States Rights

Frustrated by the expanded power of Washington, a growing number of state lawmakers are defying the federal government and passing legislation aimed at rolling back the reach of Congress and President Obama. While many measures are symbolic ones declaring the sovereignty of states, some Westerners are taking more dramatic steps. One Utah lawmaker wants to limit federal law enforcement in his state.

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that states could enforce some of their consumer protection laws against national banks, a move that could lead to tougher oversight than federal regulators have provided in recent years. The 5-4 decision in a case involving attempts by New York's attorney general to enforce fair-lending laws was praised by consumer and civil rights groups, which have accused federal regulators of being lax in policing banks chartered by the federal government.

An unusual rift has emerged between top congressional Democrats over a draft global warming bill that would prohibit California and other states from taking tougher action than Washington to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles. On one side are House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and a number of her California colleagues, fighting to preserve their state's landmark law to cut tailpipe emissions.

California's efforts to combat global warming with tough restrictions on tailpipe emissions got a boost Wednesday from a federal judge, who upheld states' right to require that vehicles emit far fewer pollutants. The judge, ruling in a lawsuit filed by automakers against Vermont, said that that state's emissions standards -- which are based on those outlined in a 2002 California law -- weren't "sufficiently draconian" to usurp the federal government's right to set fuel economy standards. U.S.

Antiabortion activists in several states are promoting constitutional amendments that would define life as beginning at conception, which could effectively outlaw all abortions and some birth control methods. The campaigns to grant "personhood" to fertilized eggs, giving them the same legal protections as human beings, come as the nation in January marks the 35th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

O.Q. "Chris" Johnson, a longtime advocate of states' rights and Independent American Party candidate for Nevada attorney general, died Aug. 11 at Tahoe Pacific Hospital in Sparks, Nev., after a "serious and sudden illness," his son, Chris Johnson, an Elko city councilman, told the Elko Daily Free Press. He was 71.

The Environmental Protection Agency will hold a hearing today at the behest of President Obama on whether California and 13 other states should be allowed to regulate vehicle tailpipe emissions. It's a matter of utmost importance to carmakers, which have argued that compliance could cost them billions of dollars amid the industry's worst downturn in decades. Yet no automakers will be testifying at the Washington hearing to rebut environmental groups and others favoring strict rules.

Re "Chief Justice, 80, Led Court on a Conservative Path," Sept. 4 It now looks like a Category 5 hurricane is focusing its wrath on the Supreme Court building in Washington. With the passing of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, this acutely regressive Bush White House will be replacing two justices on the high court with, no doubt, Scalia/Thomas clones. This jurisprudential "storm" has the potential to leave a swath of devastation for our civil and constitutional liberties for the foreseeable future.

When California voters go to the polls Nov. 8 to decide whether to strip lawmakers of the authority to draw their own districts, so will voters in Ohio. Millions more are likely to follow in Massachusetts and Florida. In these and more than a dozen other states, activists are busy concocting different solutions to the same problem. They are trying to find a less political way to draw districts for Congress and legislatures so voters have a better crack at actually deciding elections.

The Republican-controlled Congress, in a departure from the traditional GOP support for states' rights and limited federal rule, has been moving on a number of fronts to curtail state and local powers over matters important to business groups and advocates of tighter national security. The recent moves by Congress have begun to provoke objections even in states that are socially conservative and have pro-business governments.