By a vote of 63-37, Elena Kagan has been confirmed as the newest U.S. Supreme Court justice. I’ve been meaning to say something about her since her nomination, but frankly I haven’t had that much worth saying. As the first woman dean of the Harvard Law School, she must have at least some legal smarts … Continue reading Kagan confirmed
The Roe v Wade decision was handed down 37 years ago today and, unbelievably, women are still having to fight to keep this very personal and very basic right — the right to a safe, legal abortion. In the 21st Century, despite all the advances of medicine, science, law, and education, there are still those … Continue reading Roe v Wade: 37 years and still fighting
Hooray for free speech! (That was sarcasm.) The Supreme Court today ruled that free speech means corporations can buy all the political advertising they want, or words to that effect. So pained am I by the news that I can’t bring myself to read the details of the decision. But if one assumes the news … Continue reading And you thought campaigns were bad before
The health care reform debate has moved into the Senate now, and so has the abortion issue. The bill that passed the House contained the infamous Stupak Amendment that would deny millions of woman any insurance coverage for abortion, a legal medical procedure in the U.S. The health care reform debate has not stopped for … Continue reading Don’t let the Senate ban abortion coverage
On the Chris Matthews Show this morning,the panelists seemed to think the Stupak Amendment is not a big deal because a relatively small number of women have abortions every year and the Democrats are trying to bring health care to millions. What planet are they living on? Who are they listening to? Stupak is not … Continue reading Stupak: canary in the coal mine
The confirmation hearings for Judge Sonia Sotomayor began today in Washington. I’ve looked forward to watching them because I’m curious about Sotomayor and what she’ll say. But I was startled to see America’s newest, most junior senator, former comedian Al Franken, on the panel. This is serious stuff, I thought. How did he get on … Continue reading The confirmation circus begins
