| | | | |  | | By Katelyn Fossett | | 
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, AP Photo/Ted S. Warren | Happy Friday, rulers! Your very important tip of the week comes from Amanda Litman, co-founder of Run for Something: You get free shipping if you order 5+ boxes of Girl Scout cookies until 1/28. She also mentions that she bought hers from Troop 6000 , the scouts program for girls in the NYC shelter system. Thanks to Maya Parthasarathy for helping me find interesting reading on the Internet. On Thursday, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer formally announced his retirement. Congressional Democrats have said they want to quickly move to confirm his replacement when the current court term ends in June or July. It was a move welcomed by progressive Supreme Court-watchers, because, with midterm elections fast approaching, Democrats might lose their control of the confirmation process this coming fall. And many activists still have fresh memories of the death of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died during a Republican administration and when Republicans held a Senate majority. Republicans rushed to confirm Ginsburg's replacement, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, just about a week before Election Day 2020. Progressives are also energized by President Joe Biden's promise to nominate a Black woman to the court, which would be a first. The pressure on Breyer to retire now might be even bigger because of how abortion rights hang in the balance. Some observers think the conservative majority will try to overturn Roe v. Wade as soon as next year; and many agree that a serious challenge on its way within the next few years.
| | | | Sponsored by Business Leader members of Women Rule: The Exchange: What will it take to build a new, more equitable workplace? POLITICO Focus connected with members of Women Rule: The Exchange to get their perspectives on some of the critical topics — diversity and inclusion, equal pay, mental health and family-friendly policies — that are driving this debate and will make or break the future of work for women. Read More | | |
But even if Breyer is glad to pass the baton on to a replacement, he has shaped the debate over abortion, says Mary Ziegler, a historian of abortion and the court, and laid the foundation for progressive arguments for abortion access.
Breyer helped to define "undue burden," the legal standard that courts use to determine if an abortion restriction violates the Constitution. "He didn't tend to write the more high-flown, emotionally moving, abstract opinions about abortion rights. He tended to write in-the-weeds, detailed descriptions of how these regulations affected real people, often with numbers and data," Ziegler, who also wrote an article on Breyer for Politico Magazine this week, said. "That really changed how people thought of the undue burden test. … It was about how someone might have to travel a long distance, or wait a really long time to get care at a place that was overcrowded." "Breyer was tuned into the idea that abortion regulations that don't seem like that big of a deal are actually quite a big deal, depending on who you are and where you live and how many resources you have," she continued, "because he had this sort of fact-based, numbers-driven mode of analysis." That analysis, Ziegler thinks, also made Breyer effective at reaching out to conservatives on the court and convincing them occasionally when it came to differences on abortion. Liberals disdained his inclination to compromise, Ziegler says, because many thought that the court had moved too far to the right to make compromise possible. "But with abortion jurisprudence, until quite recently, he was still able to pull some version of that trick off," she says, citing Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt in 2016 and June Medical Services v. Russo , a 2020 case, where he was able to convince conservative colleagues to join opinions striking down abortion regulations. His emphasis on how regulations affect groups differently also presaged where the abortion debate was going for liberals, too, Ziegler said. There's something else about Breyer's retirement worth noting. When he goes, the court will lose its staunchest male supporter of abortion rights. More than that, if Biden does nominate a woman, all liberals on the court will be women. I asked Ziegler what she thought of how that makeup would affect the abortion debate, or at least how it is perceived. "There's a narrative that … obviously abortion is an issue for people who can get pregnant primarily," she said, "but historically it's also affected cisgendered men." Pre-Roe , men were often the ones going to prison, not just for performing abortions but for helping women obtain abortions. The lack of male liberals on the court, particularly male supporters of abortion rights, could "feed into a narrative that if Roe is overturned, the only people who are going to mind are women, though in reality, that's probably not how that's going to actually turn out." Erika Bachiochi, an anti-abortion feminist scholar, also sees a potential hazard in people thinking the liberal justices somehow represent the views of most women in the United States. "A claim that the liberal wing of the court would somehow represent or speak for women is not only blunted by the presence of Justice Barrett on the other end, but is itself insulting to women who have a diverse range of opinions on any number of topics, including constitutional and statutory interpretation," she wrote in an email. | | | | Sponsored by Business Leader members of Women Rule: The Exchange:   The pandemic brought corporate America to a tipping point. Business leaders weigh in on the issues that will make or break the future of work for women. | | | MARK YOUR CALENDARS -- On Monday, 1/31, at 12 noon ET , U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo will join White House correspondent Laura Barrón-López for a virtual Women Rule interview on POLITICO Live. The interview will cover Raimondo's first year in the Biden administration, her role in pushing some key legislation, including Build Back Better and U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA), and her path to Washington from working in venture capital and serving as Rhode Island governor. RSVP here to watch live: https://bit.ly/3FXoBO5
