B. Jessie Hill, J.D. – Judge Ben C. Green Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law

Dear Colleagues:

In 2011, Professor Hill wrote, “more anti-abortion legislation was passed than in any year since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973.” This wave has included legislation defined as meeting the legitimate interest, as articulated by the Supreme Court in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, in “regulations to further the health or safety of a woman seeking an abortion…” but in practice designed to shut them down. After a Court of Appeals decision left the Texas law in place, threatening to eliminate the vast majority of clinics in the state, the Supreme Court on June 30 stayed the decision pending its own possible review of the case. Two dozen states, including Ohio, have similar laws.

Other laws attempt to delay decisions (and so ultimately take the pregnancy past the deadlines in Roe v. Wade), or shape how women view the choice (for instance, requiring an ultrasound test). What are the effects, and what are the prospects for litigation? Professor Hill is a leading scholar of this issue, frequently quoted in national media and currently counsel in two cases challenging abortion restrictions in Ohio.

All best regards,
Joe White
Luxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy and Director, Center for Policy Studies

About Our Guests

Jessie Hill joined the faculty in 2003 after practicing First Amendment and civil rights law with the firm of Berkman, Gordon, Murray & DeVan in Cleveland. Before entering private practice, Hill worked at the Reproductive Freedom Project of the national ACLU office in New York, litigating challenges to state-law restrictions on reproductive rights. She also served as law clerk to the Honorable Karen Nelson Moore of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Hill’s teaching focuses on constitutional law, federal civil procedure, civil rights, reproductive rights, and law and religion. Her scholarship has been published in the Michigan Law Review and the Texas Law Review, among others.

Where We Meet

The Friday Public Affairs Lunch convenes each Friday when classes are in session, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. We usually meet in the Dampeer Room of Kelvin Smith Library. The Dampeer Room is on the second floor of the library. If you get off the elevators, turn right, pass the first bank of tables, and turn right again. Occasionally we need to use a different room; that will always be announced in the weekly e-mails.

Parking Possibilities

The most convenient parking is the lot underneath Severance Hall. We regret that it is not free. For a few weeks construction on East Boulevard will block northbound traffic to the Severance garage. So if you are coming from Euclid Ave, please turn north at Ford Drive, then left at Bellflower and left from Bellflower onto East Boulevard, heading south. From the Severance lot there is an elevator up to street level (labeled as for the Thwing Center); it is less than 50 yards from that exit to the library entrance. You can also get from the Severance garage to the library without going outside. Near the entry gates – just to the right if you were driving out – there is a door into a corridor. Walk down the corridor and there will be another door. Beyond that door you’ll find the entrance to an elevator which goes up to an entrance right inside the doors to Kelvin Smith Library.

Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers:

September 25: What’s Happening in Lake Erie? With Gerald Matisoff, Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences.

October 2: Moving Towards Health Care Justice: Navigating the ACA and Beyond. With Rachel Rosen DeGolia, Director, Universal Health Care Action Network and Health Benefits Exchange navigator.

October 9: China’s Aging Population: Policy Decisions and Program Challenges. With M.C. “Terry” Hokenstad, Distinguished University Professor and Ralph S. and Dorothy P. Schmitt Professor, Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences. ***Alternate Location: Mather House Room 100***

October 16: The Issues About Issue 3, The Ohio Marijuana Legalization Initiative. With Mark Naymik, Columnist, The Plain Dealer.

October 23: Energy, Climate, and the Historian’s View of the Future. With Peter A. Shulman, Associate Professor of History.

October 30: From “9 to 5” to What? New Work Patterns and Their Implications. With Jenny Rae Hawkins, Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics.

November 6: A Year Away from the 2016 Election…. With Paul Herrnson, Professor of Political Science, University of Connecticut.

November 13: Why Virtual Schools are Growing So Fast, and What it Might Mean for the Future of Public Education. With Peter Robertson, Senior Vice President of School Operations, Connections Education.

November 20: Integrating the Inner City Through Mixed-Income Development. With Mark Joseph, Associate Professor at MSASS and Director, National Initiative on Mixed-Income Communities; Taryn Gross, Project Coordinator for the Initiative, and Emily Miller, Project Associate for the Initiative. Co-sponsored with the Schubert Center for Child Studies. ***Alternate Location: Mandel Community Studies Center Room 115, 11402 Bellflower Road***

November 27: Thanksgiving Break

December 4: Making Clean Energy Work. With Walter Money, Whole House Energy Solutions.