Attorney Traci Park

Justice Ginsburg would have been 88 years old today. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was born on March 15, 1933. She wasn’t the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, but she was one of the most impactful Justices on the bench, especially regarding women’s rights. Justice Ginsburg has been advocating for women’s rights since the beginning of her legal career. At the Dean’s dinner her first year, she was asked to justify why she was taking a seat that could have... been occupied by a man. As only one of nine women in her law school class at Harvard Law School, she had to use her voice to advocate for herself. Despite being at the top of her class and the editor of the Law Review, she couldn’t find a job because she was Jewish, a woman, and a mother. With three strikes against her, she plodded on and accepted a professorship at Rutgers Law School. She taught a class called Women and the Law and because of her students, she became inspired to fight for equal protection under the law for women. The first case she argued regarding discrimination on the basis of gender was in the Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit with Moritz v. Commissioner. This case and Reed v. Reed were the first federal cases to declare discrimination on the basis of gender unconstitutional. She applied the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to these cases and argued that women should be treated as equals. In 1972 she co-founded the American Civil Liberties Union Women’s Rights Project, where she took on cases where women and men were discriminated against based on their gender. She argued six cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, winning five out of six, the first being Frontiero v. Richardson in 1973. Thereafter she was appointed to the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in 1980. It was only a matter of time before she was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. After tireless advocating by her peers and her supportive tax attorney husband Martin Ginsburg, Justice Ginsburg was nominated by President Bill Clinton on June 14, 1993 to the Supreme Court and was confirmed by the Senate 96-3. The first opinion she authored as a Justice on the Supreme Court was U.S. v. Virginia. The Court decided that the Virginia Military Institute policy that denied women admission to VMI discriminated on the basis of gender. Commonly known as the Notorious RBG, in recent years she has become quite the cultural phenomenon. After reading scathing dissents from the bench with her dissent collar around her neck, she became widely known for speaking truth to power to advocate for women. Justice Ginsburg has been an inspiration to people everywhere and there is no doubt that her legacy will live on in the hearts of everyone continuing the fight for equal protection under the law. She embodied NAWL’s mission and changed the world during her tenure practicing law and sitting on the bench. May she rest in power.

This year has been a challenge for employers and employees. In this article, my partners Tim Davis and Kelly Trainer, discuss what happens after the Families First Coronavirus Response Act expires on December 31.

Looking forward to presenting with Kelly Trainer and "seeing" so many of our friends and colleagues at the JPIA Annual Forum!

Can anyone guess my location?

We finally have some legislative guidance on proper social media engagement by elected officials under the Brown Act. AB992 goes into effect on January 1, 2021. My partners Denise Bazzano, Chad Harrington, Tom Jex, and Erica Vega discuss the new law in this article. https://www.bwslaw.com/p/ab-992-the-brown-act-social-media/

Governor Newsom signed AB 1867, which extends paid sick leave days to all employees, in the private and public sectors, who have been exposed to or test positive for C-19, for the remainder of 2020.

Some workplace reopening guidance from the State of California. https://files.covid19.ca.gov//employer-playbook-for-safe-r

My associa-CAT makes it difficult to work.