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OFF-KILTER with Rebecca Vallas


May 24, 2018

Earlier this week, Neil Gorsuch and the rest of the conservative majority on the Supreme Court dealt yet another devastating blow to workers — and a huge boon to large corporations — in a 5–4 decision that effectively strips workers of their rights to sue their employers via class action lawsuits, and even allows employers to keep workers out of the courtroom altogether. To unpack the Epic Systems v. Lewis case — and get a sneak peek at what we can expect from the upcoming decisions dropping in June — Rebecca talks with Ian Millhiser, justice editor at ThinkProgress and author of Injustices: the Supreme Court’s History of Comforting the Comfortable and Afflicting the Afflicted.

Next, on last week’s show, as part of the In Case You Missed It segment up top, Rebecca and Jeremy mentioned a heartbreaking new report highlighting terrifying racial disparities in maternal and infant health. Among its findings: Black women in the U.S., regardless of wealth or educational background, are three to four times more likely to die during or after childbirth; black babies are twice as likely to die in infancy as their white, non-Hispanic counterparts — and “the environment that racism built” is a big part of the story. For a deeper dive into how environmental racism is killing black moms and babies, Rebecca is joined by Rejane Frederick, an expert on social determinants of health at the Center for American Progress, and the author of the recent report, “The Environment That Racism Built.”

But first, how resistance killed the House #GOPFarmBill, nearly half of U.S. households are struggling to afford basics like food, housing, and medical care, the sinkhole on the White House lawn, and other poverty news of the week in another installment of In Case You Missed It.