Search Results for: Rhode Island

Abortion policy is now in the hands of the states following the US Supreme Court’s Friday decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. President Joe Biden has directed the Department of Health and Human Services to take steps to make sure abortion and contraception [...]

In academia, summer is the time for researching, writing, and travel. It is also an ideal time of year for professors to audit classroom materials and teaching techniques. This summer is an ideal time to consider how bias, race, gender, social justice, and cultural competency issues are integrated into your readings, syllabus, classroom inclusion practices, [...]

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson faced her final day of questioning at her confirmation hearing Wednesday. Thursday will conclude the confirmation hearings with testimony from the American Bar Association and witnesses. The Senate Judiciary Committee will then vote on whether Jackson’s nomination will go to the full Senate for consideration. Jackson continued to answer questions Wednesday [...]

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha Monday announced settlements with the drug manufacturers Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Allergan for their contribution to the state’s opioid epidemic. The trial would have begun Monday. The lawsuit involved claims of public nuisance, fraud and fraudulent misrepresentation, negligence and unjust enrichment. The settlement includes $28.5 million in cash between [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has ruled that there is no constitutional right to an adequate civics education, denying an appeal by students in Providence, Rhode Island. The lawsuit was filed in 2018 on behalf of 14 students arguing that the US Constitution entitles all public school students to a civics [...]

On Wednesday, Pinterest settled a shareholder lawsuit alleging that its top executives enabled racial and gender discrimination in the company. In the past year, many former employees of the popular image-sharing social media service reported unequal payment and treatment of women and people of color. The shareholder lawsuit was filed in November 2020 against top [...]

A 2019 United Nations (UN) report found that “it is imperative that environmental laws are widely understood, respected, and enforced and the benefits of environmental protection are enjoyed by people and the planet.” Globally, more and more governments are coming to this realization: that there are vital (and fragile) links between the environment and all [...]

In April, a book I co-edited on the topic of how to integrate diversity, equity, and social justice skills and issues into the traditional American 1L curriculum was published. While it is certainly not the first book to tackle this subject, Integrating Doctrine and Diversity takes an innovative approach in its scope, organization, tone, and [...]

The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law on Tuesday released updated statistics on the racial, ethnic and gender diversity in state supreme courts around the US. The Brennan Center operates as an independent and nonpartisan research organization, collecting and analyzing data on legal issues. The center believes that “a diverse bench [...]

Among the Executive Orders that President Joe Biden issued mere hours after being inaugurated as the nation’s forty-sixth president was one repealing former President Donald Trump’s so-called Muslim ban that had placed stringent restrictions on travel to the United States for citizens of a number of majority Muslim countries. The opening sentence of President Biden’s [...]