Greetings, 19th friends!
We're thrilled to announce that Ko Bragg will be joining us as a general assignment reporter. Ko is an investigative reporter with a focus on the Deep South. She comes to us from The Appeal and holds degrees from Columbia Journalism School, Sciences Po École de Journalisme and Spelman College. Ko is based in New Orleans, and her first day is July 13. Until then, you can follow her on Twitter.
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Anti-abortion demonstrators protest in front of the Supreme Court as they wait on a decision on the Louisiana case, Russo v. June Medical Services LLC in Washington on Monday. (Photo by Caroline Brehman/CQ Roll Call via AP Images)
THE NEXT FIGHT
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday struck down a law regulating abortion providers that would have closed all but one abortion clinic in Louisiana. But the victory for abortion-rights advocates came with a giant asterisk.
- Chief Justice John Roberts cast the deciding vote in the 5-4 decision, but he didn’t join the liberals in the legal reasoning.
- In a separate opinion, Roberts emphasized that he struck down the law only to uphold prior precedent. The Louisiana law was almost identical to Texas legislation that SCOTUS found unconstitutional in 2016.
- “The result in this case is controlled by our decision four years ago invalidating a nearly identical Texas law,” Roberts, who dissented in the 2016 decision, wrote.
Abortion-rights advocates view Monday’s decision as an indication that Roberts is still skeptical of abortion rights, and that the future of access is still not secure.
- There are 16 other abortion-related cases before appeal courts that the Supreme Court could potentially hear.
- With two defeats against clinic regulations, anti-abortion advocates might now choose to pursue different types of laws like “reasons bans,” 24-hour waiting periods and types of second-trimester abortions.
- The day of the decision, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill requiring a 24-waiting period before an abortion. On Tuesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill requiring written parental consent before a doctor performs an abortion on a minor.
For anti-abortion advocates, Monday’s decision renewed a focus on reelecting President Donald Trump.
- Both of Trump’s Supreme Court appointees — Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch — dissented in Monday’s decision, delivering on the president’s promise to nominate anti-abortion justices.
- In their view, adding another Trump justice to the bench would shore up the margins. “This ruling adds a new level of fervor and enthusiasm for the election,” Mallory Quigley, spokesperson for the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony List, told Politico. — Abby Johnston
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SMALL STEPS, GIANT LEAP
Last weekend, Audrey Strauss became the acting U.S. attorney in Manhattan. Out of the 93 U.S. attorney posts, only seven are held by women. Additionally, only seven of the 93 are BIPOC.
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 What we’re reading
Curated by May Olvera
The girlboss has left the building. The “girlboss” movement’s answer to gender inequality was to put mostly white women in corporate leadership positions typically held by men. Now, many of those women are being ousted from their companies for perpetuating toxic and discriminatory power structures. (The Atlantic, June 25)
Meet the forgotten woman who forever changed the lives of LGBTQ+ workers. In 1963, Pauli Murray worked tirelessly to add the word “sex” to the Civil Rights Act. Earlier this month, her work bore fruit. (Forbes, June 26)
As the country reexamines statues and symbols, the VA resists a gender-neutral motto. Groups are fighting to make the Department of Veterans Affairs’ motto — “to care for him who shall have borne the battle — more inclusive of the women who serve. But the VA isn’t budging. (NPR, June 28)
Nearly three years after “Unite the Right,” a conversation with Nikuyah Walker, mayor of Charlottesville. As Charlottesville’s first Black woman mayor, Nikuyah Walker says she is able to lead her community because she has lived through its issues. “I did not have to read about it. I did not have to sit in a classroom and be taught it,” she said. Walker, now a few months into her second term, shares her thoughts on the ongoing protests and her plans moving forward. (Vogue, June 29)
China forces birth control on Uighurs to suppress population. The Chinese government is forcing intrauterine devices, sterilization and abortion on hundreds of thousands of minority women in order to reduce its Muslim population. Meanwhile, some of the country’s Han majority are encouraged to have more children. (The Associated Press, June 29)
🎧 Listen: How gun violence affects women. Nearly 1 million women have reported being shot by an intimate partner. An average of 52 are fatally shot every month. Jada Pinkett Smith talks to women directly harmed by gun violence and those affected by the loss of their loved ones, many of whom have turned grief into preventative action. (Red Table Talk, June 25)
📺 Watch: Celebrating female trailblazers for women’s suffrage centennial. PBS speaks to the producer and director of the new two-part series, “And She Could Be Next,” about their experiences documenting women who strive to redefine democracy. The first part of the documentary is available to stream now on PBS’ website, and the second part airs live tonight and will be available online. (PBS, June 28)
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