Immunity for generic drug manufacturers

Gabriel tells his story When Gabriel Drapos was a first-year student at Harvard, he was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that would ultimately take countless drug therapies, several invasive spinal column procedures, and three surgeries to manage. He later found out that his disease was likely connected to a drug he had taken: Personal pain becomes a social injustice in the presence of unconscionable ethics. I discovered there was likely a connection between my disease and a drug I had taken in high school. Allegedly, I should say. I’ll never get my day in court to prove it. Gabriel...

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Will the Roberts Court overturn Roe v. Wade?: Part III

var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-2327420-4']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); In this last installment of our three-part series on reproductive health cases in the lower...

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Will the Roberts Court overturn Roe v. Wade?: Part II

var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-2327420-4']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); Part II of our three-part series on the status of reproductive health issues in the lower...

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Will the Roberts Court overturn Roe v. Wade?: Part I

var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-2327420-4']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); With the airwaves dominated by talk about “legitimate rape” and “forcible rape” (as opposed...

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Workplace injustice at Walmart

var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-2327420-4']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); - by Torryn TaylorOn August 7, the National Organization for Women, the National Workers...

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Democracy Matters: A Conversation on Voter Suppression and Citizens United

Today, AFJ's Isaiah Castilla will moderate a conversation around voter suppression and Citizens United, the landmark Supreme Court case that granted corporations the same first amendment rights as citizens, with Diana Sen (Associate Counsel, LatinoJustice PRLDEF) and Mimi Marziani (Counsel in Democracy Program of the Brennan Center), as a part of the "Democracy Matters" week at Culture Project's IMPACT Festival in New York City. Comedian and author, Lee Camp, will open the conversation with a stand-up solo performance.Click here for more information and ticket...

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We’re Ready for our Close-up: AFJ Has a Cameo on “The Newsroom”

var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-2327420-4']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); A star is born. On Sunday night’s episode of Aaron Sorkin’s new HBO show, “The Newsroom,”...

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Swimming upstream: the execution of Marvin Wilson

Guest post by Professor Lee KovarskyMarvin Wilson in 2006. Photo: Texas Department Of Criminal Justice / APThis past Tuesday, Texas executed my client of 6.5 years, Marvin Wilson. Marvin had mental retardation (“MR”).  When I talked to Marvin three hours before Texas administered a lethal dose of pentobarbital, I tried to keep the conversation light. Inmates facing execution get a last meal; I asked Marvin what he was going to eat. He said, “Mr. Lee” (Marvin has never been able to pronounce or spell my last name), “I got me some good food but I told ‘em not to make it too nice ‘cause the...

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Will the Voting Rights Act survive the Roberts Court intact?

Yesterday marked the forty-seventh anniversary of the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a landmark piece of civil rights legislation that secured the right to vote for minorities.  When signing the Act into law, President Lyndon Johnson said, This act flows from a clear and simple wrong. . . . Millions of Americans are denied the right to vote because of their color.  This law will ensure them the right to vote.  The wrong is one which no American, in his heart, can justify.  The right is one which no American, true to our principles, can deny.The right to vote, however,...

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AFJ releases new report on the Supreme Court's 2011-12 term

Photo: Mike SheridanThe 2011-12 U.S. Supreme Court term will be best remembered for the Court’s landmark ruling on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”), in which it upheld the constitutionality of the Act but opened the door to placing future limits on Congress’ ability to regulate interstate commerce and to impose conditions on federal grants to the states. That decision, however, was far from the only ruling of major significance this term. The Court issued a number of important decisions that reflect its continuing bias in favor of corporate interests and against the rights...

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Contraceptive coverage facing challenges in the courts

Yesterday an important piece of the Affordable Care Act comes into effect: the contraceptive coverage and preventative health care for women provision.  Among other services, this preventive services provision requires new insurance plans to provide all FDA-approved forms of birth control to women with no co-pay or deductible.  By 2014, it is expected that 90% of private health care plans will come under the reach of this provision, and that eventually it will apply to all insurance plans. This is a great step forward for women’s health; unfortunately, it is already being challenged...

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Genetic profiling: DNA case possibly headed to the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court may hear a case next term reminiscent of George Orwell’s book 1984. Chief Justice John Roberts indicated this week that the Court may reverse the Maryland Court of Appeals’ decision on the state’s DNA Collection Act, thereby permitting police officers to collect arrestees’ DNA samples without warrants. A Supreme Court reversal would also significantly narrow Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.According to the Maryland DNA Collection Act, once you are arrested, the police can take a warrantless sample of your DNA before you are even convicted,...

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