Much is being made of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's inability to define 'woman' when asked by Senator Blackburn. It has become a punchline across conservative media. However, in the judge's defense, it is her job to interpret the laws that legislatures pass. In Oregon, one man has been recognized by the state as 'genderless.' The story of 'man gives birth' has been a staple for at least a decade, always a case of a trans-man. Sadly, many laws have been passed that have allowed men to become women and women to become men. That's legislation. To quote Justice Scalia:
'This Court holds only the judicial power—the power to pronounce the law as Congress has enacted it. We lack the prerogative to repair laws that do not work out in practice, just as the people lack the ability to throw us out of office if they dislike the solutions we concoct. We must always remember, therefore, that ‘[o]ur task is to apply the text, not to improve upon it.’
Though we all know what a woman is when we consider biology, the question is much murkier when we are concerned with how the law defines a woman. Unfortunately, the two definitions are not the same. The fact that the two definitions have diverged is why terms such as birthing person, pregnant people, bleeder, chestfeeding, cervix-haver, and so forth are frequently used when trying to specify women in the older sense of the word. The word woman is no longer exclusive to adult human females. The blame for this lies with legislators and it is their job to fix it.
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