Greetings, fellow freedom fighters! I hope you have plans to relax for a few weeks—no, take that back—a few days! There is much to do to make democracy work.
As you know, following on the heels of Juneteenth celebrations, the Supreme Court dealt blows to women’s rights, to the Environmental Protection Agency (a major setback for the fight against climate change), and to the boundary between church and state. At the same time, the Court gave potential relief to thousands of immigrants caught in Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy. And, as Justice Stephen Breyer stepped down, a new voice on the Supreme Court, Ketanji Brown Jackson, was sworn in as the first Black woman to occupy a seat on the Court. The end of this SCOTUS session yielded a truly head-spinning set of developments.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. (Fred Schilling, U.S. Supreme Court)
Justice Brown Jackson is being seated on the highest court in the land during a spate of controversial decisions that show a marked disregard for the legal principle of stare decisis, which (simply put) gives weight to legal precedent in interpreting the law—a principle designed to maintain stability and allow room for circumstances the nation’s Founders could not have envisioned as history unfolded. Given the Court’s relative disregard of stare decisis in its decision in Dobbs, which effectively negates Roe v. Wade and returns abortion law to the states, several other decisions that secured rights under the Fourteenth Amendment are now less secure as matters of settled law. These include, among others, the right to marry whom one loves and the right to contraception.
This situation has already disrupted the lives of thousands if not tens of thousands of women, especially poor women and women of color, and constitutes an urgent call to action if ever there was one. Strap on your boots and heels—we have our work cut out for us!
As we bid the 2021–22 program year goodbye, special thanks are due to Joanna (Jody) Kenney, Office Manager extraordinaire, for her tireless efforts to make me useful. She keeps me and the office functioning for everyone by keeping the lights on, “popping in” at a moment’s notice, taking messages, and more. Thank you, Jody!
Thank you to those who attended our Annual Meeting to conduct the League’s business and for electing our 2022–23 Board of Directors and 2022–23 Nominating Committee. I am grateful to all our dedicated Board members who served in 2021–22. We all worked hard to meet the demands of time and to position our organization to take up the challenges of tomorrow. Making democracy work continues to be an uphill battle, but it’s a battle that we must win. And thank you to all our committees and volunteers for working hard this past year to make a difference in the communities we serve.
Have a Happy Fourth of July celebrating with friends, family, and anyone who calls this place home. And remember that our membership dues need to be paid every year and are (over)due now if you have not already attended to them. Please renew and help us keep up our fight for democracy—we need you more than ever!
Stay strong,
—Martha Y. Zavala
