It has been more than a week since the deputy monitor of the team overseeing new Cleveland policies created to comply with a federal consent decree resigned and reaction is still reverberating in the community.

Case Western Reserve University assistant law professor Ayesha Bell Hardaway resigned her role on June 14. The move came after Professor Hardaway was a guest on The Sound of Ideas in April discussing the guilty verdict in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

Following that show, which focused on the verdict and police reform nationwide, Cleveland officials raised questions about Hardaway's objectivity. In her letter, resigning her role, Professor Hardaway says she felt forced out of the monitoring team.

Now this week, community groups are calling for the ouster of the Police Monitor, Hassan Aden.

The City of Cleveland entered into a consent decree with the United States Department of Justice in 2015 which mandated changes after an investigation found a pattern of excessive force. The decree lays out changes for police including in policy, training, recruitment, transparency and accountability.

We get an update on the turmoil in the monitoring team for the Consent Decree from Ideastream Public Media's Matt Richmond.

Later, it has been a busy session for the United States Supreme Court.

Already this session, key cases have been decided including one seeking to undo the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. The national health care law survived this latest challenge, marking the third time opponents to the law have failed to dismantle it.

Another case pitted anti-discrimination protection laws against a religious conscience objection from a Catholic-social services agency in Philadelphia. The court's ruling in favor of the social services agency is viewed as a setback for LGBTQ rights.

It is also the first session with Justice Amy Coney Barret on board. She replaced the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who died last September.

Finally, the Biden Administration has made action on climate change a priority and is framing it as an aspect of environmental justice as a way to address economic and racial inequity.

The policy idea has its roots outside Washington, including in places like Cleveland which re-wrote its climate action plan to address social and economic disparities.

This week a four-part series airing here on 90.3 WCPN looks at this policy turn by focusing on Cleveland.

Guests:
Matt Richmond, Reporter, Ideastream Public Media
Jonathan Entin, Professor Emeritus of Law and Adjunct Professor of Political Science, Case Western Reserve University
Dan Charles, Science Correspondent, Series Producer, NPR
Matt Gray, Senior VP of Program, Student Conservation Association
Kim Foreman, Executive Director, Environmental Health Watch