Research and Data for Advocates
This resource offers brief summaries of peer-reviewed empirical studies and select additional research, curated and summarized by LSSC¹ to support efforts to (i) challenge abusive state preemption laws, and (ii) advance home rule reform. It’s available for anyone to use in whatever way is most helpful.
While not intended to be comprehensive, we welcome suggestions for additional research that could strengthen this resource. If you know of relevant studies we’ve missed, please email us at newresearch@supportdemocracy.org.
1. Earlier versions of this resource were created in partnership with ChangeLab Solutions.
A 2024 paper examined state takeovers across four main policy areas traditionally reserved to localities, including education...
A 2024 paper examined state takeovers across four main policy areas traditionally reserved to localities, including education (e.g. local school districts); finances (e.g. economically distressed municipalities); the criminal legal system (e.g. policing, prosecutors, and judges), and voting (e.g. local election administration) and showed that such state interference increasingly is being used in majority-Black cities. Evidence to date suggests that these state takeovers are not only anti-democratic but also result in suppressing local Black political power and undermining the political will of Black voters. Read more from Sandhya Kajeepeta, When the State Takes Over: How State Officials Usurping Local Control Threatens Local Black Political Power, 52 Fordham Urb. L.J.