Op-Ed: In the United States, focus turns to state constitutions to advance individual rights

With the federal constitutional protection of a woman’s right to choose now gone following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, some commentators have urged choice advocates to direct their energies toward state judiciaries. As Alicia Bannon recently put it, “state courts and state constitutions are about to be more important than ever.” Notwithstanding the understandable focus in the mainstream media on the U.S. Constitution and the U.S. Supreme Court’s interpretation of the nation’s founding document, state courts have for many years been addressing the meaning of individual rights commitments under their own state constitutions. In many instances, these courts have concluded that these rights provisions provide individuals broader protection than would be available under the federal constitution, and in some cases provide protections with no federal equivalent.
Read the full article here: The Hill