Politics

May 12, 2022 - The recent leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion showed that the justices have voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case that guaranteed the right to an abortion. If the draft stands, legal abortion would remain widely available in only two Southern states. 

May 4, 2022 - Republican senators recently grilled Biden judicial nominee Nancy Abudu, a civil rights lawyer who has protected abortion rights and fought voter suppression in the Deep South. Senators also heard from four other nominees, all women of color. At least one nominee has bipartisan support. 

April 22, 2022 - Over 100 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced in Southern legislatures this year, the latest application of an old Republican strategy to win votes by bullying a vulnerable minority. Facing South recently spoke with LGBTQ advocates in states around the South to find out how they're responding.   

April 22, 2022 - The recently released "Poor People's Pandemic Report" details how counties with larger percentages of poor people — the vast majority of which are in the South — have been more likely to experience higher death rates during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

April 22, 2022 - Scores of people who have publicly spread lies about the results of the 2020 presidential election are seeking to be governor, attorney, or secretary of state — offices that run, oversee, and protect elections. At least 19 of them are running in the seven Southern states holding elections for those offices this year.

April 21, 2022 - Over protests by the state's Black lawmakers, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed his fellow Republicans to adopt a congressional district map that is expected to slash the number of Black representatives for the state. The new map could be challenged in court, but appellate courts have recently sided with the GOP in voting rights cases. 

April 8, 2022 - Facing South talked with three organizers in the nation's poorest state who are part of a movement to bring greater democracy to rural electric cooperatives. Founded during the New Deal to power communities the big private utilities refused to serve, co-ops today stand accused of a lack of inclusivity and transparency, which organizers are working to change.