If you sit down and talk with Republicans,
which I advise against doing,
you will notice that they justify nearly every one of their awful policies with a call to states’ rights.
They say they want to take power away from national representatives in Washington, D.C., and redistribute it to state and local governments,
which, they claim, are best equipped to determine the best policies for their constituents’ particular, parochial concerns.
They use this appeal to “federalism” to shield them from moral accountability for their disastrous actions.
Republicans will say, for instance, that their intention is not to take away abortion rights but merely to let the states decide when a person can be forced to give birth against their will.
They are lying, of course.
We know this because whenever Republicans get the power to impose their views by national fiat, they happily do so, states’ rights be damned.
Republicans are for local control right up until a local prosecutor declines to deport an immigrant or a city council decides to ban assault weapons.
Still, “states’ rights” remains their battle cry,
and few things expose the full measure of their antipathy toward democratic norms and civil rights than what they do with the power they’ve given to the states.
Most people are aware of the horrors that await when Republicans take control of statehouses and governors’ mansions.
For recent examples, consider Greg Abbott’s murder moat in Texas, or Glenn Youngkin’s crusade against abortion rights and Pornhub in Virginia.
Fewer, however, recognize the horrors that lie in store when Republicans commandeer the machinery of the law.
Put simply, whichever rights the Supreme Court does not succeed in obliterating, Republican-controlled state courts and Republican attorneys general eagerly chisel away, state by state.
They are the people who, under their own authority, can bend the law to their will and weaponize it against vulnerable communities.
There are currently 27 of them, and they include future Newsmax hosts like
Kansas AG Kris #Kobach, who finds his joy in suing to stop Joe Biden’s student debt relief program;
Florida AG Ashley #Moody, who spends her days fighting whatever “wokeness” conspiracy exists in her head at any given moment;
and Texas AG Ken #Paxton, who has effectively decided to make up his own immigration laws and enforce them at the point of a gun.
Republicans realized long ago that state AGs represent the steel gauntlet inside the velvet glove of states’ rights.
They also realized that they needed an organization to help them make that vision real,
so in 1999 they created one: the
💥Republican Attorneys General Association.💥
Much like the Democratic National Committee or the Republican National Committee or any number of partisan-affiliated outfits, #RAGA identifies candidates, supports their efforts to win elections, and imposes national Republican priorities at the state level
—though that’s far from all it does.
The association sees its mission as “Defending the Rule of Law. Keeping America Safe”
and hails itself as “America’s last line of defense.”
You’d think that means keeping states safe from criminals and fraudsters,
but in most cases RAGA AGs think they’re “defending” us from transgender kids who need to use the bathroom or Uber drivers who take people across state lines to get abortions.
RAGA prosecutors share a hatred of reproductive rights, a love of guns, and an obsession with persecuting the LGBTQ community.
You probably didn’t need me to tell you that, though:
Hating women and gay people while using a .450 Bushmaster as a masculinity supplement when the testicle tanning wears off is simply standard GOP operating procedure these days.
But RAGA AGs are also committed to doing the dirty work for every other hellish Republican policy idea,
from destroying the environment to gutting voting rights to undermining vaccines, because apparently states need “defending” from science, facts, and public health.
No matter what awful thing they’re doing, the AGs always have enough money to do it.
In exchange for this largesse, these corporations get more than one-off lawsuits or the occasional friendly AG.
Beyond backing individual officials, RAGA is involved with bigger, broader strategies.
RAGA attorneys general work hand-in-hand with preferred Trump judges to shape our national laws through targeted cases designed for appellate and eventually Supreme Court review.
They make rulings that trigger nationwide injunctions.
In recent months, RAGA AGs in 19 states have asserted their right to get access to the private medical records of patients seeking care out of state
—most likely so they can be prosecuted for receiving an abortion when they come back home.
In 13 states, RAGA AGs have threatened to sue companies over their diversity and inclusion programs.
