Heads up! If you can help us reach our fundraising goal at https://rewirenewsgroup.com/donate/, Jess and Imani will film the wildest and smashiest live event in Rewire News Group history next week! Check out that donate page for more info.

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Lubbock, Texas, passed a “sanctuary city for the unborn” ordinance, a so-called heartbeat ban that would ban abortion at around six weeks. The ban would allow anyone to sue to enforce the ban—and not just anyone in Lubbock or Texas. Anyone in the country could decide to sue a Lubbock abortion provider. Or a few thousand people could decide to sue one of those providers at once.

The law can't take effect for now, thank goodness, but that could change.

Planned Parenthood, which provides abortions in Lubbock, challenged the constitutionality of the ordinance in federal court. But in a shocking decision, the court dismissed the case. And the logic used to justify the decision should alarm anyone concerned about abortion rights. Because the Lubbock ban isn't the only one with this terrible clause—the statewide Texas ban, which is also currently unenforceable, would also allow for private enforcement of their ban should it ever take effect.

On this episode of Boom! Lawyered, Jess and Imani dissect the impact of this shocking decision. They also give their weekly update on the latest developments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the direct challenge to Roe v. Wade that the Supreme Court is expected to hear in the fall.

This direct challenge to Roe v. Wade didn't reach the Supreme Court by accident. It was the culmination of a detailed plan that was hiding in plain sight.

Actually, that doesn't do it justice—the deep-pocketed anti-choice movement was begging everyone years ago to listen to exactly how it planned to obliterate abortion rights: by passing a 15-week abortion ban in Mississippi and defending it all the way to a revamped Supreme Court.

On this episode of Boom! Lawyered, Jess and Imani take us inside that plan to either end Roe or make it "totally irrelevant," and they explain how it's snaked its way to the precipice of victory.

Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media org, which means that Boom! Lawyered is only made possible by the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here: https://rewirenewsgroup.com/boomgive

The Supreme Court announced today it would be taking up a case that could completely upend abortion rights.

Back in 2018, Mississippi passed a law that banned abortion at 15 weeks. It was struck down at the district level. Then the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, a notoriously conservative appeals court, struck it down, citing the clear precedent of Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. And if the Supreme Court agreed that this was obviously unconstitutional, they could have easily just refused to take the case.

But they finally took the case.

On this emergency episode of Boom! Lawyered, Jess and Imani explore what today's news portends for abortion in America and when we can expect this all to come to a head. They are also joined by special guest Hillary Schneller, the lead attorney on the case from the Center for Reproductive Rights, who explains how this case could determine the extent of the government's ability to mess with our fundamental rights.

RAGA is the Republican Attorneys General Association. It's essentially what it sounds like—a bunch of Republican attorneys general whose goal is to get other Republican attorneys general elected to office. Seems (relatively) normal, right?

Well, it would be, except the group has gone completely off the deep end. On top of a lot of their members fighting to overturn the 2020 election, there are disturbing connections between RAGA and the insurrection at the Capitol in January.

On this episode of Boom! Lawyered, Jess and Imani take us into the smoky back-room world of RAGA to give us an inside look at their half-alarming, half-embarrassing schemes and the creeps behind them.

Fact #1: Everyone agrees—Mississippi’s lawyers included—that no fetus is viable at 15 weeks.

Fact #2: Mississippi passed an abortion ban that takes effect at 15 weeks.

Fact #3: Pre-viability abortion bans have been ruled unconstitutional.

Combined, these three facts mean that courts should have no trouble striking down Mississippi's ban. And yet! Arguments over that ban have made it all the way to the Supreme Court, where justices have conferenced on whether to hear the case almost twenty times. What gives?

On this episode of Boom! Lawyered, Imani and Jess try to get inside the heads of the justices to make sense of what's going on—and whether all of their indecision could be resolved with the right self-care routine.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case involving a former high school student who posted a photo of herself and a friend on Snapchat with their middle fingers raised. The caption read, “fuck school fuck softball fuck cheer fuck everything.” Have you fainted in outrage yet?

Brandi Levy was a freshman at a Pennsylvania high school when she tried out for the varsity cheerleading team. She didn’t make it, and ended up on the JV squad. She probably wasn't happy about that and posted the Snapchat in question. The cheerleading coaches caught wind of it and suspended her from cheerleading for a year.

In response, Levy's father filed a lawsuit with the help of the ACLU, alleging that the school had violated his daughter’s First Amendment rights. And now this case may decide some major questions about the rights of minors like:

• What free speech rights do students have outside of school?
• Can their free speech rights be abridged 24 hours a day, 365 days a year?
• What counts as private versus public speech in the era of social media?

On this episode of Boom! Lawyered, Jess and Imani wade into all of this and more. Gooooo team!

Just when you thought lawmakers couldn't stoop any lower to attack trans kids, Texas state senators took it to a new level with the introduction of a bill that would prohibit parents from "administering or supplying, or consenting to or assisting in the administering or supplying of puberty suppression prescription drug or cross-sex hormone to a child, other than an intersex child, for the purpose of gender transitioning or gender reassignment." And if parents don't comply, the state could take their child. Seriously!

This follows on the heels of other anti-trans bills in Arkansas and North Carolina. Fortunately, Jess and Imani are here to explain everything you need to know about what's happening and what can be done about it.

Boom! Lawyered is created by Rewire News Group. We're a nonprofit media outlet, and that means your contributions are essential to funding our work. So if you enjoy Boom! Lawyered, please consider donating here: https://rewirenewsgroup.com/boomgive

Jess and Imani explain three of the most alarming pieces of legislation introduced anywhere in the United States:

-The voter suppression legislation in Georgia, which might be even more outrageous than most folks realize.

-A new abortion ban in Texas, which goes even farther than your typical effort to criminalize health care.

-The anti-trans bill in Arkansas, which is poised to take effect despite a veto from Governor Asa Hutchinson.

Can somebody stop this ride? We'd like to get out now.

Boom! Lawyered is made by Rewire News Group, a nonprofit media org. That means your support plays a huge role in making the show possible. If you can, please donate at https://rewirenewsgroup/boomgive

President Joe Biden's recent slate of judicial nominees are more than a breath of fresh air—they represent a serious step forward in building a more just legal system. And we need good judges now more than ever because state legislatures around the country are trying to pass some terrible laws. For example, an alarming new bill in Arkansas could strip trans kids of necessary health care.

Meanwhile, the Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron has more anti-choice shenanigans up his sleeve. What is his procedural maneuver, and will it work? Jessica Mason Pieklo and Imani Gandy break down all of this and more on Boom! Lawyered.

If you enjoy Boom! Lawyered, please consider supporting us! We're a media nonprofit so your donations are essential to making this podcast possible. https://rewirenewsgroup.com/boomgive

On this episode of Boom! Lawyered, Imani and Jess talk about the increasing violence against the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, the importance of allyship in its wake, and how racist stereotypes against the AAPI community are also fueling new anti-choice legislation. In a bit of good news, the Biden administration's getting serious about new judicial nominees and the candidates being vetted should inspire hope.

Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, and that means Boom! Lawyered is funded in no small part by listeners like you. If you can, please support us  at https://rewirenewsgroup.com/boomgive.