Politics
Jo Freeman's Review of Gil Venable's Mississippi & After: A Life in Equal Justice Law
There were only three black lawyers in the entire state of Mississippi and white lawyers wouldn’t take these cases. They were assisted by law students, for which this was a summer job. Gil was one of those students, having completed his first year at the University of Pittsburgh Law School. He returned committed to becoming a public interest lawyer. He joined the Pittsburgh ACLU, and after graduation, became its first executive director. About a quarter of the book is about his work with the ACLU. In 1970 Gil moved to Arizona to become Assistant Dean of the ASU law school. He stayed to raise a family while involved with social justice issues. This book tells you about more than his legal work. You learn a lot about his ancestors and his girlfriends. more »
Jo Freeman Reviews Stories from Trailblazing Women Lawyers: Lives in the Law by Jill Norgren
"This book is primarily based on one hundred oral histories of outstanding women lawyers commissioned by the American Bar Association's Commission on Women in the Profession. Impressed by Norgren's other books on women lawyers, two members of the Commission offered to make the transcripts available if she would write another book. Norgren explores childhood influences, law school experiences, and the various types of practice that these women engaged in. Until 1972, most law schools had quotas on women, usually about 7 percent, if they admitted any at all. Law professors told them that they were taking a man's place. But the fact that Amy Coney Barrett, who was born in 1972, could become a Supreme Court Justice while raising seven children is evidence of how far it has declined as a barrier to having a successful career." more »
Pew Trusts, Stateline: Poverty Grows Despite Economic Recovery; Left Behind
Even as average personal incomes rose during the pandemic largely because of government aid, millions of people who didn’t receive such help have fallen into poverty, struggling to pay for food and other basic expenses. That group, trying to get by with the help of local charities, may have been excluded from the federal payments because of immigration status, lack of time in the labor force needed to claim unemployment benefits, or just red tape in states that have been slow to pay jobless claims. And lawmakers in some states such as New York are proposing measures that would create relief funds for workers shut out of jobless payments. Houston-area food banks are employing some out-of-work restaurant employees to help with food distribution, regardless of immigration status, through a relief initiative called Get Shift Done. more »
Economic Research, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis: Shift in Confidence and Fear Could Prevent Consumers From Rebounding to Their Investment and Spending Habits
"The negative economic effects of the pandemic come from two sources: capital obsolescence and belief scarring. The pandemic and lockdowns forced consumers to work and consume differently, which can generate persistent changes in tastes and habits for years to come. Capital obsolescence reflects this long-lasting change in the economic value of installed capital. For example, in the post-pandemic world there might be more online shopping instead of in-store purchases. Hence, some installed capital, for example, commercial real estate such as shopping malls, could become obsolete." more »