Associate Professor Lori Riverstone-Newell was interviewed by the The New York Times on the topic of how Republican-dominated states are countering more liberally minded cities. The article, which dovetails with Riverstone-Newell’s recent research on state and local relations, explains that “Republican-controlled state legislatures have intensified the use of what are known as pre-emption laws, to block towns and cities from adopting measures favored by the left. The states aren’t merely overruling local laws; they’ve walled off whole new realms where local governments aren’t allowed to govern at all.”
The data sources used to demonstrate which states block which policies include Riverstone-Newell’s. Moreover, she is noted for tracing back the “modern escalation of pre-emptions to the 1980s — when the tobacco industry began to back state laws barring antismoking ordinances” to the post 2010 election period that “swept Republicans to power in many states.”
