Legal

Adding a justice opposed to abortion to the bench — which is what Trump has promised his supporters — would almost certainly tilt the court in favor of far more dramatic restrictions on the procedure and possibly an overturn of the landmark 1973 ruling Roe v. Wade. For Ginsburg, those issues came down to a clear question of a woman’s guarantee of equal status under the law. “Women, it is now acknowledged, have the talent, capacity, and right ‘to participate equally in the economic and social life of the Nation,’” she wrote in her dissent in that 2007 abortion case. “Their ability to realize their full potential, the Court recognized, is intimately connected to ‘their ability to control their reproductive lives.'” more »

"At a reception some years ago, a college student asked if I could help her with an assignment. She had one question and hoped to compose a paper by asking diverse people to respond. What, she asked, did I think was the largest problem for the 21st century. My mind raced passed privacy concerns in the electronic age, terrorist threats, deadly weapons, fierce partisan divisions in our legislatures and polity. I thought of Thurgood Marshall’s praise of the evolution of our Constitution’s opening words, 'We, the people,' to embrace once excluded, ignored, or undervalued people — people held in human bondage, Native Americans, women, even men who owned no real property. I thought next of our nation’s motto: E Pluribus Unum, of many, one. The challenge is to make or keep our communities places where we can tolerate, even celebrate, our differences, while pulling together for the common good. 'Of many, one' is the main aspiration, I believe; it is my hope for our country and world." more »

Jo Freeman Reviews: As women tackled employment discrimination, they discovered more and more inequities. The University [of Michigan] intentionally admitted more men than women, even though women had better qualifications. Among those admitted, men got more money. Women were not allowed on the marching band or into several clubs. Job ads called for "student wives." Capturing the essence of the traditional view toward women was a bas relief sculpture on the side of a major building. One side was called "The Dream of the Young Girl." It featured a woman holding a baby while a young child clutched her skirts. The other side was called "The Dream of Young Men." It featured an ocean voyage. It took 34 years to get it relocated to someplace less obvious. This [book] is an excellent case study of a nation-wide problem. more »

Altogether, the sector holds about $108 trillion in assets and faces a variety of cybersecurity-related risks. Key risks include (1) an increase in access to financial data through information technology service providers and supply chain partners; (2) a growth in sophistication of malware — software meant to do harm — and (3) an increase in interconnectivity via networks, the cloud, and mobile applications. Cyberattacks that exploit risks can occur against either public or private components of the sector. For example, in February 2016, hackers were able to install malware on the Bangladesh Central Bank's system through a service provider, which then directed the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to transfer money to accounts in other Asian countries. This attack resulted in the theft of approximately $81 million. more »