The assertion of “states’ rights” is at the expense of individual rights and liberties, which are only outlined in the Federal Bill of Rights and the U.S. Constitution and enforced on the states via the 14th Amendment.
Republican legislatures in the states doing the bidding of the American Legislative Exchange go so far as to seek ways for citizens to prove their U.S. citizenship via drivers’ licenses, U.S. passports, ID cards, etc., to gain access to voting booths or gerrymander voting districts to support those in power at state legislatures. They claim the power to disenfranchise citizens outside their own party!
This is clearly evident in Utah with the 2010 gerrymandering of Salt Lake County to split up its predominantly Democratic constituency into four outlying voting districts, rather than link those outlying areas with the population centers in Utah County, Weber County and Washington County. Denial to Salt Lake County residents of Democratic representation in Congress represents just one of the many instances where Republican tyrants avail themselves of states’ rights to deny Democrats of individual liberties, including the right to vote! Hooligans all!
Raymond L. Ridge, Murray