Top headlines of the week

1. Lethal Love: Domestic abuse survivors on importance of gun control
2. Eight Supreme Court Cases To Watch
3. Gun Law Before Court Is Most Often Used as a Deterrent
4. How women became America's safety net

5. Mexico elects first female president − but will that improve the lot of country’s women?

    

Ever since Donald Trump stacked the Supreme Court with a conservative supermajority, we’ve come to know June as the month that the Supreme Court hands down terrible, precedent-shattering decisions. In the coming weeks, the court is poised to rule on a number of blockbuster cases – including one that deals directly with gender justice.

In United States v. Rahimi, the Supreme Court will decide whether a federal law that prohibits a person who is subject to domestic violence protective order from owning a gun violates the Second Amendment.

There is a lot at stake for domestic violence survivors. The federal law at the heart of the case has been primarily used as a way of preventing domestic abusers from getting ahold of firearms (as opposed to bringing prosecutions against them) – and we know that a woman is five times more likely to die from abuse when an abuser has access to a gun. There is also evidence that state laws preventing people under domestic violence restraining orders from owning guns do indeed reduce gun-related intimate partner deaths. If the court chooses to uphold the ruling issued by the right-wing Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, that would definitely be bad – though there’s reason to think they will not. 

An unfortunate fact of American life is that our social safety net is far less robust than we need it to be. Where it falls short, unpaid or underpaid female labor fills the gaps, according to research by sociologist Jessica Calarco. Calarco spoke with WBUR about how this dynamic helps perpetuate the myth that our country is getting by on a threadbare safety net. 

And earlier this month, voters in Mexico elected the country’s first ever female president, Claudia Sheinbuam of the country’s ruling left-wing party. And while we love to see someone smash that glass ceiling, female leaders are not necessarily champions of women’s rights. The Conversation took up the question of what her tenure will likely mean for women in Mexico. 

Weekly nonprofit news

Tri-Valley Haven

Survivor services are facing steep funding cuts because money historically dispersed by the federal Victims of Crimes Act (VOCA) is running out. VOCA funding is Tri-Valley Haven’s largest funding stream, and the organization is set to lose over $500,000 in funds this coming fiscal year. Tri-Valley staff recently participated in a rally in Sacramento, where they demanded that the California Legislature work to counteract these cuts.

Cool volunteering alert: Tri-Valley Haven is looking for volunteers between the ages of 15 and 18 to work at the organization’s food pantry and thrift store. Volunteers are needed between June 10 and August 2. Click here to learn more.

Center for Domestic Peace

Center for Domestic Peace is asking California residents to take action to mitigate the loss of VOCA funding. The organization has put together a call script you can use to contact Governor Gavin Newsom and ask that he approve over $100 million in funding to backfill those lost federal dollars. Take action by clicking here.