Boom! Lawyered

Project 2025, the 2024 election’s big bad wolf, is coming for reproductive justice. The Heritage Foundation’s policy prescription for a second Donald Trump administration would turn the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) on its head and explicitly allow anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination. This week, Jess and Imani dive into the Project 2025 policy positions that pose the biggest threat to reproductive health care. From disavowing abortion to its “life agenda,” the parade of horribles would, if implemented, entrench the country further into Christofascism. Mentioned in this episode: National Women’s Law Center Project 2025 reportRewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that episodes like this one are only made possible with the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here. And sign up for The Fallout, a weekly newsletter written by Jess that’s exclusively dedicated to covering every aspect of this unprecedented moment.

If there’s one thing conservatives like doing, it’s finding the perfect plaintiff to be the face of a court challenge to a policy that will strip people's rights. Enter: the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and their plaintiffs: a group of goat-herding Anglican nuns, who are challenging a New York state regulation that requires employers to provide medically necessary abortions in their employee health insurance plans. In this week's Boom! Lawyered, Jess and Imani get you caught up on Diocese of Albany v. Harris, and the Becket Fund's petition to the Supreme Court asking the justices to take up their case. Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that episodes like this one is only made possible with the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here. And sign up for The Fallout, a weekly newsletter written by Jess that’s exclusively dedicated to covering every aspect of this unprecedented moment.

Welcome to a new season of Boom! Lawyered, which also means a new Supreme Court term is around the corner. What better way to usher that in with friend-of-the-pod Elie Mystal joining Jess and Imani on the season premiere of the podcast? They try to answer important questions weighing on all our minds, including: Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that episodes like this one is only made possible with the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here. And sign up for The Fallout, a weekly newsletter written by Jess that’s exclusively dedicated to covering every aspect of this unprecedented moment.

How can Vice President Kamala Harris go beyond “restore Roe" messaging during her presidential run? What are the odds that a state like Michigan, where voters enshrined abortion rights into the state constitution, could have that overturned in a second Donald Trump presidency? Join Jess and Imani this week as they respond to these questions and more—submitted by you, our listeners. And stay tuned for the return of Boom! Lawyered's regular season in the fall to usher in what promises to be another unpredictable Supreme Court term. Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that episodes like this one is only made possible with the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here. And sign up for The Fallout, a weekly newsletter written by Jess that’s exclusively dedicated to covering every aspect of this unprecedented moment.

The Biden administration's final Title IX rule, which bans sex discrimination in schools that get federal funding, took effect last week. Except, that is, in the more than two dozen states where conservative attorneys general filed lawsuits to block the rule from taking effect. Chris Geidner joins Imani and Jess this week to parse through the legalese and where it leaves LGBTQ+ students as the school year nears. Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that episodes like this one is only made possible with the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here. And sign up for The Fallout, a weekly newsletter written by Jess that’s exclusively dedicated to covering every aspect of this unprecedented moment.

Editor's note: This episode was recorded before President Joe Biden's SCOTUS reform proposals. Black women law nerds, unite! "We're having a moment," as this week's special guest Madiba Dennie says. Dennie is a lawyer, deputy editor and senior contributor at Balls and Strikes, and the author of The Originalism Trap. She joins Jess and Imani to discuss how originalism is not a legitimate intellectual theory, the idea of "jurisdiction stripping," and the next Supreme Court term. Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that rapid reaction episodes like this one is only made possible with the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here. And sign up for The Fallout, a weekly newsletter written by Jess that’s exclusively dedicated to covering every aspect of this unprecedented moment.

Boom! Lawyered is back for a summer session with four episodes before fall—and first up is Lizz Winstead, the founder of Abortion Access Front and co-creator of the Daily Show. It's a smorgasbord of all things reproductive rights, including serious things like expanding the courts and abortion access and not-so-serious things like a debate between "Anthony Comstock" and Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith that Winstead will moderate in the fall, and starting a band called Mife and Misotones. Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that rapid reaction episodes like this one is only made possible with the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here. And sign up for The Fallout, a weekly newsletter written by Jess that’s exclusively dedicated to covering every aspect of this unprecedented moment.