Most of the time, the law is hiding in shadows, obscured under thick layers of jargon and confusing rules of procedure.
But RAGA attorneys general are not trying to hide the ball. They’re proud of their work.
These people are elected officials (many with ambitions for higher office), so when they menace a vulnerable community, they want you to know about it.
My contribution to a student recital in Kolkata (no I did not travel) this coming weekend. A short bandish (composition) in #raag Kafi by my teacher Debashish Bhattacharya.
Kafi is parallel to the Dorian mode in Western music, but with rules for what notes can be "shaken" or glided.
The instrument is my Pushpa Veena, which is sort of a hybrid between slide guitar and sarod.
The Republican AGs Assc. (#RAGA) is a pol org. that helps AGs in red🩸states to push extreme policies. They use their state’s legal power to end abortion access, assail LGBTQ+ rights, attack social justice, destroy our ENVIR, assault our democracy.
L Leo, the architect of the #MAGA hijacking of the SC that overturned Roe v Wade, has been RAGA’s biggest funder for years. Alongside Leo are Big: Oil & Gas, Big Tobacco, Big Pharma, the Gun lobby...
@RollingStone Notorious "Republican Attorneys General Association", which notorious Paxton is a member of, appears to also be the "GOP's" morality police, as despotically aggressive as its Iranian counterpart.
Utah lawmakers frustrated by Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes’ long support of embattled activist Tim Ballard have reinvigorated discussions on how the state chooses its top law enforcement officer.
@sltrib
“There should be an audit of the entire relationship with the attorney general’s office, including any financial interminglings,” one lawmaker said.
Yes. This. It shouldn't be limited to just OUR, though.
Sean Reyes is a high-ranking member of #RAGA. He gets dark money and he uses his position to join other #StateAGs on political message lawsuits and amicus briefs to entangle Utah taxpayers in the far right agenda.
Amazing that the Texas House had the courage to call out the obvious impeachable offenses of Paxton; amazing, too, that it wasn't a foregone conclusion until the votes happened that Texas Senate Republicans were dedicated to the grift that is modern Republican politics—it seemed like they were taking it as seriously as their House colleagues. But, nope. They protect their own; they prefer crime. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/09/16/us/ken-paxton-impeachment-texas
"...
“Trump won by 620,000 votes in Texas. Harris County mail-in ballots that they wanted to send out were 2.5 million. Those were all illegal and we were able to stop every one of them,” Paxton said on the podcast.
“Had we not done that … we would’ve been one of those battleground states that they were counting votes in Harris County for three days and Donald Trump would’ve lost the election,” Paxton continued.
..."
"#Hawaii’s supreme court on Thursday will hear attempts by #FossilFuel companies to dismiss a #climate accountability lawsuit."
The “personal jurisdiction” excuse: defendants argue that they did not conduct enough business in Hawaii to be hauled into the state’s courts.
The “failure to state a claim” excuse: claims that the lawsuit should be dealt with by lawmakers, not state courts.
The first amendment excuse.
"It’s not just industry groups: nearly half of the country’s chief legal officers are asking the nation’s top court to intervene in a local government’s #ClimateLawsuit.
To understand how these 20 state attorneys general are connected to the fossil fuel industry, you first must understand The Republican Attorneys General Association, known as #RAGA."
Indian musician and vocal coach, Mr. AV Peace, employs a really creative method in his teaching. He draws out these intricate maps to help visualize notes and sounds. They’re quite mesmerizing.
Peter, if you claim what RFKjr is saying is “misinformation” I am offering you $100,000.00 to the charity of your choice if you’re willing to debate him on my show with no time limit. https://twitter.com/peterhotez/status/1670040001751445504
When GOP Attorneys General Embraced Jan. 6, Corporate Funders Fled.
Now They’re Back.
Even as the Republican Attorneys General Association has leaned further into promoting Trumpism and sowing doubt about U.S. elections, major sponsors including #Amazon, #Walmart and #HomeDepot have resumed their contributions to the group.