Thread by @RonBrownstein

It's easy to miss how consistently GOP #SCOTUS majority is ruling for the vision of American rep'd by the red states that elect the presidents who nominate & senators who confirm them. Over and over, the same states benefit & lose out in its decisions on #RoeVWade, guns, climate

https://twitter.com/RonBrownstein/status/1542541121984663552

Of the 21 states, @nytimes lists as already, or imminently, banning or severely restricting abortion post-Roe, 17 rank in the top 1/2 of states w/the highest per capita gun ownership. Fully 18 of 21 anti-abortion rank in top 1/2 of states that emit the most carbon per $ of GDP

So the same states that are moving thru the opening GOP #SCOTUS Justices created to ban abortion are also those most opposed to transitioning from fossil fuel economy-which Court made vastly more difficult w/its EPA ruling. They are also most immersed in gun culture

By contrast, the same states that are preserving abortion rights are also those that have the fewest gun owners per capita and emit the least carbon per $ of GDP (largely b/c they have transitioned fastest into 21st century information economy).

The same line separates red and blue on all three issues and each time this month GOP Justices sided w/the coalition that empaneled them. Remember, 23/25 states Trump won in 2020 rank among top 26 in most carbon emissions per $ of GDP; they elect 44 of the 50 GOP Senators.

The GOP #SCOTUS majority has become the point of the spear as red states work to impose their values/priorities on blue. The court empowers red states to retrench rights liberals prize (abortion/voting) but hobbles feds & blue states from acting in ways conservatives oppose

Simultaneously, #SCOTUS decisions on voting rights & gerrymandering make it tougher for internal opposition (centered in big metros) to overthrow ruling red state GOP coalitions centered in predominantly White, Christian, rural areas.

W/that history, unlikely this Court majority will block many new red state laws making it harder to vote & allowing more partisan meddling w/elections. Hard to see them stopping red state GOP efforts to shape next generation by restricting teaching race/gender/sexual orientation

At the least this means red states solidifying moves to reverse 'rights revolution' of past 60 yrs & restore a US where ur basic rights/liberties vary much more depending on where you live. Some state will bring case to reverse ntl right of same sex marriage & intimate relations

Most likely though the "great divergence" now underway among states is only a way station & red states, w/#SCOTUS support, will look for ways to impose their values on blue states-either w/national legislation or proposals like suing out of state abortion providers.

The one chance Democrats have had to resist these pincer move has been to pass national legislation restoring a floor of basic rights in all these areas-voting, abortion, LGBTQ, others. But Manchin/Sinema defense of filibuster has prevented that.

Taken together, this creates, as I wrote last week, a solidifying sense US is now two "fundamentally different nations uneasily sharing the same geographic space." The blue nation is more prosperous (25% higher per person GDP) & healthier (longer life spans), spends more on ed

But it faces axis of red states/GOP SC Justices & GOP-led filibusters that is threatening much of what it prizes-even before questions of election fairness & subversion loom in 22/24. Add it up & 2020s look like most dangerous decade for US since 1850s. theatlantic.com/politics/archi…