The Supreme Court released its decision regarding the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act—not once but twice thanks to another opinion leak!—and, well, the justices punted. In this reaction episode, Jess and Imani get into the coward decision in Idaho v. United States— that dismissing the case as "improvidently granted" is simply a cop-out, and the ripple effects that will emerge. And stay tuned for a short summer season coming up! Mentioned in this episode: By the Way, Fetuses Can't Consent to Health CareRewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that rapid reaction episodes like this one is only made possible with the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here. And sign up for The Fallout, a weekly newsletter written by Jess that’s exclusively dedicated to covering every aspect of this unprecedented moment.

The recent Supreme Court decision in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine did not "restore" mifepristone access. The justices didn't "dismiss" the case. And yet that's what some media have been claiming. Join Jess and Imani in this mythbusting mifepristone episode and what they're predicting comes next. Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that episodes like this one is only made possible with the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here. And sign up for The Fallout, a weekly newsletter written by Jess that’s exclusively dedicated to covering every aspect of this unprecedented moment.

The Supreme Court issued its decision in the first of two abortion cases we've been waiting for—and it was pretty OK! Join Jess and Imani in this reaction episode breaking down the unanimous ruling on standing in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine that was written by—yup—Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Our verdict? The decision is great, but more litigation is coming. Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that rapid reaction episodes like this one is only made possible with the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here. And sign up for The Fallout, a weekly newsletter written by Jess that’s exclusively dedicated to covering every aspect of this unprecedented moment.

It's a supersized episode of Boom! Lawyered with special guest Gretchen Sisson, author of the recently released book Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood. Sisson is also a qualitative sociologist and friend of the pod who studies abortion and adoption at Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health based at the University of California, San Francisco. Jess and Imani talk to Sisson about the complicated politics of adoption and abortion. She explains why adoption isn’t the answer to winnowing abortion access and why the conversations around abortion and adoption are overly simplistic. The decision faced by relinquishing mothers is not whether to adopt or have an abortion but whether to parent or not. And poverty, unsurprisingly, plays a large role in any decision a pregnant person makes regarding parenting. The anti-abortion movement wants adoption to be an alternative to abortion, but it’s not. “The idea that women are choosing between abortion and adoption is not borne out by the data at all,” Sisson said. Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that episodes like this one is only made possible with the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here. And sign up for The Fallout, a weekly newsletter written by Jess that’s exclusively dedicated to covering every aspect of this unprecedented moment.

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has always been the worst, but now, he's even more confident letting his freak flag fly because he knows nothing is going to happen to him. By now, you might have heard about the Alito's Virginia home displaying an upside-down American flag—an insurrectionist symbol after the January 6 attack on the Capitol, and their flying another, an "Appeal to Heaven" flag, at their beach home in New Jersey. As Imani says in this week's episode, "everything about this story stinks." Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that episodes like this one is only made possible with the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here. And sign up for The Fallout, a weekly newsletter written by Jess that’s exclusively dedicated to covering every aspect of this unprecedented moment.

Jess and Imani are talking about Idaho—again! Now that the state has made its argument that people who visit emergency rooms at Medicare-funded hospitals needing an abortion can go pound sand, it's arguing before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that anyone who “recruits, harbors, or transports” a minor within Idaho for the purposes of “procuring an abortion” out of state can be criminalized as an abortion trafficker. As Jess says, Matsumoto v. Labrador isn't about "abortion trafficking"—whatever that means—it's about criminalizing direct aid to folks who need abortions and forcing parental involvement in minors' reproductive health-care decisions despite contrary Supreme Court precedent. Mentioned in this episode: A Federal Court Finally Connects the Dots Between TRAP Laws and StigmaRewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that episodes like this one is only made possible with the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here. And sign up for The Fallout, a weekly newsletter written by Jess that’s exclusively dedicated to covering every aspect of this unprecedented moment.

