Week in Review

Silverman Hall

Abortion rights referendums pass in seven states, a federal judge rejects an attempt to throw away absentee ballots in a swing state, and more…

IN THE NEWS

  • Voters in seven states approved ballot measures protecting the right to abortion. Voters in Arizona and Missouri overturned their states’ abortion bans, while citizens in Colorado, Maryland, Montana, and New York voted to either affirm or expand existing abortion access. In Florida, Nebraska, and South Dakota, however, voters rejected similar constitutional amendments, keeping their state abortion bans intact. These three states are the first to defeat referendums expanding the right to abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to the procedure in 2022.
  • A federal judge denied a bid by Republicans to block seven counties in Georgia from accepting certain absentee ballots returned after the early voting deadline in the state. Every county in question was historically Democratic-leaning. U.S. District Judge Stan Baker emphasized that ruling in favor of the bid would invalidate votes based on “cherry picking” political preferences of citizens in the counties. Despite the ruling allowing the counting of these absentee votes, Republican Donald Trump still won the state in the presidential election.
  • Massachusetts voters approved a ballot measure allowing app-based rideshare drivers to unionize while maintaining their classification as independent contractors. The initiative, backed by the Service Employees International Union, grants drivers collective bargaining power and a complaint process, though it omits full employee protections such as strike rights. Major rideshare companies Uber and Lyft chose not to campaign against the referendum, but still expressed concerns over its wording. “With the passage of this ballot measure,” Lyft reportedly said in a statement, “we look forward to working collaboratively on its implementations and addressing some of the language concerns we have during the legislative session next year.”
  • The S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit rejected a challenge to a 2023 Colorado bill that raises the age to purchase firearms to 21. Senate Bill 169 creates a misdemeanor offense for those who sell guns to individuals under 21 years old and for those under 21 to purchase a gun. Judge Richard E.N. Federico emphasized that an age-based restriction on the commercial sale of firearms does not hinder the Second Amendment right to “keep and bear” arms. Judge Carolyn B. McHugh found that the right to keep and bear arms included the commercial acquisition of guns but noted that Colorado met that constitutional test.
  • A federal judge refused to approve a proposed settlement by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to a major trade union in a 53-year-old race discrimination lawsuit. The court ruled that because the New York City division of the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental, and Reinforcing Ironworkers failed to keep records of the hours worked by different races, the organization could not show its compliance with a court-supervised agreement entered into in 1978. Refusing proposed settlements is unusual for judges in these types of cases. The case remains on track for an eventual trial after 53 years of the litigation process.

WHAT WE’RE READING THIS WEEK

EDITOR’S CHOICE

  • In an essay in The Regulatory Review, Kevin T. Frazier, an assistant professor of law at Thomas University Benjamin L. Crump College of Law, examined the U.S. Constitution’s Guarantee Clause—which guarantees every state a “republican form of government”—as a potential framework for limiting corporate power. He argued that “massive corporations,” particularly tech giants, undermine American self-governance by creating economic dependence that resembles the colonial subjugation rejected by the Constitution’s framers. Frazier proposed that the Guarantee Clause could compel states and federal entities to use antitrust enforcement against monopolies, suggesting this “Antitrust Guarantee” would protect the public from the anti-republican influences of multinational corporations.