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Afternoon Briefs: Transgender patients protected; gender gap persists in SCOTUS arguments

By Debra Cassens Weiss

May 10, 2021, 4:33 pm CDT

Transgender patients protected in HHS interpretation

The Biden administration will protect transgender patients from discrimination in health care, reversing a decision by the Trump administration, according to an announcement Monday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The HHS is interpreting regulations that ban sexual discrimination in health care to include a ban on discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. The regulations apply to health facilities that receive federal assistance. The HHS said it acted as a result of a June 2020 U.S. Supreme Court opinion interpreting the ban on sex discrimination in the workplace to protect gay and transgender workers. (Department of Health and Human Services press release, the Washington Post, the Associated Press)

Gender gap persists in SCOTUS arguments

Female lawyers argued only 18% of the time in U.S. Supreme Court arguments last term, a figure that isn’t out of line with prior years, according to Bloomberg Law. Male lawyers argued in 125 cases, while women argued in 28 cases. Law firms are contributing to the gender gap. They sent 61 male lawyers to argue in 58 cases but only 10 women. Forty-eight government lawyers arguing before the court were men, compared to 16 female lawyers. (Bloomberg Law)

First Latino justice on top California court dies at 90

Former California Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso died Friday at age 90. Reynoso, the first Latino on the state supreme court, was ousted by voters four years after his 1982 appointment amid a campaign targeting liberal justices. Reynoso, the son of migrant farmworkers, also directed the nonprofit California Rural Legal Assistance. He also worked at Kaye, Scholer, Fierman, Hays & Handler, with a heavy emphasis on pro bono work. And he was a professor at a few law schools. (The Recorder, the Los Angeles Times)