Democratic AGs are using the courts to win on abortion, gun control

For Bob Ferguson, the Democratic attorney general of Washington state, the seventh time proved to be the charm.

For six years, Ferguson pushed a ban on assault-style weapons in Washington’s legislature. Each year, the proposal failed to make it out of committee — until this one. In April, the legislature passed the bill and Gov. Jay Inslee (D) signed it into law.

Ferguson said the “tragic drumbeat” of mass shootings played a role in boosting public support for the measure. And the Democratic base has become younger and more liberal since he first proposed the ban, he said.

“The political aspect of it has been turned on its head,” Ferguson said. “The voters in Washington now want to ban assault weapons, they want to ban high-capacity magazines. That change definitely occurred.”

Ferguson is one of several Democratic attorneys general moving aggressively on key social policy issues to blunt Republican initiatives across the country designed to loosen gun restrictions, outlaw abortion and curtail the rights of transgender residents.

The Democratic effort, shaped by previous opposition to the Trump administration, is creating what amounts to a series of state sanctuaries for those threatened by Republican laws. It also reflects a sense among the Democratic state attorneys general that a divided Congress is too deadlocked to pass any significant social policy legislation or impose civil rights protections.

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