Now What? Public Health Impacts of Supreme Court Term 2023-24

Speaker: Carrie Flaxman, JD - Senior Legal Advisor, Democracy Forward

Carrie Flaxman is a Senior Legal Advisor at Democracy Forward. Carrie joined Democracy Forward after nearly two decades as a litigator and legal advisor for Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) where she most recently was PPFA’s Senior Director of Public Policy, Litigation, and Law. Over the course of her career, Flaxman has served as lead counsel in a number of trial and appellate matters at the state and federal levels, winning victories that maintained and improved access to reproductive health care services against difficult odds.  At Democracy Forward, Flaxman supports the organization in crafting legal strategies to advance the rights of all people and to stop attempts by state and local governmental actors to undermine our democratic values.  

Flaxman began her legal career as a clerk for Judge Edward R. Becker of the US Court of Appeals of the Third Circuit, held positions at two national law firms where she handled complex litigation matters, and then joined PPFA.  She later served as a consulting attorney for reproductive rights organizations before rejoining PPFA’s national office. Flaxman is a graduate of Yale Law School, where she was executive editor of the Yale Law Journal, and Princeton University, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude.

Speaker: Allison Zieve, JD - Director, Public Citizen Litigation Group

Allison M. Zieve is the director of Public Citizen Litigation Group and of the Group’s Supreme Court Assistance Project. Founded in 1972, the Litigation Group is the litigation arm of the nonprofit consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen. Allison’s practice addresses administrative law, consumer health and safety, access-to-courts issues, the first amendment, and open government. She has argued five cases before the U.S. Supreme court and many more before federal district and appellate courts. In addition to litigating, Allison serves as a senior member of the Administrative Conference of the United States, a member of the American Law Institute, and a judge of the American Constitution Society’s annual Cudahy Writing Competition on Regulatory and Administrative Law. She has taught courses as an adjunct professor at Yale Law School, Georgetown University School of Law, and American’s University’s Washington College of Law. Allison is a graduate of Brown University and Yale Law School.

Speaker: Rachel Sachs, JD - Professor of Law, Washington University St. Louis

Rachel Sachs is a Professor of Law at Washington University in St. Louis. She is a scholar of innovation policy, exploring the intersection of health law, food and drug regulation, and patent law. Her work analyzes problems of innovation and access to new health care technologies. Professor Sachs’ scholarship has appeared in journals that include the Duke Law Journal, the NYU Law Review, the Michigan Law Review, the Harvard Law Review, the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association, and Health Affairs.

Professor Sachs recently served in the Biden-Harris Administration as a Senior Advisor at the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the General Counsel, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Division. She has testified before the United States House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce and the United States House of Representatives Committee on Ways & Means. She currently serves as a Non-Resident Fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Prior to joining Washington University in St. Louis, Professor Sachs was an Academic Fellow at the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics and a Lecturer in Law at Harvard Law School. She also clerked for the Honorable Richard A. Posner of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. She received her J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School and a Master of Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health. She received her A.B. in Bioethics from Princeton University.