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Maxine Eichner

@maxineeichner.bsky.social
1.9K followers 470 following 287 posts

Law Prof. Families, gender, reproductive rights, and inequality. Views definitely not UNC’s.

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Maxine Eichner @maxineeichner.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
The Florida anti-DEI law that the Eleventh Circuit just struck down on free speech grounds is very similar to our new NC law forbidding universities from teaching "divisive concepts." Courts will eventually reach the same result on our law.
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Arrianna Marie Planey, PhD MA @arrianna-planey.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Being on the soft money side of academia, when funding is terminated on a whim & the peer review process is undermined, it means we can't predict funding for incoming students
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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 25/04/2026
We are about to see one of the greatest brain drains out of red states ever seen. www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...
insidehighered.com
Faculty Actually Are Trying to Flee Red States
Following a year of anecdotes about professors uprooting themselves from Republican-controlled states over academic freedom concerns, a new survey provides evidence that their experiences reflect a br...
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Art Candee 🍿🥤 @artcandee.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Rep. Nanette Barragán to RFK Jr. after he refuses to talk about budget cuts due to pending litigation: "I'm really disappointed that you're here to testify about the budget yet you will not talk about this issue. This is an elimination of Title X funding which is directly to birth control pills."
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FactPost @factpostnews.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Pope Leo XIV condemns the Trump administration in new speech: "Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth."
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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
"the decline in [academic freedom in] the United States has been more rapid and pronounced, particularly in the last year. It has deteriorated by 50% from 2015 to 2025 and is now evaluated as moderate autonomy by country experts" academic-freedom-index.net/research/Aca...
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Brian Stelter @brianstelter.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
"The speed with which American democracy is currently dismantled is unprecedented in modern history," one of the world's top democracy researchers says in a new report. I wrote about it here for CNN: www.cnn.com/2026/03/18/m...
cnn.com
US downgraded in democracy index as press freedom concerns grow | CNN Business
“The speed with which American democracy is currently dismantled is unprecedented in modern history,” one of the world’s top democracy researchers says in a new report.
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Mark Lemley @marklemley.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
The US is no longer a liberal democracy, according to the top global watchdog on freedom and democracy. We're falling fast, and are now classed the same as Guatemala, Colombia, and Peru www.v-dem.net/documents/75...
v-dem.net
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Maxine Eichner @maxineeichner.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
In almost 38 years as a lawyer, I've never seen anything like this. The Trump administration has, in the span of a year, entirely eviscerated the credibility of federal prosecutors. Judge Orders Prosecutors to Testify www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
nytimes.com
Judge Zahid Quraishi Ejects New Jersey Federal Prosecutor From Court, Orders Testimony on Office Leadership Structure
Judge Zahid Quraishi of U.S. District Court ejected a federal prosecutor from his courtroom and ordered the three leaders designated to run the U.S. attorney’s office in New Jersey to return to court ...
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Maxine Eichner @maxineeichner.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
@maryrziegler.bsky.social, @naomicahn.bsky.social and I just wrote TWO different columns on parental rights. The Slate piece covers SCOTUS's recent shadow docket opinion, slate.com/news-and-pol..., and this Brennan Ctr column is on TX SCOTUS and child abuse. statecourtreport.org/our-work/ana...
slate.com
The Supreme Court’s Favorite New Excuse to Rule Against LGBTQ+ Kids
The push for parental rights doesn’t extend to all parents.
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Alicia Bannon @aliciabannon.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
