Lawyers have entered the fight against authoritarianism in Rule of Law Day
More Of This
The New York Times notes most lawyers showed up in suits and ties. “I’m horrified by what’s going on,” said James Kainen, 71, a law professor at Fordham University and a former assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York. “We had ethics. We prosecuted people because they violated the law, not because they angered somebody for some ridiculous reason.”
ChangeLawyers was able to capture many of the homemade signs at the San Francisco protest >
The urgent need for Native Women judges
Say It Louder
In an essay collaboration with the Groundswell Fund, Ms. Magazine writesabout the iconic symbolism of judges:
“Judges evoke an immediate sense of authority and power.
Yet, when most people picture a judge—someone shaping laws, setting legal precedents and upholding justice—who do they see? More often than not, a white man. That imagery, unfortunately, is too often reflective of the systemic inequities that exist and persist in the judicial system.”
Conservative judges reveal their own homophobia from the bench
Less Of This
Conservative justices at times expressed outright disgust towards portrayals of LGBTQ+ people as normal and loving in arguments Mahmoud v. Taylor, a case that would allow parents to ban LGBTQ+ books from schools. Slate captured audio of a troubling exchange between Justice Alito and Justice Sotomayor: “Justice Samuel Alito reserved special ire for Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, a gentle picture book that homophobic parents initially attempted to censor when it debuted in 2008. Alito suggested, over the objections of Justice Sonia Sotomayor, that the book is devious propaganda aimed at indoctrinating children who harbor reservations about same-sex marriage.”
DOJ claims basic sanitation services to Black communities is “illegal DEI”
Speaking Of...
The Justice Department is cancelling a landmark settlement that would provide Black residents with the same basic sanitation services that white communities receive. Balls & Strikes has the full story, including this quote: “The DOJ will no longer push ‘environmental justice’ as viewed through a distorting, DEI lens,” said Harmeet K. Dhillon, Clarke’s successor in the Civil Rights Division. “Americans deserve a government committed to serving every individual with dignity and respect, and to expending taxpayer resources in accordance with the national interest, not arbitrary criteria.”
