Other States Follow Texas’ Lead On New Laws

Undated (AP) – The unusual legal strategy used to ban most abortions in Texas is already increasingly being employed in Republican-led states to target pornography, LGBT rights and other hot-button cultural issues. While private residents filing lawsuits is a fixture of some arenas like environmental law, some warn that expanding it and applying it to new areas could have a boomerang effect if Democrats were to use it on issues like gun control. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the measure could become a model that infringes on constitutional rights in other areas. The concept has already popped up on issues ranging from federal gun law in Missouri to transgender-student bathroom use in Tennessee.