Here is the letter we sent to all the Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to strongly support Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. You can help. Please contact your Senators and urge them to confirm her. It could have an impact.
Women Lawyers On Guard Action Network:
Today is a cause for celebration. President Biden has nominated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as his pick for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. As you are no doubt aware, Judge Jackson would be the first Black woman on the Court. Among 115 justices, only 3 have been people of color and only 5 have been women.
Judge Brown is not just a distinguished jurist, she also comes to this position with a wealth of litigation experience, most significantly as a Federal Public Defender, but also in private practice, and as a clerk to Justice Stephen Breyer on the U.S. Supreme Court. She is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Harvard University.
She will be a voice for equal justice under the law – for women- and for all people.
Here are some joyous statements on her nomination: From the NAACP; from the National Women’s Law Center; and a video from People For the American Way.
PLEASE CONTACT YOUR SENATORS AND URGE THEM TO SWIFTLY CONFIRM JUDGE JACKSON TO BECOME JUSTICE JACKSON
Cory Amron, President
Finally, some good news in the fight against sexual harassment and assault.
The Senate (and previously, the House) have passed the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act with bipartisan votes. The bill was introduced in the Senate 5 years ago by Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand and Sen. Lindsey Graham and will move on to President Biden who has indicated that he will sign it.
No longer will victims be forced to bring their grievances to arbitration, freeing them to go to court if they choose. We also owe a tremendous debt to Gretchen Carlson for this legislation.
We note, however, that forced Non-Disclosure Agreements are not addressed in this legislation.
We also note that Women Lawyers On Guard’s nationwide survey of sexual harassment in the legal profession, Still Broken, determined that 86% of sexual harassment incidents are not even reported.
Read more in these articles: NPR or Washington Post.
No sooner had President Biden reiterated his pledge to choose a Black woman to the Supreme Court to fill the seat soon to be vacated by Justice Stephen Breyer, then the disinformation machine began churning out cries that the nominee–who has yet to be named–is not qualified to sit on the Court. All of a sudden, being Black and a woman is a “litmus” test that the President is using to elevate someone to the Court who (therefore this message indicates) cannot be the most qualified candidate. The barely veiled racism/sexism underlying this statement is that the “most qualified” candidate necessarily is a white male.
What nonsense. One needs only to review the qualifications of those who might be proposed to see through this pernicious effort.
Let’s be clear: Our Supreme Court needs to look like America and serve ALL in America – with justices who understand how their rulings impact all of our lives and who will defend our civil rights under the law. Of the 115 Supreme Court justices, 108 have been white men, 5 have been women, 1 is a Latina woman, and 2 have been Black men. None has been a Black woman.
Take a look at these op-eds of Fatima Goss Graves, President of National Women’s Law Center [Link HERE] and Michael Gerson, commentator in the Washington Post [Link HERE]. Then, lift up your voice with theirs and, in a chorus, let’s expose this “qualification” disinformation for the utter nonsense that it is.
Pro-choice protesters march down Congress Avenue and back to the Texas state capitol in Austin, Texas. Photo: Erich Schlegel/Getty Images
Dear Women Lawyers on Guard Inc.,
There is no doubt that the Mississippi 15-week abortion ban is unconstitutional (as, of course is the Texas 6-week ban- but that’s another case.) However, because the US Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, it is pretty clear that they are planning to severely restrict women’s reproductive rights guaranteed for almost 50 years by Roe v Wade, Casey and their progeny, if not overturn these cases. Why do we say this? Because the conservative Fifth Circuit appeals court found that the Mississippi ban was clearly unconstitutional. So if the Supreme Court were to follow precedent, they would have no need to take this case.
Women Lawyers On Guard Inc. has just filed an amicus brief before the Supreme Court in the Dobbs case. It argues strongly that the Mississippi ban should be struck down under precedent of Roe, Casey, etc. and that stare decisis and reliance dictate this result. WLG’s co-leads on the brief are the National Association of Women Lawyers and the Women’s Bar Association of DC. Willkie Farr served as our pro bono counsel. 28 additional women’s bars, women’s law student groups, or women’s legal organizations have signed onto the brief in which we argue that women and particularly women lawyers have relied on these reproductive rights to plan their families, get their education, pursue their jobs and careers.
Amicus for the State of Mississippi has said that women have made these strides without the need for reproductive rights. That’s balderdash.
Here’s a link to our brief.
We have spent hundreds of volunteer hours on this amicus effort. We would appreciate any donation you can make to help us continue our operations. WLG is a 501(c)(3) organization -donations are tax deductible.
Thank you for your contribution to our efforts. To donate click here.
My best,
Cory
