Ms. Magazine | Summer 2005: Ms. Urgent Report on the Battle Over the Supreme Court

summer 2005
table of contents

UP FRONT

Articles Online
Unquote

NEWS

National
Social InSecurity
Bad and Good News for Title IX
Female Pundits Missing
Radical Muslim Prayer
Hip Hop and Feminism
Dispatches
Calendar

Global
Rwandan Women Lead Rebirth
Saudi Feminist Princess
French Women Do Get Fat
Dispatches
Networking Corner

FEATURES

Cover Story
Urgent Report: What’s at Stake if We Lose the Supreme Court

Public Triumphs, Private Rights | Ellen Chesler
The Polls Speak: Americans Support Abortion | Celinda Lake
Talking Points: Judges and Filibusters | Kathy Bonk
Five Rights Women Could Lose | National Partnership for Women and Families
An Unlikely Feminist Icon | Review by Ann Blackman of Becoming Justice Blackmun: Harry Blackmun's Supreme Court Journey

More Features
The Green Motel | Rebecca Clarren
The Dialectic of Fat | Catherine Orenstein
Hanan Ashrawi: Creating a Common Language | Rebecca Ponton
Still Carrying the Torch | Emily Dietrich

DEPARTMENTS

Education
Summersgate | Lisa Wogan

Livelihood
Power Plays | Martha Burk

Health
A Shot Against Cervical Cancer
| Mary Jane Horton

Art
Portfolio: Zana Briski | John Anderson

Essay
She Who Once Was | Rebecca McClanahan

Poetry
Hollywood Producer Orders Up a Sunset | Aleida Rodríguez
Hardscape | Eloise Klein Healy

Fiction
Deja New | Lee Martin

Passing
Andrea Dworkin | In her own words

Book Reviews
Celeste Fremon on Kathryn Edin and Maria Kefalas’ Promises I Can Keep
Michele Kort on Johnette Howard’s The Rivals: Chris Evert vs. Martina Navratilova
Susan Straight on Alia Mamdouh’s Naphtalene: A Novel of Baghdad
Sarah Gonzales on Isabel Allende’s Zorro
Samantha Dunn on Sarah Vowell’s Assassination Vacation

Plus: Great Reads for Summer

Backtalk
Run, Sisters, Run! | Donna Brazile

No Comment
Advertisements

Send a Letter to the Editor >>

Summer 2005

Ms. Urgent Report!

With John Roberts nominated as Chief Justice, and likely to be confirmed, attention turns to Bush's next appointment, who will replace Sandra Day O'Connor.

So what’s at stake for women in this Supreme Court battle? Plenty. >>

Online Now

Talking Points: Judicial Appointments

by Kathy Bonk

We can take action and let our voices be heard through messages to legislators, letters to the editor of local newspapers, op-ed pieces, speeches and in everyday conversation with family and friends. Opinion polls and other research suggest that the talking points below are the most persuasive arguments for framing — and winning — the debate on judicial nominations. Discuss >>

The Polls Speak: Americans Support Abortion

by Celinda Lake

Despite what anti-abortion activists and politicians would have you believe, the majority of Americans continue to support a woman’s right to a legal abortion — as they have done consistently for the past 15 years. Polls show that those who strive to abolish a woman’s right to the full range of family-planning services are fundamentally out of step with American opinion. Here’s a sampling. Discuss >>

Five Rights Women Could Lose

Adapted from The National Partnership for Women & Families

While many of us like to assume that our rights will always be secure, the stark reality is that many hard-won protections hang by a thread — and that thread, metaphorically, is attached to the robe of a Supreme Court justice. Here are five rights that, with an ultraconservative Supreme Court, we would stand to lose. Discuss >>

Public Triumphs, Private Rights

By Ellen Chesler

The 40th anniversary of Griswold v. Connecticut compels us to remember just how long and hard American progressives have battled to secure reproductive-health rights. Estelle Griswold and Margaret Sanger helped women gain access to birth control and abortion — but just one Supreme Court justice could take it away. Discuss >>

An Unlikely Feminist Icon

Review by Ann Blackman

Linda Greenhouse, whose 25 years of incisive Supreme Court reporting won her early access to Blackmun’s archive of public and private papers, leads readers down the Court’s marble corridors and into the private chambers of nine smart, opinionated, yet very human justices. Discuss >>

The Real Number on Social Security

by Jessica Silver-Greenberg

Private accounts would be a disaster, writes a woman from the generation Bush claims he’s helping — but something else in the system really does need fixing. Plus, an update on Social Security bills expected to be introduced in Congress. Discuss >>

The Dialectic of Fat

by Catherine Orenstein

Kirstie Alley exposes her Rubenesque physique, anorexics share weight-loss tips, TV contestants compete to lose pounds and feminist concerns over body image go global. What’s going on here? Discuss >>

Summer Book Reviews

Promises I Can Keep: Why Poor Women Put Motherhood Before Marriage; The Rivals: Chris Evert vs. Martina Navratilova, Their Epic Duels and Extraordinary Friendship; Naphtalene: A Novel of Baghdad; Zorro; and Assassination Vacation.
Plus: Ms. suggests great reads for summer -- and invites readers to share the books in their beach bag. Discuss >>

Run, Sisters, Run!

by Donna Brazile

1992 was a historic year in American politics. A record number of women decided to take the plunge and pursue careers in public service, and guess what? Many of them won!