conservatives
March 19, 2013 -
When the NAACP challenged Jim Crow laws, it selected plaintiffs who would elicit both sympathy and outrage. Today conservatives are using the same tactic, as illustrated by Fisher v. The University of Texas -- a case challenging consideration of race in admissions.
February 14, 2013 -
Once known as the "most aggressively conservative" federal appeals court and the "black hole of capital litigation," the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond has shifted to the center, thanks to six appointments by President Obama.
February 8, 2013 -
This month the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a landmark case challenging Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Considered the heart of the law, the section prohibits racially discriminatory election changes in covered jurisdictions, most of which are in the South.
February 7, 2013 -
John Droz of the American Tradition Institute, a conservative group know for attacking climate scientists, visited North Carolina this week to warn lawmakers that science is under attack -- but his presentation left the actual scientists in the room shaking their heads.
February 6, 2013 -
Conservative mega-donor Art Pope has helped finance a movement to discredit mainstream climate science. Now North Carolina's budget director, he will help make important fiscal decisions for a state facing serious threats from climate change.
February 1, 2013 -
A by-the-numbers look at how claims of "states' rights" -- once used to defend racial segregation -- are being used to justify legislative assaults on the interests of economically struggling citizens in North Carolina, Mississippi and elsewhere across the South.
January 30, 2013 -
The legislative session that starts today promises to bring big changes to North Carolina as the leaders of the once-progressive state seek to slash unemployment insurance, create a more regressive tax code, impose voter ID requirements, increase private control of public schools, and enshrine right-to-work in the state constitution.