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Report says a second Trump term would add 4 billion tons of climate pollution; Trump predicts a bloodbath for the country if he is defeated in November's election; Nevada leaders discuss future of IVF, abortion in the Silver State; and anglers seek trawler buffer zone as Atlantic herring stock declines.

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The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

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Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Federal Court Blocks TN Law Restricting Voter Registration

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Friday, September 13, 2019   

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Just weeks from going into effect, a federal district court judge has temporarily blocked a Tennessee law that would make it more challenging for civic groups to organize voter registration drives.

The law also would allow criminal charges for people who submitted inaccurate or insufficient voter registration forms. The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee challenged the law, and its legal director, Thomas Castelli, says he hopes the ruling sends a message to other states.

"These types of laws are suspect constitutionally, and that trying to follow in Tennessee's footsteps with enacting laws along these same lines, will get you pretty much in the same position of – on the wrong end of an order from the court," says Castelli.

For now, the court has said the state cannot make any efforts to enforce the law, which was originally slated to go into effect on October 1.

House Bill 1079 requires that anyone who wants to help people register to vote has to pre-register those drives with the state, undergo some state-produced training, and submit voter applications within a certain time frame. And the law would have gone further, Castelli adds.

"And then, there was another portion of the law that said anyone that's got a website or is talking publicly about voter registration has to put a disclaimer on it saying that they're not affiliated with the Secretary of State's office," says Castelli.

Castelli says if the law goes into effect, it would affect people who are already under-represented.

"To the extent that this law is making it harder to register anyone to vote, it is going to have a disproportionate impact on those vulnerable communities, those marginalized communities, by making it harder for those community members to get registered to vote and participate in our democracy," says Castelli.

He adds in the coming months, the case will head back to the court for a final hearing.


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