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Jessica Mason Pieklo

Senior Vice President, Executive Editor

@Hegemommy

Jessica Mason Pieklo is a Senior Vice President and Executive Editor. She is also the co-host of the Rewire News Group podcast Boom! Lawyered.

Jessica has over a decade of experience as a former litigator, and taught law for four years before transitioning to journalism. She was part of the SCOTUSblog symposium on abortion rights following Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt and won the Excellence in Online Journalism award in 2018 from the Association of LGBTQ Journalists. She has participated in numerous panels including at NYU Law School; University of Arkansas; University of Colorado; University of Utah, among others. Boom! Lawyered won Podcast of the Year in 2017 from the Population Institute.

For press appearances or further information, please contact press@rewirenewsgroup.com.

All Work

Podcast

Boom! Lawyered: Rapid Reaction — A Good Day for Theocracy at SCOTUS

Jessica Mason Pieklo & Imani Gandy

Employers who love to wield religious freedom as a cudgel scored a couple big wins at the Supreme Court today, including a decision allowing employers to meddle with the birth control of their employees based on "conscientious objections." Jessica Mason Pieklo and Imani Gandy explained what happened and whether there's any logic to this expansion of your employer's power over your health care decisions.

Podcast

Boom! Lawyered: What It’s Like to Argue—and Win—at the Supreme Court

Jessica Mason Pieklo & Imani Gandy

Julie Rikelman of the Center for Reproductive Rights did the unthinkable in 2020: as the lead attorney representing June Medical in June Medical Services v. Russo, she convinced Chief Justice John Roberts to sign onto a decision protecting abortion rights! She joins Jessica Mason Pieklo and Imani Gandy to discuss what it's like to argue before the Supreme Court, to try and get some sleep the night before, and to call your client to deliver news of the win.

DACA recipients and their supporters rally outside the Supreme Court.

Podcast

Boom! Lawyered: Rapid Reaction — Supreme Court Protects DREAMers

Jessica Mason Pieklo & Imani Gandy

For the second time in a week, the Supreme Court came down on the side of justice! On Thursday morning, it blocked the Trump administration's efforts to rescind DACA in a 5-4 decision. In this episode of Boom! Lawyered, Jessica Mason Pieklo and Imani Gandy explain the decision, how Justice Sotomayor added an extra dollop of truth, and whether Trump has any hope of finding a workaround.

Title VII and LGBTQ equality take center stage at the Supreme Court.

Podcast

Boom! Lawyered: Rapid Reaction — Supreme Court Protects LGBTQ Employees

Imani Gandy & Jessica Mason Pieklo

A big Supreme Court decision just arrived, and it's comprehensively awesome. In a 6-3 ruling, the Court confirmed that "an employer who fires an individual merely for being gay or transgender defies the law." In this emergency episode of Boom! Lawyered, Imani Gandy and Jessica Mason Pieklo react to the decision — written by Neil Gorsuch, of all people — and the extremely salty dissent.

Podcast

Boom! Lawyered: How to Defund the Police

Imani Gandy & Jessica Mason Pieklo

Racism is baked into the U.S. model of policing. More and more people are starting to believe that no amount of "reform" will help; a full tear-down is required. But what does "defunding the police" actually mean? What would happen to people who need to report a crime? And are we sure the police have ever actually been effective at any of the services they're supposed to provide? Imani Gandy and Jessica Mason Pieklo dive into those questions and more on the latest episode of Boom! Lawyered.

Podcast

Boom! Lawyered: This School Keeps Fighting to Discriminate Against Trans Kids

Imani Gandy & Jessica Mason Pieklo

Gavin Grimm has been challenging a policy at his former high school that requires transgender students to use separate bathroom facilities. On Tuesday, the case landed in federal appeals court. In this episode of Boom! Lawyered, Imani Gandy and Jessica Mason Pieklo break down the arguments and explain why the school's pleas to keep discriminating are so horribly misguided.

Podcast

Boom! Lawyered: Arkansas Created a Pandemic Catch-22 to Block Abortions

Imani Gandy & Jessica Mason Pieklo

On April 27, Arkansas officials issued a directive requiring anyone seeking elective surgery to obtain a negative COVID-19 test 48 hours prior to an abortion. Can you guess which elective procedure those officials were primarily targeting? Yep, that's right: procedural abortion. On this episode of Boom! Lawyered, Imani Gandy and Jessica Mason Pieklo explain everything happening in Arkansas.

[Photo: An illustrated map showing states where state officials are trying to end abortion.]

Podcast

Boom! Lawyered: Actual Good News on COVID-19 Abortion Bans

Jessica Mason Pieklo & Imani Gandy

The landscape of abortion access is shifting rapidly and it feels something new is happening every day. Which states are trying to use COVID-19 to try and ban abortion? How are the courts responding? It’s almost impossible to keep up. On this episode of Boom! Lawyered, Jessica Mason Pieklo and Imani Gandy do their best to bring us up to speed on the latest developments.

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