State Legislatures
A Colossal Off-Year Election in Wisconsin
Lauren Justice for The New York Times Conservatives have controlled the court since 2008. Though the court upheld Wisconsin’s 2020 election results, last year it ruled drop boxes illegal, allowed a purge of the voter rolls to take place and installed redistricting maps drawn by Republican legislators despite the objections of Gov. Tony Evers, a […]
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Missouri State Lawmakers Revise Their Dress Code for Women
The Missouri State House of Representatives revised its dress code for female legislators and staff members, requiring them to wear a jacket, such as a blazer or a cardigan, and setting off a debate about policing the fashion choices of women. The updated dress code — which was adopted on Wednesday by a vote of […]
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Russell Pearce, Fiery Foe of Illegal Immigration, Dies at 75
Mr. Pearce’s crackdown was copied by other states. The United States Supreme Court upheld the state’s requirement that law enforcement officers verify the status of all individuals who were arrested or detained if they had reason to suspect that they were in the country illegally. Mr. Pearce often insisted that he was neither anti-immigrant nor […]
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Mallory McMorrow, Who Lashed out at G.O.P., Becomes a Democratic Money Machine
Mallory McMorrow, the state senator whose fiery April floor speech denouncing Republicans’ treatment of the L.G.B.T.Q. community as a “hollow, hateful scheme” made her an instant political celebrity on the left, has raised more than $1 million on behalf of her fellow Michigan Democrats. For an individual state lawmaker, that’s an impressive haul, campaign finance […]
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A Culture Warrior Goes Quiet: DeSantis Dodges Questions on Abortion Plans
When the Supreme Court erased the constitutional right to an abortion last month, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida was among the many Republicans who celebrated. “The prayers of millions have been answered,” he tweeted. But while other Republican leaders vowed to charge ahead with new restrictions — or near-total bans — Mr. DeSantis offered only […]
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The Fight Over Truth Also Has a Red State, Blue State Divide
To fight disinformation, California lawmakers are advancing a bill that would force social media companies to divulge their process for removing false, hateful or extremist material from their platforms. Texas lawmakers, by contrast, want to ban the largest of the companies — Facebook, Twitter and YouTube — from removing posts because of political points of […]
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Supreme Court to Hear Case on State Legislatures’ Power Over Elections
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court announced on Thursday that it would hear a case that could radically reshape how federal elections are conducted by giving state legislatures independent power, not subject to review by state courts, to set election rules in conflict with state constitutions. The case has the potential to affect many aspects of […]
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Supreme Court Throws Abortion to an Unlevel State Playing Field
In his concurring opinion to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh struck a note of optimism that democracy and the will of the people would prevail, even on the agonizing issue of a woman’s right to end a pregnancy. “The nine unelected Members of this Court do not […]
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Maine’s End Run Around the Supreme Court Is an Example for Other States
Justice Brett Kavanaugh noted in a concurrence joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, moreover, that while states may not impose restrictions that prevent “ordinary, law abiding citizens” from carrying a gun to defend themselves, states can still enact rigorous requirements for a public carry permit, such as stringent background and mental health records checks and […]
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