Two years ago today, Politico published the bombshell leak heard around the world—Justice Samuel Alito's 98-page majority draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade. In this flashback episode, Jess and Imani react the following afternoon to the absolute sucker punch. For more coverage of the leaked opinion, check out our next episode, "Processing the Fallout of the Supreme Court Leak." Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that Boom! Lawyered—especially emergency episodes like this one—is only made possible by the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here. And sign up for The Fallout, a weekly newsletter written by Jess that’s exclusively dedicated to covering every aspect of this unprecedented moment.

It was a grim day at the Supreme Court for oral arguments in Idaho v. United States with the fate of Emergency Medicine Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) at stake. Jess and Imani bring you quick analysis about what happened, including how the conservatives are arguing in the margins about life and death. Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that rapid reaction episodes like this one is only made possible with the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here. And sign up for The Fallout, a weekly newsletter written by Jess that’s exclusively dedicated to covering every aspect of this unprecedented moment.

It’s time for oral arguments in the second abortion case this Supreme Court season, one that Jess and Imani have both written and talked a lot about in the last year. In this week's episode, they share what they'll be listening for during Wednesday's arguments. They'll also be bringing you their rapid reactions later that day, so be sure to tune in. Mentioned in the episode: Back in 'Lawyers for Fetuses' TerritoryWhy Is the Biden Administration Throwing Doctors Under the Bus?Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means Boom! Lawyered is only made possible with the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here. And sign up for The Fallout, a weekly newsletter written by Jess that’s exclusively dedicated to covering every aspect of this unprecedented moment.

With Jess out, Elie Mystal, friend of the pod and justice correspondent at the Nation, joins Imani on a supersized episode of the pod this week! They chat about all your favorite and not-so-favorite Supreme Court justices: Samuel Alito's long hatred for women, how much Amy Coney Barrett hates abortion, and why it's not even worth talking about the recent calls for Sonia Sotomayor to retire. Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means Boom! Lawyered is only made possible with the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here. And sign up for The Fallout, a weekly newsletter written by Jess that’s exclusively dedicated to covering every aspect of this unprecedented moment.

The Florida Supreme Court was busy this week in issuing decisions surrounding bodily autonomy. In twin decisions the court stripped abortion rights from the Florida Constitution—and to no one's surprise, the reason was dodgy at best—while also allowing voters to decide whether to amend the constitution so it explicitly protects abortion. In the process, the court upheld the state's 15-week ban and cleared the way to let a more restrictive six-week ban to take effect May 1. Jess and Imani try to make sense of these decisions and explain how they're related to the fight for "personhood" in the Sunshine State. Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means Boom! Lawyered is only made possible with the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here. And sign up for The Fallout, a weekly newsletter written by Jess that’s exclusively dedicated to covering every aspect of this unprecedented moment.

Who had a bad day at the Supreme Court this morning for oral arguments in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine? Erin Hawley. What had an OK day at the Supreme Court? Mifepristone! In this rapid reaction episode, Jess and Imani agree that mifepristone's big moment before the justices didn't seem as bad as they were expecting. Listen along and get the nuts and bolts of the important points from today's oral arguments. Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that rapid reaction episodes like this one is only made possible with the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here. And sign up for The Fallout, a weekly newsletter written by Jess that’s exclusively dedicated to covering every aspect of this unprecedented moment.

Pace yourself this Supreme Court season, folks, as we head into oral arguments for two major abortion rights cases before the term ends. First up on Tuesday is FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, which will decide the fate of mifepristone, one of two drugs used in medication abortions. Not only could a ruling before the end of the Court term wipe out access, conservatives are using the case to resurrect the Comstock Act to eventually outlaw "obscene" things like contraception in the United States. Mentioned in this episode: Why Is Everybody Talking About the Comstock Act?Rewire News Groupis a nonprofit media organization, which means Boom! Lawyered is only made possible with the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here. And sign up forThe Fallout, a weekly newsletter written by Jess that’s exclusively dedicated to covering every aspect of this unprecedented moment.