NEW: Texas amended its constitution in 2025 to establish parents' fundamental right to make decisions about a child’s upbringing. Texas justices recently suggested this could invalidate state child abuse laws. Here's what to know about the oral argument. statecourtreport.org/our-work/ana...
statecourtreport.org
Texas Parental Rights Amendment Threatens to Invalidate Child Abuse Laws
During oral arguments in a child abuse case, some Texas Supreme Court justices seemed open to the possibility that the amendment protected parental violence against children.
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Alicia Bannon @aliciabannon.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Ran out of characters, but this excellent analysis came from @maryrziegler.bsky.social @naomicahn.bsky.social & @maxineeichner.bsky.social. Check it out! statecourtreport.org/our-work/ana...
statecourtreport.org
Texas Parental Rights Amendment Threatens to Invalidate Child Abuse Laws
During oral arguments in a child abuse case, some Texas Supreme Court justices seemed open to the possibility that the amendment protected parental violence against children.
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Ethan Hein @ethanhein.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
My wife has a lot of family in Poland, and one of her cousins was asking how the US can possibly afford this. The answer is, our public infrastructure and services suck colossally
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Mary Ziegler @maryrziegler.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
Happy to share my latest with @naomicahn.bsky.social and @maxineeichner.bsky.social on Mahmoud, forthcoming in the Duke Law Journal and now on SSRN: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com
Opting Out: <i>Mahmoud</i>, Public Education, and the Future of Parental Rights
<p>In last summer’s earth-shaking opinion in Mahmoud v. Taylor, the Supreme Court held that the Free Exercise Clause protects parents’ freedom to opt their chil
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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 03/03/2026
This footnote in the Kagan dissent specifically called out how they avoided this sdp claim in the Skrmetti case but then decided it here in an emergency shadow docket posture here. It's all calvinball where the principal is whatever hurts trans people.
Another contrast—this time, between this case and United States v. Skrmetti, 605 U. S. 495 (2025)—is also striking. In Skrmetti, several parents challenged Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors. The suit raised claims grounded in both equal protection and substantive due process. As to the latter, the parents in Skrmetti, similarly to the parents here, asserted a right “to make decisions concerning medical care for their minor children.”  Pet. for Cert., O. T. 2023, No. 23–466, p. 34; see id., at 18 (invoking a “right of parents with respect to the care, custody, and control of their children, including in decisions about medical care”).  And in support of that right, the Skrmetti parents relied on the same precedents the Court does today: Parham, 442 U. S. 584, and Pierce, 268 U. S. 510. See Pet. for Cert., No. 23–466, at 34–36; ante, at 5–6. But the Court, when deciding to grant certiorari in Skrmetti, limited its review to the equal protection issue: It would not even hear the parents out on their substantive due process claim.
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Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
A disturbing and hypocritical ruling on so many levels. Especially the due process holding. The court JUST said there’s no deeply rooted right for women to control their own bodies. But there is a deeply rooted right for parents to know if their kids question their gender at school? Come on.
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Maxine Eichner @maxineeichner.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
John Kelly confirmed that President Trump called fallen soldiers “suckers” and “losers”
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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
War is not a morality play. The relevant question isn’t: Are the targets bad people who have done bad things? The relevant question is: Will going to war make things better, achieving something that’s worth the death and suffering it causes?
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Popehat @kenwhite.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
Killing a bunch of elementary school girls to distract from having raped a bunch of middle- and high-school girls is pretty fucking grim.
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Econ Analytica @econanalytica.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
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Ashley Kuckelman @ashleyvotesblue.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
🎯🎯🎯
Pete Buttigieg • @PeteButtigieg