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Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to reporters upon arrival in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP, Pool) | Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP, Pool | "'She was Zoom'd out:' Veep mulls escape from D.C. bubble," by POLITICO's Christopher Cadelago and Eugene Daniels: "Sitting among some of the most influential Black women in America last month, Vice President Kamala Harris confessed to a stifling sensation that had fallen over her while in office. She was struggling to escape the D.C. bub
ble, Harris confided to the group, which had gathered in person and virtually for the private audience, according to multiple attendees. "Harris has grumbled at times about the customs of a town where she remains a relative newcomer. She is prone to lament the Beltway's obsession with familiarity, the routine groupthink of its thought leaders; and the intense interest in collecting scraps of palace intrigue, according to more than a dozen aides and people familiar with her conversations. She's repeatedly instructed her aides to stay focused on the work. At the same time, she's allowed that her instinct to ignore the superficial elements of politics has created more work for her team, which is forced to operate aggressively in that world. "Gathered in her ceremonial office in D.C. this December, as some of these themes were sounded again, the women agreed that Harris needed to make her way around the morass. "'She wholeheartedly wants to get out,' said Ebonie Riley, a senior vice president at National Action Network who was at the meeting. 'She said she was 'Zoom'd out,' she would love to be in-person engaging.' "Inside Harris' office and among her advisers, confidants and close allies, there's a near universal belief that she is mired by a contradiction: While she's among the most powerful people in the world, owing to her swift rise in national politics, people still don't know her at the levels they need to." "Hochul dubbed 'evictor in chief' as tenant advocates push her into tight political spot over rent protections," by POLITICO's Janaki Chadha: "Gov. Kathy Hochul earned an unwanted nickname at a recent Manhattan rally held by tenant activists — 'Evictor in Chief.' "Attendees also held signs referring to Hochul as the 'Governor of Evictions' as they marched to her Midtown offices, protesting the end of New York's eviction ban earlier this month and pushing for a sweeping bill to expand renter protections. One tenant group had advertised the rally by posting a flier on social media calling the governor 'New York's new Evictor in Chief.' At the event activists chanted, 'Kathy Hochul you can't hide, we can see your greedy side,' an apparent knock on her campaign donations from real estate."And one of her main primary opponents, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, joined the tenant groups to slam Hochul's handling of the issue, while pledging his support for the activist-backed legislation, known as 'good cause' eviction. The measure would prevent certain evictions and effectively limit rent increases across the state — and it's been seized on by tenant groups as one way to blunt the consequences of the moratorium lifting. …"For Hochul, who is running for election to a full gubernatorial term, the eviction legislation could prove to be a challenging issue politically as she faces attacks from her left in the Democratic primary, but may very well have to defend stances she takes now against a Republican opponent down the line."
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| Read more here.
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Tom Williams/Pool via AP, File | "Biden's Likeliest Supreme Court Pick," by Elaine Godfrey for the Atlantic: "[Ketanji Brown] Jackson, who is 51, fulfills a lot of requirements for the establishment set. She has the same Ivy League credentials as the sitting justices, having earned both her undergraduate and her law degree from Harvard and edited for the Harvard Law Review. She clerked for three federal judges — including Breyer, from 1999 to 2000. If nominated and confirmed, Jackson will follow the same track as Brett Kavanaugh, who also clerked for the justice he ultimately replaced. Also like Kavanaugh — and seven other current and former justices — Jackson would be coming directly from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the second-most-important court in the country after the Supreme Court. "But Jackson would be the first Black woman to serve on the high court, offering the body a perspective that progressives, in particular, have long wanted to see represented. (Of the 115 justices who have served, all but seven have been white men.) Jackson also has strayed from the typical route of a Court nominee, which matters a lot to Democrats, who have tended to prioritize experience over ideology. After a few years in private practice, she worked as a federal public defender. Later, she served for four years as the Obama-appointed vice chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, during which time the commission reduced sentences for many people convicted ofdrug crimes . Appointing someone with Jackson's experience to the Supreme Court 'would make quite a statement,' Brian Fallon, the executive director of Demand Justice, a progressive group advocating for court reform , told me. 'It would signal a new era and a shift away from the decades-long default to former prosecutors and corporate lawyers.' "Jackson does not have a history of controversial rulings. But in her previous perch as a federal district judge, she drew attention for deciding several times against the Trump administration. Most famously, Jackson ruled in 2019 that former White House Counsel Don McGahn had to comply with a congressional subpoena and testify before Congress as part of its impeachment inquiry into then-President Donald Trump. A particular line in the ruling impressed Democrats: 'The primary takeaway from the past 250 years of recorded American history is that Presidents are not kings,' Jackson wrote . The same line struck many Republicans as overly confrontational. It raised 'concerns about her temperament and whether she used her role in a political manner,' Carrie Severino, the president of the conservative Judicial Crisis Network, told me."
