years and is the author of several books on the judiciary; and Rick Perlstein, the author of the recent release, Reaganland: America’s Right Turn 1976-1980.

Their conversation covered a wide range of topics; you can find a full transcript here, as well as a few excerpts below:

“Republicans know that long after Donald Trump leaves the White House, his judges will be on the bench, making rulings that will really threaten the rights of Americans for years to come.” —Nan Aron, founder & president of Alliance for Justice

“The conservatives that Nan [Aron] first tracked on the Supreme Court and lower court benches are much different than our current ones. The current [Conservatives] have much more of a religious agenda, and they also have much more of a diminished government agenda than before.” —Joan Biskupic, full-time CNN legal analyst

“We can’t look away anymore. People are understanding that the stakes for this fight, and all the fights around the Trump Administration, really are whether we’re going to be a decent civil society or one that’s ruled by plutocrats and racial nationalists.” —Rick Perlstein, author of “Reaganland: America’s Right Turn 1976-1980”

Meet the Host of On the Issues: Dr. Michele Goodwin is a frequent contributor to Ms. magazine and on MsMagazine.com. She is a Chancellor’s Professor at the University of California, Irvine and also serves on the executive committee and national board of the ACLU. Dr. Goodwin is a prolific author and an elected member of the American Law Institute, as well as an elected Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the Hastings Center. Her most recent book, Policing The Womb: Invisible Women and The Criminalization of Motherhood, is described as a “must read.”

About Ms. Magazine: Co-founded by Gloria Steinem in 1972 and published by the Feminist Majority Foundation since 2001, Ms. magazine has been a trusted, popular source for feminist news and information in print and online for nearly 50 years. Ms.’s time-honored traditions of an emphasis on in-depth investigative reporting and feminist political analysis have never been more relevant, bringing a new generation of writers and readers together to create the feminism of the future.

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If you would like more information on the On the Issues with Michele Goodwin podcast, or to schedule an interview with Host Michele Goodwin or Executive Producer & Ms. Executive Editor Katherine Spillar, please email Maddy Pontz at press@msmagazine.com.