14 State Attorneys General Relationship with Local and County Government 14 State Attorneys General Relationship with Local and County Government
14.1 Introduction 14.1 Introduction
14.1.1 General Introduction 14.1.1 General Introduction
The state attorney general is not the only government official with responsbility with interpreting and applying the law within a state. Counties, cities, and towns all have varying degrees of responsbility. Before considering what happens when state and local officials disagree, we look at the increasiongly polarized differences among urban, suburban, and rural communities, in which there are not only “blue states” and “red states,” but within those states, there are “blue cities” and “red counties.” We then consider the differing outcomes depending on the extent of "home rule" and intrastate preemption.
14.1.2 Detailed Roadmap to Core Readings 14.1.2 Detailed Roadmap to Core Readings
This section considers the hot topic of the state AG relationship with local and county government. To set the stage, the readings first consider demographic differences and similarities among urban, rural, and suburban communities, and between red and blue states. These various studies should help explain the tension today within states in which conservative rural communities may feel estranged from the much more liberal majority that controls the state, e.g., WA, OR, etc., and in which liberal cities may feel estranged from much more conservative states, e.g., TX (with 3 of the largest cities in America).
The readings then look at a high level at the different approaches that states have taken towards home rule in the heavily edited Diller article. You should ask whether any of these approaches make more sense to you than others? Is there a unifying theme that you would apply to this issue regardless of your personal view on the outcome of any of these issues?
In the realm of guns, both liberal and conservative AGs think that their perspective should carry the day, looking at AG opinions from VA (under the former AG) and SC, as well as articles describing liberal and conservative pushback from local officials. The last article describes a different situation -- a city filing suit along with another like-minded state.
In the world of opioids, the fight over a lot of money pits states with large populations against rural communities with very severe per capita opioid issues. The Ohio amicus brief explains why states and not municipalities should be the plaintiffs in these cases. As before, you should consider whether the state should get to make the decisions in this realm.
We then put this knowledge into practice in a series of hypotheticals that pit a town against the state.