Background Briefing: August 3, 2022
Results From Kansas Signal a Robust National Majority Against the Supreme Court and Republican Legislators
We begin with yesterday’s overwhelming victory for abortion rights in Kansas which signal a robust national majority against the recent Supreme Court decision and Republican legislators in Washington and in state legislatures. Joining us is Tiffany Muller, the President of End Citizens United//Let America Vote who became the first openly gay public official in Kansas in 2004 as a member of the Topeka City Council where she led efforts to expand anti-discrimination protections. She has also served as a chief of staff on Capitol Hill and was a Deputy Political Director at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee where she worked closely with the top US Senate races in the country. We discuss the danger posed to American democracy by the many “stop the steal” election deniers elected to run in key offices in November in critical swing states like Arizona and Michigan
Americans Are in Favor of Settled Law Which the Right Wing Radicals on the Supreme Court Upended
Then we explore further the electoral landscape roiling from the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe and Casey with results from Kansas indicating that the American majority is not so much pro-choice as they are in favor of settled law which the right wing radicals on the court upended. Joining us is Carol Sanger, a Professor of Law at Columbia Law School where she teaches courses on reproductive rights, family law, the legal profession, and law and gender. Her latest book is About Abortion: Terminating Pregnancy in the 21st Century.
“We Are the Majority: Nothing’s the Matter with Kansas”
Then finally we speak with Jonathan Weiler, a professor in Global Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is the author of Authoritarianism and Polarization in American Politics and his latest book is Prius or Pickup?: How the Answers to Four Simple Questions Explain America’s Great Divide. We discuss his article at Jonathan’s Newsletter at jonathanweiler.substack.com, “We Are the Majority: Nothing’s the matter with Kansas.”