Today, many of our rights as citizens, residents, visitors, or workers are under fierce assault by both the federal government and the private sector.To fight this abuse, we created StatesRise: The State and Local Human Rights Center. How? By educating Americans that every state has its own constitution that declares certain rights as sacrosanct.
Sometimes, state constitutions protect the same human rights as the US Constitution; for example, the right to assemble peacefully, the right to worship, and the right to a jury trial. Other times, states protect rights not protected by the US Constitution, such as the right to unionize, the right to hunt and fish on public lands, or the right to an abortion. Often, states and localities can assert and protect these rights, federal and state, more effectively than the federal government. And, they can protect those rights against violations by the federal government.
States as Meaningful Rights Protectors.
Our vision at StatesRise is to show Americans the rights they have under their state constitutions. We achieve this through Op-Eds, social media, and by supporting local rights campaigns. We work towards this vision by nurturing and conveying new ideas for preserving these rights and by connecting scholars and activists in the field of state constitutions.