We salute the courage of Julie Swetnick, who has now become the third woman to subject herself to public scrutiny and ridicule because Senate Republicans and the White House refuse to take allegations of sexual assault seriously.
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it will not review the Lambda Legal case on behalf of Jameka Evans, a Savannah security guard who was harassed at work and forced from her job because she is a lesbian.
The case is an appeal from federal rulings upholding Missouri’s adherence to its state constitutional provision, similar to provisions in over 30 other states’ constitutions, forbidding government aid to churches.
Following President Donald J. Trump’s nomination of Neil M. Gorsuch, Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, to the U.S. Supreme Court today, Lambda Legal took the difficult step of formally opposing his nomination, citing his record of hostility towards LGBT people and other marginalized communities.
A month ago, Outward writer Mark Joseph Stern wondered what would happen to “those 4 million Americans who don’t live in [the] states, but in one of five U.S. territories?” In so doing, Stern aptly noted that the applicability of rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution to the people of Puerto Rico, the U.S.
Fifty years ago, the Supreme Court upheld the right of individuals to access birth control despite the opposition of some religious sects. Since then, mainstream attitudes have changed. But fundamentalist religious views about reproductive health and sexuality still influence our politics and law.