September 10, 2021
No items found.

The DOJ Plays Whack-a-Mole to Try to Save Roe From Texas Abortion Law

   

A little more than a week after Senate Bill 8 (SB 8) went into effect in the state of Texas, most of us still have anxious questions about the unconstitutional law, not least of which is, what can be done about this?

Senior Associate Alex Berke, in another article for The Daily Beast, unpacks the Whack-A-Mole maneuver the DOJ is currently engaged in—and may be engaged in for a long time. She writes, “The DOJ is uniquely situated to argue that the law must be stopped from being in effect, because state law cannot violate federal law, and cannot directly regulate the activities of the federal government and its contractors.” Read the article here.

The Texas legislation seeks to upend Roe v. Wade by deputizing private citizens—instead of the state—to enforce a ban on abortions after merely 6 weeks of pregnancy (before most women even realize they’re pregnant). If you haven’t read Alex’s first Daily Beast piece which covers SB 8, you can read it here.

The Postpartum Ad the Oscars Wouldn't Run

February 24, 2020
Pregnancy Discrimination
Paid Family Leave
Sometimes reality is too real for Hollywood and the culture machine, as was demonstrated when ABC and the Academy decided not to air an ad dealing straightforwardly with the reality of postpartum life. The ad for Frida Mom, a retailer in the baby and new mother field, depicted a women confronting in a realistic manner the stress and changes that occur for new mothers.

Associate Alex Berke quoted in Mother Jones on Defamation and Sexual Harassment

February 18, 2020
Sexual Harassment
Alex Berke, an employment lawyer in New York, says she asks men what their goal is when they come to her after being accused of sexual harassment. Will a lawsuit really stop people from talking about them?

The Rhetoric of Choice Obscures Our Social Obligations to Parents

January 30, 2020
Paid Family Leave
FMLA
Pregnancy Discrimination
Leave
Who should foot the bill or take responsibility for social reproduction as more women were pressed into the workforce, government or the individual? In the US, the answer was resounding: the individual. And this has had significant consequences for working parents since. By placing the responsibility on the individual, almost always the mother, parents have been in a bind for decades and any "choices" available reside in an astonishingly thin sliver of options constrained by structural inequalities

Get In Touch

Knowing where to turn in legal matters can make a big difference. Contact our employment lawyers to determine if we can help you.