Since 2012, Massachusetts laws have prohibited discrimination based on gender identity, including in education. The Massachusetts Department of Education has had longstanding guidance in place instructing schools to use students’ preferred names and pronouns while at school. This week, in Foote v. Ludlow School Committee, the First Circuit Court of Appeals decided whether a
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Appeals Court Takes Step Backwards in Fighting Racial Discrimination in Jury Selection
By Tom Miller
More than forty-five years ago, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court led the nation in combatting racial discrimination by prosecutors in jury selection. In its landmark decision in Commonwealth v. Soares, the SJC held that the use of peremptory challenges by prosecutors to exclude members of racial (or other) minorities from a jury violated a…
Courts Enjoin Enforcement of Trump Executive Order Targeting Incarcerated Transgender People
By Anton Kernohan, legal intern
Throughout history, the LGBTQ+ community has persisted despite repeated laws and attempts to restrict the community’s rights. Since assuming office, President Trump has undertaken the most recent iteration of actions that once again threaten the lives of LGBTQ+ persons, especially transgender, non-binary, and intersex individuals.
Article II of the Constitution…
Massachusetts Law Prohibits Schools from Complying with Anti-Trans Athlete Executive Order
By Naomi Shatz
What is the Current Status of Title IX and its Enforcement?
By Naomi Shatz & Niamh Gibbons
In the last month, actions by the courts, the President, and Congress have significantly impacted and may further change how Title IX is enforced across the country.
Title IX: Background and Enforcement
Title IX is a federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in education. It is one of the shortest laws on the books, with the…
Massachusetts Earned Sick Time Law: What it Does and Who it Covers
By Naomi Shatz
In 2014 voters in the Commonwealth approved a ballot measure that created the Massachusetts Earned Sick Time Law (G.L.c. 149 § 148C) (MESTL), which guarantees most Massachusetts workers up to 40 hours of earned sick time per year. Last month the coverage of the law expanded to cover physical and mental health needs…
SJC to Consider Admissibility of Alleged Victims’ Subsequent Violent Actions
This week, the Supreme Judicial Court will hear argument in Commonwealth v. Andrade, a case in which I wrote an amicus brief on behalf of the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. This case addresses an important question about what evidence a criminal defendant can introduce to argue that they were not the…
Attorney Ana Muñoz Speaks to Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly About New SJC Decision
By Ana Muñoz
Attorney Ana Muñoz spoke to Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly this week about the SJC’s decision in Patel et al. v. 7-11 Inc., et al. The Court answered a certified question from the First Circuit about how to address claims by franchisees that they have been misclassified as independent contractors. Muñoz, who wrote an amicus brief in…
Supreme Judicial Court Holds That a Switchblade is Protected Under the Second Amendment
By Ana Muñoz & Niamh Gibbons
As we recently wrote, states’ firearms regulations have faced legal challenges across the country since the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, which held that individuals have a Second Amendment right to carry a handgun in public for self-defense. But how does Bruen affect…
SJC Opinion Addresses Racially-Motivated Social Media Surveillance by Police
By Tom Miller
In 2018, Richard Dilworth was charged with a variety of firearms offenses after an officer from Boston Police Department’s gang unit sent him a friend request on Snapchat under a false identity and viewed Dilworth’s videos showing what appeared to be guns. In 2022, a judge dismissed the case after prosecutors refused to provide discovery…