| | | | Sponsored by Business Leader members of Women Rule: The Exchange: COVID-19 has upended the American workplace — and it continues to shine a light on what isn't working — particularly for women. But within every crisis, there is opportunity. Women Rule: The Exchange brings together leading women in business each quarter to confront these challenges and help find solutions to today's most pressing issues at the intersection of gender, industry and policy.
Most recently, this included an examination of the future of America's working women. In this inaugural edition of 'view from The Exchange,' we sat down with a few of these leaders to continue the conversation and get their perspectives on some of the critical topics — diversity and inclusion, equal pay, mental health and family-friendly policies — that are driving this debate and will make or break the future of work for women. | | | "Democrats ask Pentagon to end birth control costs for military
families," by Mariel Padilla for The 19th: "Inactive service members, veterans, military spouses and dependents are subject to copays for contraceptive care — care that is fully covered under many employer-sponsored and marketplace health plans outside of the military. Democrats in Congress want to change that. "More than 140 Democrats in Congress signed a letter Thursday urging the secretary of defense to eliminate additional costs for military families who currently have 'fewer rights than those they serve to protect.'" "Moms in Middle Age: Rarely Alone, Often Online and Increasingly Lonely,"by Julie Jargon for the Wall Street Journal: "Middle age is a crowded time. It's also a lonely one. Work and family demands leave little time for nurturing friendships, particularly for women. "Pre-pandemic, conversations about loneliness often centered on men, with talk of a 'loneliness epidemic.' But during lockdown, Generation X women, who range in age from 41 to 57 years old, reported the sharpest rise in loneliness, according to a survey of more than 1,000 adults conducted in the spring of 2020 by the Roots of Loneliness Project, a research organization. And the increase in social isolation reported by women living with children was also greatest among those from Gen X, according to an unpublished portion of the survey shared with The Wall Street Journal. "For women feeling burned out from holding family life and work together, social media has typically been the most convenient place to vent and seek connection. But going online has surfaced feelings of inadequacy and loneliness, many say."
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| Amy Schneider ended her 40-win streak on Jeopardy this week. Read more here.
| | | I watched "The Lost Daughter" on Netflix, directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal and starring Olivia Colman and Dakota Johnson, and really liked it. If you are still looking for something to replace the hole in your life that was there after you finished Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Quartet, it might be right for you, too. Also, hat tip to Amanda Becker, a reporter at The 19th, for posting this image of American Girl dolls dressed as "Yellowjackets" characters. The outfits were made by an Instagram account, creepyamericangirls.
| | | Rachel Bunning was named vice president, external affairs, of the Women's Federation of Alabama. Previously, she was a communications and marketing administrator at the Alabama Community College System, and earlier, she ran comms for the RNC in North Carolina to support Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. … Kimberly Gahan is now principal deputy legal adviser at the National Security Council. She most recently was assistant legal adviser at the State Department. … Sharon Weinberger is joining The Wall Street Journal as national security editor. She spent the last 3.5 years at Yahoo News and Foreign Policy before that. (h/t NatSec Daily) … Lara Shane is now VP of comms at Freedom House. She previously was managing director for marketing and comms at Cyber Defense Labs. … Miranda Margowsky is joining the Financial Technology Association as VP of comms. She most recently was a VP at Precision Strategies, and is a Hill veteran. … Lauren Baldwin is now a policy analyst for America First Policy Institute's Center for American Values. She previously was a legislative correspondent for Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.). (h/t Playbook) | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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