The President has launched our nation and our great military into a war of choice, risking American lives and resources, ignoring American law, and endangering our allies and partners. It does nothing to help with the urgent problems here at home that Americans face every day. This nation learned the hard way that an unnecessary war, with no plan for what comes next, can lead to years of chaos and put America in still greater danger.
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Dan Froomkin/Press Watch/Heads Up News @froomkin.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
The must-read of the day. Although “war of choice” is actually a euphemism. It’s a war of whim, of ego, of madness. Gift link. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/28/u...
nytimes.com
For Trump, the Iran Attack Is the Ultimate War of Choice
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Maxine Eichner @maxineeichner.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
This Guardian op-ed nails it: “On the right, female athletes are only significant in the shadow of the transgender menace. They are …useful pawns for a political project aimed not at advancing women’s sport but purging transgender people from public life.” www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/f...
theguardian.com
Trump says he is a savior of women’s sports. His ice hockey joke showed what he really thinks | Austin Killips
The president and his allies have never been interested in helping or elevating female athletes. His true feelings were exposed on Sunday
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Maxine Eichner @maxineeichner.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
This is horrifying. Trump’s paramilitary (aka ICE) is tracking dissenters and menacing them at their homes. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/u...
nytimes.com
ICE Agents Menaced Minnesota Protesters at Their Homes, Filings Say
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Maxine Eichner @maxineeichner.bsky.social · 30/12/2025
This op ed nails it. UNC’s new mandate that syllabi be put online is “to prevent students from learning about topics the current administration deems unacceptable.” www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...
usatoday.com
Opinion: UNC's syllabi public-posting mandate erodes academic freedom
Publicly posting syllabi is an effort to prevent the teaching of topics that right-wing actors deem “unacceptable.”
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Robert Downen @robertdownen.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
Happening now: Texas leaders announcing a rollout of a statewide program to put TPUSA chapters in high schools and colleges across the state. Gov. Abbott adds that schools that stand in the way should be reported to the Texas Education Agency.
A large group of young Republicans and Texas GOP leaders at the Texas Governors Mansion.
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Sam Bagenstos @sbagen.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
The best reading of this article: Trump is going to use FDA to restrict medication abortion, but he wants to wait until after the midterms so the Republicans don't experience blowback. But that just makes the midterms more important. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
FDA Slow Walking a Long-Awaited Abortion Pill Safety Study
The Food and Drug Administration has delayed a promised review of safety data for the abortion drug mifepristone at Commissioner Marty Makary’s request to put it off until after the midterm elections,...
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Lawprofblawg @lawprofblawg.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
"Professors are indoctrinating students!" #Satire www.texastribune.org/2025/12/08/t...
texastribune.org
Abbott says Turning Point USA will expand in Texas schools
Republican officials in Oklahoma and Florida have also launched plans to expand the presence of the conservative youth organization founded by Charlie Kirk.
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Joe Walsh @walshfreedom.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
In line to become U.S. citizens, they were asked what country they’re from. If they were from certain countries, they were pulled out of line. Just horrible. The very antithesis of what America is. Every Republican should lose in 2026 bcuz of this. Every single one.👇 www.wgbh.org/news/local/2...
wgbh.org
Immigrants kept from Faneuil Hall citizenship ceremony as feds crackdown nationwide
Trump administration is pausing naturalizations for immigrants from 19 countries.
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Paul Fairie @paulisci.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
A List of Things Said to Have Been Ruined by Women 🧵
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Charlotte Garden @charlottegarden.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
In a decision that I'm sure will have no negative repercussions whatsoever, the University of Arkansas has fired a law prof b/c of public criticism of the prof's comments (on her personal facebook page) about Charlie Kirk: abovethelaw.com/2025/10/law-...
abovethelaw.com
Law Professor Fired For Comments On Charlie Kirk's Death Over Objections Of Appeals Panel - Above the Law
Professor's Facebook posts led to her termination.
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Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
"We need to remind ourselves, constantly, that in the median experience of tyranny, life is largely unchanged. ...If we wait until the abuses become severe and widespread enough to register in our standard analytic tools, it will be too late." www.offmessage.net/p/the-median...
offmessage.net
The Median Experience Of Tyranny
If the politics of tyranny were self-discrediting, we wouldn't need mantras like "never again."
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Courtney Joslin @courtneygjoslin.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
"The Vanderbilt Chapter of the AAUP stands with the national AAUP, the AAUP chapters of the other targeted universities, and members of the Vanderbilt community in opposing the Compact and demanding that our administration do so as well."
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John Schwartz @jswatz.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
“No self-respecting university could ever accept something like this,” said Lee Bollinger, a First Amendment scholar and former Columbia University president. “Trying to protect conservative ideas against being ‘belittled’ — that’s about as violative of the First Amendment interests as you can get.”
washingtonpost.com
Colleges weigh whether to sign onto Trump plan or forgo federal benefits
A new proposal from the Trump administration would give colleges funding advantages if they adopt conservative priorities.
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jentrification ♎ @jentrification.com · 30/09/2025
with alt text
Here's the transcription of the text in the image:

