conservatives

Canvasser hands a man a flyer with information on Ohio's Issue 1.

Ohio voters are deciding if it’s too easy to pass ballot measures. Other states are watching.

BY: and - August 7, 2023

CLEVELAND — Ohioans over the last century have used the state’s ballot initiative process to pass constitutional amendments that raised the minimum wage, integrated the National Guard and removed the phrase “white male” from the constitution’s list of voter eligibility requirements. Now, lawmakers want to make it much tougher for an initiative to be approved. […]

COMMENTARY
A security guard confronts a protester as former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence speaks during the Advancing Freedom Lecture Series at Stanford University on Feb. 17, 2022, with a speech titled “How to Save America From the Woke Left.” (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Free speech used to be honored by both left and right

BY: - May 8, 2023

Students’ shutting down campus public speakers has become increasingly common at universities across the U.S. Recently at Stanford Law School, student protesters shouted over a Trump-appointed federal judge and disrupted the speech he had been invited by students to give. Instead of telling the students that they were in violation of Stanford’s speech policy, the […]

Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA) (Drew Angerer/Getty

U.S. House GOP preps for debates on ‘parents rights,’ school vouchers and transgender athletes

BY: - February 8, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans laid the groundwork for some top legislative priorities during a Wednesday hearing that examined public funding for charter schools and voucher programs, as well as increasing parents’ oversight of school curriculum.  The Republican chair of the Education and the Workforce Committee, North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx, provided a forum for […]

COMMENTARY
American civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 - 1968) delivers his "I have a dream" speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Washington DC, Aug. 28, 1963. (Photo by Washington Bureau/Getty Images)

How the distortion of Martin Luther King Jr.‘s words enables more, not less, racial division

BY: - January 17, 2023

U.S. Rep. Chip Roy of Texas is just the latest conservative lawmaker to misuse the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to judge a person on character and not race. In the protracted battle to elect Rep. Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House, Roy, a Republican, nominated a Black man, Byron Donalds, […]

U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, speaks at a press conference at the U.S. Capitol after he was nominated for speaker of the House by members of the House GOP, on Nov. 15, 2022. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

U.S. House conservatives tank McCarthy bid to be speaker on multiple ballots

BY: and - January 3, 2023

(This story has been updated to reflect that House Republicans adjourned after three unsuccessful votes to choose a new speaker.) WASHINGTON — Republican control of the U.S. House got off to a rocky start Tuesday when the party was unable to decide who should become speaker amid a sharp disagreement within the party’s more conservative faction. […]

House Minority Leader speaks Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) speaks with House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) during a press conference on the 2023 Fiscal Year at the U.S Capitol on Dec. 14, 2022. During the news conference, House Republicans called on Congress to vote on a short-term spending bill for the government, which would allow them to pass further funding in the 118th Congress when Republicans hold the majority. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

U.S. House and Senate GOP at odds over massive government spending deal

BY: - December 14, 2022

WASHINGTON — Congress is trying to wrap up its remaining must-pass bills before leaving for the holidays — but a split between Senate Republican and House GOP leaders could hamstring the all-important task of funding government operations and averting a partial shutdown. Senate Republicans are working with Democrats in both chambers to negotiate a major […]

Issue 3 asks voters to add more religious protections to state constitution

BY: - November 2, 2022

Arkansas voters are considering a constitutional amendment that would prohibit state and local governments from burdening a person’s ability to practice their religion unless there’s a compelling reason to do so. If there is a reason, officials must act in the least restrictive manner. Lawmakers voted to refer Issue 3 to voters during the 2021 […]