Dear ABA Civil Rights and Social Justice Section Family,
Happy Summer Solstice! In the northern hemisphere this is one of my favorite times of the year because we have such long days of sun.
June also marks the end of the U.S. Supreme Court term and the announcements of opinions that the Court is handing down each term and, as always, we have had a number of decisions announced that are of concern and focus of the Section including FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, in which the U.S. Supreme Court held that the plaintiffs lacked Article III standing to challenge the FDA’s actions regarding the regulation of mifepristone and U.S. v. Rahimi which upheld the federal law prohibiting the possession of firearms by persons subject to a domestic violence restraining order. We continue to await the Court’s opinions as they are issued and plan programming to highlight key civil rights and social justice issues they raise.
Continuing our collaboration, on June 24, 2024, we co-sponsored an important Continuing Legal Education program with the ABA Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence, Rape as a War Crime: The Need to Respond to an Urgent Global Atrocity. This timely discussion featured Melanie O’Brien, Visiting Professor, Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies, Institute for Global Studies University of Minnesota, Nicole Phillips, Legal Director, Haitian Bridge Alliance, and Miriam Schler, Executive Director, The Tel Aviv Sexual Assault Crisis Center.