Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court is made up of nine justices who were each appointed by a sitting president and usually serve life terms. They take cases unsettled between lower state courts in order to provide a ruling on important decisions for the entire country, having immense political and social impacts on people and legislation for decades to come.

On America’s 250th Anniversary, Let’s Remember Women’s Stories: The Ms. Q&A with Jill Hasday

The United States’ 250th anniversary in 2026 presents an opportunity to include women in the stories America tells about itself, according to Jill Hasday, author of the important new book, We the Men: How Forgetting Women’s Struggles for Equality Perpetuates Inequality.

We the Men tells the stories “of so many women who deserve to be remembered,” said Hasday. It also explores the ways in which forgetting women’s ongoing struggles for equality has perpetuated injustice and promote complacency. Remembering women’s stories more often and more accurately can help the nation advance toward sex equality.

Trump Administration Drops Lawsuit to Protect Emergency Abortion Access: ‘A Cruel and Callous Act That Could Cost Pregnant Idahoans Their Lives’

The Trump administration’s recent decision to drop the Biden-era lawsuit defending emergency abortion access in Idaho under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) is another powerful indication of its intent to dismantle existing federal protections for sexual and reproductive health.

Anticipating this move, St. Luke’s Health System filed filed a new lawsuit against Idaho during the first month of Trump’s presidency. On March 3, upon learning that dismissal was imminent, St. Luke’s sought and was granted a temporary restraining order to preserve the status quo—meaning Idaho remains barred from enforcing its criminal abortion law to the extent it conflicts with EMTALA. At least for the moment, pregnant Idahoans with emergency medical conditions that pose serious threats to their health are not faced with the dilemma of whether to be airlifted out of the state to receive stabilizing abortion care or wait until an abortion becomes necessary to prevent their death. However, the case is far from over, and the eventual outcome is uncertain—especially if it winds up again before the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority.

Women’s History Month Is a Time for Optimism

Dispatches from Week 2 of Women’s History Month:

It’s Week 2 of Women’s History Month, and just knowing the federal government might well ban those three words in sequence—along with “gender,” “female,” “feminism” and about 250 others—you can bet I’m feeling extra rebellious as I write this column.

I am back from celebrating International Women’s Day (March 8) at South by Southwest. Among the festival keynotes, Chelsea Clinton urged that optimism is fundamentally a moral and political choice. Remaining optimistic, she remarked, is like “saying we do not have to accept the status quo. … We do accept that we may not be able to do everything all at once, but we can always do something.”

Women’s History Month is a solemn reminder that our reaction—and our commitment to action—also requires that we hold tight to the optimism our foremothers possessed.

Anti-Gay Marriage Former County Clerk Kim Davis Lost Again, Unanimously—But This Still Might Not Be the End

Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who refused to issue same-sex couples marriage licenses, lost her appeal on Thursday of a lawsuit she previously lost at trial that was brought by same-sex couples whose constitutional right to marry she violated.

All three judges on the panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit—which included one Trump appointee—agreed that Davis should lose her appeal.

But … Davis and her lawyers could now seek Supreme Court review. In seeking such review, Davis’ lawyers could raise the question of overturning Obergefell directly to the justices.

For now, though, Davis lost—again, and unanimously—from a panel of 6th Circuit.

Keeping Score: Executive Orders Attack Trans Community; Americans Need Paid Leave and Childcare Policies; Unvaccinated Measles Cases Soar

In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.

This week: Trump’s executive orders continue to threaten trans people’s safety, jobs and rights; policies like paid family leave and universal preschool are incredibly popular; measles spreads among unvaccinated populations; Congress signals their plan to cut SNAP and Medicaid; women’s college basketball teams will be paid for March Madness games; almost a quarter of Gen Z adults are part of the LGBTQ community; and more.

GenBioPro Enters Texas Battle to Preserve Mifepristone Access

The pharmaceutical company GenBioPro filed a motion on Tuesday, Feb. 25, to intervene in Missouri et al. v. FDA, a lawsuit in Texas challenging FDA regulation of the drug mifepristone, which is part of a two-drug regimen for the termination of early pregnancy. GenBioPro is the sole U.S. manufacturer of generic mifepristone, which the FDA approved in 2019 and is now the majority of mifepristone sold in the U.S.

In the Texas lawsuit, the attorneys general of Missouri, Kansas and Idaho are attempting to remove generic mifepristone from the market and severely restrict the brand-name mifepristone, Mifeprex made by Danco, in all 50 states and U.S. territories.

“All people have a right to access safe, affordable, evidence-based healthcare, and GenBioPro remains committed to using all legal and regulatory tools to protect mifepristone for millions of patients and providers across the country,” said Evan Masingill, CEO of GenBioPro.

Don’t Let Donald Trump and Elon Musk Talk Us Out of Democracy

Trump and Musk are testing the limits, trying to sell America on being an authoritarian state—but they can’t do it unless we allow them to do so.

When Justice Department lawyers go to court, trying to defend many of Trump and Musk’s actions, DOJ has regularly lost—and often face tense moments in court before being dealt those losses.

On Monday, for example, Judge John Bates, a George W. Bush appointee, heard arguments over a group of doctors’ lawsuit challenging the removal of webpages and datasets by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Department for Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of the government-wide censorship purge put into effect following Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order defining “sex” to exclude transgender people.

‘They’re Coming After Birth Control’: Rep. Lizzie Fletcher on the Fight for Contraceptive Rights

Despite overwhelming public support for contraception access, Republicans continue to block legislation protecting it. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher explains why the fight for birth control rights is more urgent than ever.

“The same people who have been crusading against abortion rights for decades aren’t stopping there. They have their eyes set on contraception and birth control.”