Opponents of the recent contraceptive coverage announcement by the Department of Health & Human Services are trying to twist this major advance on contraception into a fight about abortion. In the Washington Post, Michael Gerson states that the rule requires Catholic-affiliated organizations to provide insurance coverage...

Forty years ago yesterday, for the first time in its history, the Supreme Court held that a law that discriminated against women violated the Constitution. In Reed v. Reed, a unanimous Court struck down an Idaho law requiring the automatic preference of a man over a woman when both applied...

Recently, the Senate confirmed six judicial nominees, four of whom were women: Nannette Jolivette Brown to the Eastern District of Louisiana, Nancy Torresen to the District of Maine, Marina Garcia Marmolejo to the Southern District of Texas, and Jennifer Guerin Zipps to the District of Arizona. Not only...

August 31 was a good day for all those who care about justice, and an object lesson for the U.S. Senate. The California state Commission on Judicial Appointments unanimously voted to confirm Berkeley law professor Goodwin Liu as an Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court.

It is gratifying that...

Despite the fact that Professor Goodwin Liu was nominated over a year ago to a seat designated a "judicial emergency" on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, despite the fact that he has a lifelong commitment to public service, despite the fact that he has support from leading Republican and...

Women may be the ones who make health care decisions for their families, but when it comes to being able to afford health insurance for themselves or pay their medical bills, it's women who take a serious shellacking.

Women are more likely than men to skip preventive...

Today, Justice Antonin Scalia will provide a lesson on the Constitution to incoming House members when he speaks at an event organized by Tea Party leader Rep. Michele Bachmann and her "Constitutional Conservative Caucus."

The public commentary on this event has primarily focused on whether...

New quarterly wage data released today by the Department of Labor show that in 2010 women working full-time in sales and related occupations made only 64.0 cents for each dollar earned by men -- the biggest wage gap in any industry. Indeed, the industry's wage gap...

We all recognize the stereotype of the unmarried father -- absent, uninterested, and uninvolved in his kids' lives. But the cliché that unmarried fathers never have meaningful relationships with their children -- just because they aren't married to their children's mother -- has never been true across the board, and...

This commentary was originally posted on CNN.com

This week Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, called Anita Hill and left a message on her answering machine inviting her to apologize for testifying during Clarence Thomas' confirmation hearings.

The call brought back, with...

Commentators and journalists have been focusing recently on the pace of confirmations to federal judicial positions -- and for good reason. Procedural roadblocks have become routine even for nominees with bipartisan support -- resulting in a dramatic slowdown in judicial confirmations. Even Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, noting the delays...

New poverty and wage data released yesterday paint a grim picture of the economic prospects for American families dependent on women wage earners. Yesterday's new data show that more than half a million, or more than one in ten, single mothers working full-time, year-round jobs lived in poverty in 2009....

The Senate did the right thing today by confirming Elena Kagan to be an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. I was honored to testify in support at the Judiciary Committee hearings, given her outstanding qualifications, exceptional legal talents, and dedication to the rule of law. It has...

The nomination of Solicitor General Elena Kagan to replace Justice John Paul Stevens as an Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court is historic. Never before have three women Justices sat on the Court at the same time, although it's been nearly thirty years since the now-retired Justice Sandra Day...

It seems like a long time since this winter's frigid temperatures, record-breaking snowstorms and impassable streets. We're so far into spring that Washington's cherry blossoms have come and gone. It's even time for Equal Pay Day! That's the day when the average woman, working all of 2009 and almost four...

Many of the retrospectives on the legacy of Justice John Paul Stevens have talked about what an important force he was on the Court for almost 35 years. But few have recognized that women have been particular beneficiaries of his tenure.

Justice Stevens has left a profound stamp on...

This week, the Senate will make history -- the kind of history that makes our country proud. When the Senate confirms Judge Sotomayor, she will become the first Latina, the first woman of color, and only the third woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. Judge Sotomayor is an...

Sitting in the Senate hearing room this morning, I couldn't disagree more with those who dismiss the Sotomayor hearing as a show, with little meaning or purpose.

These hearings convey the sense of history being made in our country that is palpable, moving and very personal. The packed room,...

As President Obama begins his next hundred days in office, we now know for sure that he has another major item on his must-do list. Last night, it was reported that Justice David Souter is expected to retire at the end of June. That means that in addition...

On a particularly frigid day in Washington, D.C., this past January, the White House was warmed by the energy of excited advocates and congressional leaders. They came bearing cameras and pens for autographs to witness the culmination of nearly two years of tireless work on behalf of pay equity: the...