---

**dailytarheel** UNC administration placed Dwayne Dixon, a professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, on administrative leave on Monday, effective immediately. The decision follows reports of Dixon's alleged affiliation with "Redneck Revolt," an organization that describes itself as an "anti-racist, anti-fascist, community defense formation."

UNC Vice Chancellor for Communications Dean Stoyer confirmed in a statement to Fox News that the University has informed Dixon of his placement on administrative leave and that doing so "will allow the University to investigate these allegations in a manner that protects the integrity of its assessment."

The organization, founded in 2016, is a network that promotes working-class solidarity through mutual aid, anti-racist organizing and, in some chapters, armed training under the name John Brown Gun Clubs.

🏢 Tap the link in our bio to read more.
✍️ Story by Caleb Herrera.
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Sam @samd.bsky.social · 20/09/2025
I genuinely cannot believe that Ezra Klein said we should run pro-life candidates in Kansas, Ohio, and Missouri; three states that recently held abortion referendums where the pro-choice side won!
Taking political positions that'll make it more likely to win Senate seats in Kansas and Ohio and Missouri. Trying to open your coalition to people you didn't want it open to before. Running pro-life Democrats.Constitutional Amendment 3
November 5, 2024
Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative
Choice
Yes
X No
Results
Votes
1,538,659
1,443,022
%
51.60%
48.40%Issue 1
November 7, 2023
Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety(1]
Results
Choice
Votes
%
& Yes
2,227,384
56.78%
No
1,695,480
43.22%
Total votes
3,922,864
100.00%2022 Kansas abortion referendum
KANSAS
August 2, 2022
Should there be no Kansas constitutional right to abortion or to require the government funding of abortion, and reserve to the people of Kansas, through their elected state legislators, the right to pass laws to regulate abortion, including, but not limited to, in circumstances of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest, or when necessary to save the life of the mother?
Results
Choice
Votes
%
• Yes
385,014
40.84%
X No
557,837
59.16%
Total votes
942,851
100.00%
Registered voters turnout
1,929,972
48.85%
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Scott Nover @scottnover.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
NEW: The Pentagon told journalists it will require them to pledge they won’t gather any information — even unclassified — that hasn’t been expressly authorized for release, and will revoke the press credentials of those who do not obey. @washingtonpost.com
washingtonpost.com
Pentagon demands journalists pledge to not obtain unauthorized material
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is imposing strict new rules that would severely limit the ability of journalists to report on the Pentagon.
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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
Biggest story in the world, told in the mainstream press perfectly well: AP/PBS headline: TRUMP'S MOVES AGAINST MEDIA OUTLETS MIRROR AUTHORITARIAN APPROACHES TO SILENCING DISSENT www.pbs.org/newshour/pol...
pbs.org
Trump's moves against media outlets mirror authoritarian approaches to silencing dissent
Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has waged an aggressive campaign against the media unlike any in modern U.S. history, making moves similar to those of authoritarian leaders that...
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Brian Stelter @brianstelter.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
Page One of today's NYT:
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Pema Levy @pemalevy.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
In Alabama, a trans civil rights lawyer is facing criminal charges; three civil rights lawyers are fighting sanctions. I spoke to @chrisgeidner.bsky.social about how federal judges came after a team of civil rights lawyers who challenged a transgender care ban www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
How federal judges put a trans civil rights lawyer under criminal investigation
A "ego driven, petty" attack targets attorneys who fought a transgender care ban in Alabama.
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404 Media @404media.co · 16/09/2025
The Department of Justice has removed a study showing that white supremacist and far-right violence “continues to outpace all other types of terrorism and domestic violent extremism” in the United States. 🔗 www.404media.co/doj-deletes-...
