States where the GOP controls both the governorship and state legislature are moving in unprecedented numbers to restrict abortion, limit access to voting, ban books, retrench transgender rights and constrain teachers’ ability to discuss race, gender and sexual orientation at public K-12 schools and increasingly at public colleges and universities.
Many of the same states are simultaneously rescinding restrictions on gun ownership, stiffening penalties for people engaged in unruly public protests and, in a new twist, empowering private citizens to bring lawsuits to enforce many of these initiatives, as Texas Republicans did on their recent law banning abortion after about six weeks.
[…]
…with GOP senators wielding the filibuster and the Republican-appointed majority on the Supreme Court both providing powerful air cover for this red state ground offensive, Democrats and groups focused on defending civil rights, abortion rights and LGBTQ rights, among other issues, have not yet found any effective means of slowing the conservative onslaught. Even as the nation grows more racially, religiously and culturally diverse than ever, that means roughly half the states are on track to impose rules across this broad array of cultural flashpoints that primarily reflect the demands of one shrinking group: conservative and often older White Christians.
www.cnn.com
Call it the balkanization of our rights and protected liberties – where the rights and liberties of Americans will no longer be protected in states controlled by Republicans.
Many of the same states are simultaneously rescinding restrictions on gun ownership, stiffening penalties for people engaged in unruly public protests and, in a new twist, empowering private citizens to bring lawsuits to enforce many of these initiatives, as Texas Republicans did on their recent law banning abortion after about six weeks.
[…]
…with GOP senators wielding the filibuster and the Republican-appointed majority on the Supreme Court both providing powerful air cover for this red state ground offensive, Democrats and groups focused on defending civil rights, abortion rights and LGBTQ rights, among other issues, have not yet found any effective means of slowing the conservative onslaught. Even as the nation grows more racially, religiously and culturally diverse than ever, that means roughly half the states are on track to impose rules across this broad array of cultural flashpoints that primarily reflect the demands of one shrinking group: conservative and often older White Christians.
Analysis: Red states are remaking the civil liberties landscape
From Florida, Georgia and Tennessee through Texas, South Dakota and Montana, Republican-controlled states are approving a torrent of culturally conservative hot-button legislation at a pace unmatched in recent times, and probably ever.
www.cnn.com
Call it the balkanization of our rights and protected liberties – where the rights and liberties of Americans will no longer be protected in states controlled by Republicans.
