On Friday, June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court took away a fundamental right from Americans when it overruled Roe v. Wade. Those who were watching closely had seen it coming for years, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a complete blow, to our senses of dignity and the legitimacy of the court, when it did finally happen.
My local bar association did an issue all about “art, literature, and the law,” which just came out. It includes one of my “We will get through this” illustrations and some of my thoughts on being a lawyer who can speak are and law. I love how it turned out and it was so fun to be included!
It is fun to page through the issue and see so much creativity from members of a profession that is viewed as being anything but creative. I can’t quite put my finger on it yet, but it is weird to me how much law and art seem like total opposites but also very related. I think there may be a lot of creative people underneath the formal training and expectations of lawyers. That creative side just isn’t valued or encouraged unless it is in the form of making an innovative argument or, in the rare cases, writing a witty footnote.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the Venn diagram of art and law and what it means to inhabit parts of both of those spaces. I have no answers, but I do find it interesting to explore…we’ll see where that thread goes!
After coming across social media posts (from news outlets across the world!) and news articles suggesting a recent Minnesota Supreme Court case was doing something it very much wasn’t, I felt compelled to try to explain what was actually going on in the opinion. What follows is more of less a sketchbook attempt to infuse the nuance missing in all the click bait. Imperfect, but the bones are there.
I accidentally made a pun today.
We were talking about the context of this recent Supreme Court appointment process—a last-minute attempt to hang on to power —as the piece that is so heart wrenching. “It’s just so ruthless in this context,” I said. Ah! What did I just say? Well, it is. Ruthless Times. A Ruthless Supreme Court.
I’m not looking forward to being in Ruthless times. I’m concerned about what a Ruthless Supreme Court will do, and I really can’t predict how exactly this will impact our laws moving forward. But I do know our new ruthless Supreme Court is missing one staunch advocate for human rights. It is missing a justice who saw the injustices in our system—and the way the law could be interpreted to remedy them—instead of hiding behind the text and claiming powerlessness.
On a related note, I went in search of some Constitutional-political commentary today from a law professor whose perspective I always appreciate (who just so happened to clerk for Justice Ginsburg). Instead of commentary, I got something that is probably more valuable: a reminder to be especially conscious of being kind right now. So, we may be in the midst of ruthless times in the political sphere, but we don’t have to be that way on a personal level. That’s what I’m thinking about today.
And I still love this RBG collage so so much.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was an inspiring woman in so many ways. As a female lawyer, it’s hard not to look up to her and aspire to be like her in some way. But the most surprising way she has been inspiring to me is the way she’s popped up into my art. Her possible death has been a concern for me since November 8, 2016. A huge concern. As I said in this zine in early 2019, it was such a concerning thought that I couldn’t even think about it or the likely the ramifications of such an event.
And then it happened. And somehow, despite the urge to wallow in despair at the predictable consequences of her death, I started joyfully making things:
First it was the impromptu collar made the morning after I heard the news. Made with scraps of colored paper, and documented to the tune of the Marriage of Figaro.
The next day, not sure what to do, I started making her response to the “When will there be enough women on the Supreme Court” question.
And finally, I responded to a friend’s request to draw her by cutting, pasting, and playing. It turned into a wonky portrait that I adore to pieces and a lawn sign.
May her legacy be honored and may she keep inspiring us all to create and act in positive ways.
Last fall, I created this little book explaining the litigation surrounding DACA at the time, including most prominently a case before the U.S. Supreme Court concerning the attempted rescission of DACA. Here is that little book:
Recently, the Supreme Court decided the case. The administration’s attempt to end DACA was improper and could not stand. Here are some very rough collaged pages that illustrate the very basics of that decision.
The graphic medicine site is a collection of all things related to comics and medicine. Dr. Ian Williams coined the term, which he defines as “use of comics in medical education and patient care.” Needless to say, I’m a fan.
The site is full of information and comics or visuals related to the world of medicine. Lately, they’ve added a new section, “Covid-19 Comics,” which links to all kinds of comics that people have made in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Check it out!
Although the site is most focused on the world of medicine, they now have a teensy bit of law-related content because they’ve included my Quarantine Powers explainer comic in their list of educational Covid-19 comics!
Thanks, Graphic Medicine!
Hey look at that! The lake that was in limbo is now officially Bde Maka Ska! Or, as written in the Minnesota Supreme Court’s opinion, “Under Minnesota law, the body of water that was Lake Calhoun is now Bde Maka Ska.”
It’s fun to see where my analysis in Lake in Limbo overlaps with the court’s opinion. It definitely has some differences. For example, I see no “soothing blobs” in the opinion…
In this little explainer, influenced by the current pandemic state of affairs, I decided to explore the law around the “federal quarantine powers,” as people like to call them.
Sources (law reviews don’t use drawings so these drawings aren’t using Bluebook format…keeping things fair over here):
Constitution: Commerce Clause, Article 1, Section 9 of U.S. Constitution
Federal Law: Section 361 of the Public Health Service Act, aka 42 USC 264.
Federal Regulations:
42 CFR 70.1-70.18 (Interstate Quarantine)
42 CFR 71.1-71.63 (Foreign Quarantine)
Secondary sources:
“Legal Authorities for Isolation and Quarantine” on CDC website.
And, if you’re curious about some fascinating history of yellow fever shotgun quarantines in the late 1800s American South, check out “Epidemics, Outsiders, and Local Protection: Federalism Theater in the era of the Shotgun Quarantine” by Polly J. Price. If you’re not into legal analysis, just read the beginning.
Although it may soon come to an end, the topic of impeachment is everywhere right now. We may know some buzzwords and have a vague sense of the concept, but I find that it’s so easy to not know the basics behind impeachment. So, here’s Part I of my attempt to do some explaining of the impeachment process in general.
I recently had the opportunity to chat with Minnesota Daily reporter Ksenia Gorinshteyn about my illustrations and how I came to drawing legal concepts. What fun to see the lovely story in print!
You can find the full article online here.
I’m excited to share that some of my Lake in Limbo illustrations are in the January/February issue of Hennepin Lawyer! Here’s a snapshot!
For years, members of Congress have been attempting to pass a DREAM Act, which would provide a path to citizenship for the group of undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children. These individuals have grown up in U.S. schools but continue to live outside the system, unable to work or participate legally in the society that raised them. The Obama administration, unable to fully solve this problem without a DREAM Act going forward in Congress, developed a stop-gap response from within the Executive branch. This stop-gap was DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which was an official policy decision by the administration to deprioritize enforcement efforts (or “defer action”) on undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children, fit certain criteria, and applied for DACA status. In a sense, receiving DACA status was a way of ensuring that your immigration file would be at the bottom of the pile and set aside for the time being. This little book is about what has happened since the Trump administration announced it planned to end DACA.
What exactly is the law behind the Bde Maka Ska name litigation? This post explores the background and the law, which the Minnesota Supreme Court will consider in its 2019-2020 term.
Read MoreI know some of you out there will scoff, but I can’t have been alone in pausing over and over again to ask myself “what which is plaintiff and which is defendant?” in the first few months of law school. This flashcard is a cheat sheet for any new 1Ls working through the basics of the language of law. The way those cases are written certainly won’t do you any favors, but you can at least get a handle on the basics.