404media.co
DOJ Deletes Study Showing Domestic Terrorists Are Most Often Right Wing
Following Charlie Kirk’s assassination and the Trump administration’s promise to go after the “radical left” a study showing most domestic terrosim is far-right was disappeared.
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TDD @tdd-01.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
"...when people say we were "lied to" about what Trump would do to us. We weren't! US farmers knew Trump planned another trade war, and that it would hurt our businesses. And a lot of farmers just voted for him anyway." NO BAILOUTS FOR FARMERS!
youtube.com
Why Farmers Voted For Trump
YouTube video by Farm to Taber
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Senator Sheldon Whitehouse @whitehouse.senate.gov · 09/07/2025
What's up with Justice Jackson? She started making her mark and speaking out early, and some of her dissents are so pointed Kagan and Sotomayor don’t even join them. The far right is out for her, and even Republican justices are getting snarky. So what's up? Here’s my take 🧵
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Mike Hixenbaugh @mikehixenbaugh.com · 30/06/2025
“She’s very black and white, right and wrong, no gray area,” he said, “which is not the way to do medicine.” An important @propublica.org story showing how a false sense of certainty by child abuse pediatricians leads CPS to take children from parents based on shaky and oftentimes disputed evidence
propublica.org
A Doctor Challenged the Opinion of a Powerful Child Abuse Specialist. Then He Lost His Job.
A Minneapolis pediatrician said he felt pressured to “fall in line” with child abuse specialist Dr. Nancy Harper and her team. Then he was given a choice: resign or be fired.
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Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
I am not exaggerating when I say the Supreme Court’s unsigned, unexplained order yesterday is the worst thing it has done since Trump returned to office. And not just on the merits—it’s also an unfathomably dangerous green light for Trump to flout lower court orders. slate.com/news-and-pol...
That’s why, to my mind, this is the worst decision from the Supreme Court of Trump’s second term so far. Not just in terms of impact—though subjecting thousands of immigrants to torture in foreign countries is ghastly. But also in terms of what signal it sends to the lower courts and the executive branch. The court has indicated that Trump and his allies can flout the law, make a huge mess, run up to the Supreme Court demanding relief when they’re restrained by a judge, and win that relief no matter how egregiously they misbehaved. What incentive remains for this administration to comply with lower court orders at all? I don’t see one.
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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 20/06/2025
I couldn't let that Confessore piece slide. It was such a disgusting hit piece on a vulnerable community in a moment of crisis. I dissected the article and why its framings are dishonest at best and outright lies of ommission at worst. www.thedissident.news/anatomy-of-a...
thedissident.news
Anatomy of a Hit Piece: Deconstructing The New York Times' Attack on Transgender Rights in U.S. v. Skrmetti
Seemingly not content with the US v. Skrmetti decision issued by the court siding with Tenessee to ban gender affirming care for trans youth, the New York Times was ready to pour salt on the fresh wou...
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Maxine Eichner @maxineeichner.bsky.social · 20/06/2025
This explanation of the path to Skrmetti is a must read. If you weren’t (properly) outraged before, you will be.
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Maxine Eichner @maxineeichner.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
When you inadvertently say the quiet part out loud. Sexism in the legal profession is far from dead.
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Maxine Eichner @maxineeichner.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
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Maxine Eichner @maxineeichner.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
This horrific bit from Jessica Valenti's substack: WV prosecutor Tom Truman said if women who miscarry want to avoid arrest, they should “call 911” to tell them that their pregnancy has ended: “Call your doctor. Call law enforcement, or 911, and just say, ‘I miscarried. I want you to know.’”
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