Roundup: Courts as political battlegrounds, states cash in on cannabis and a legislative win for maple syrup

It’s Saturday, Oct. 14, and we’d like to welcome you to the weekly State and Local Roundup.

State supreme courts have never been free of politics. But not too long ago, they were viewed as second-tier prizes among political operatives, mostly the province of trial lawyers and chambers of commerce. Now, though, those courts have emerged as a top-tier target for party leaders, often considered the key to unlocking control of state legislatures, gubernatorial mansions and even Congress.

Perhaps the most blatant example of the change has been in Wisconsin, where Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, a Republican, has threatened to impeach a brand new Supreme Court justice depending on how she rules on a redistricting lawsuit.

Wisconsin’s Republican-drawn map for state legislative districts has given the GOP an outsize advantage in keeping control of the legislature, even as Democrats win most statewide races. Redrawing the maps could jeopardize Republicans’ control of the legislature, which they have used to stymie liberal policies and curb the power of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. The Wisconsin Supreme Court chose the Republican plan in 2022, after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an alternative proposed by Evers.

But Wisconsin Democrats challenged the GOP maps again in August, days after Justice Janet Protasiewicz was sworn in and liberals gained a 4-3 majority on the nominally nonpartisan court. During the campaign, Protasiewicz called the Republican maps “rigged” and “unfair.”

Vos and other Republican leaders have raised the prospect of impeaching Protasiewicz, because she did not recuse herself from the redistricting case. The Assembly speaker consulted with several retired high court judges who advised him not to pursue impeachment. But Vos this week said the legislature could still impeach Protasiewicz, depending on how she ruled on the redistricting lawsuit.

“She has said she can be an independent jurist,” Vos said. “If we see that the contributions that the Democratic Party made to her expecting a result [a ruling in their favor on the redistricting case], that will certainly be something that we have to keep on the table because she will not live up to her oath.”

Other states have shown how a switch in control of the supreme courts can shape the local political landscape. Continue reading here.

News to Use

Trends, Common Challenges, Cool Ideas, FYIs and Notable Events

• SOCIAL MEDIA: Utah sues TikTok. Utah became the latest state Tuesday to file a lawsuit against TikTok, alleging the company is “baiting” children into addictive and unhealthy social media habits. TikTok lures children into hours of social media use, misrepresents the app’s safety and deceptively portrays itself as independent of its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, Utah claims in the lawsuit. Arkansas and Indiana have filed similar lawsuits while the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to decide whether state attempts to regulate social media platforms such as Facebook, X and TikTok violate the U.S. Constitution.
• CANNABIS: States cash in on marijuana tax revenue. Between July 2021 and the end of 2022, states collected more than $5.7 billion from licensed cannabis sales, according to a recent report from the U.S. Census Bureau. In the first report on state-level marijuana tax revenue data, Census found taxes varied depending on the size of individual state markets and how long they’ve been open for business. For example, Washington state and Colorado—the first two states to legalize nonmedical marijuana—collected the second- and third-most tax revenue ($818.5 million and $648.1 million, respectively) during the period included. California’s massive market, meanwhile, produced more than $1.4 billion in sales tax revenue over a year and a half, while revenue in New York—where only about two dozen retailers have opened statewide since sales began in December 2022—totaled just $27.9 million.
• FOOD: Iowa joins court challenge of Massachusetts’ pork law. The state is joining a coalition of pork producers in suing Massachusetts for its law that bans the sale of pork that doesn’t meet strict hog-confinement requirements. Massachusetts’ law is similar to one in California that the U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld that restricts the sale of pork in that state. But the Massachusetts law goes a step further by also prohibiting the shipment of noncompliant pork through the state. That provision of the law means that if Iowa-produced pork doesn’t meet Massachusetts’ standards for hog confinements, it not only can’t be sold in Massachusetts, it can’t be transported through Massachusetts to other states.Find more News to Use here.

Picture of the Week

Last week, Wisconsin lawmakers introduced legislation aimed at preventing restaurants from mislabeling artificial syrup as the real deal. “One of my pet peeves is when I go to a restaurant and I ask, ‘Do you have real maple syrup?’ And they say yes,” Wisconsin Sen. Kelda Roys, one of the bill’s sponsors, told the Wisconsin Examiner. “And then I order based on that information, and then you can just see when they’re walking towards the table, that’s not real maple syrup, and I’m just like, ‘I should have ordered the omelet.’” Under the bill, “public eating places” won’t be allowed to identify a product as maple syrup on labels or menus unless it is actually maple syrup. Wisconsin already has similar provisions preventing restaurant-goers from being served margarine instead of butter or honey with added sweeteners. The bill doesn’t include any enforcement mechanisms or penalties for restaurants.

Government in Numbers

5,000+

The number of guns travelers have attempted to bring onboard in their carry-on luggage that has been caught at security checkpoints nationwide so far this year, according to the Transportation Security Administration. The agency said it’s on its way to breaking last year’s record of guns being caught across the country. This week, BWI Marshall Airport in Baltimore, Maryland, broke the record set last year. So far, 36 guns have been caught this year. Passengers are allowed to bring firearms inside their checked luggage, but it has to be unloaded and packed in a hard, TSA-approved case. Those who are caught with a gun at an airport checkpoint could look at civil penalties of up to $15,000.

ICYMI

For Boston riders, transit woes continue to pile up

Service and safety have suffered for years on the MBTA, and a change in leadership hasn’t been enough to reverse that yet.

BY DANIEL C. VOCK

If jobs won’t bring people downtown to work, what will?

The economies of six big cities took a hit as workers went remote or moved to areas with lower costs of living. But by focusing on downtown housing and leaning into already strong local industries, municipal leaders may be able to reverse the trend.

BY MOLLY BOLAN

Not all states will go off the child care cliff

The end of federal child care subsidies will impact states differently depending on how they used the money and if they plan to spend their own.

BY KERY MURAKAMI

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