We Aren’t Paying Enough Attention to What the SCOTUS VRA Decision Means for State Legislatures

In a new op-ed for Talking Points Memo, State Futures President Gaby Goldstein contextualized Louisiana v. Callais as the latest development in a long arc to consolidate power in state legislatures.

Trump Wants to Build Massive New Detention Centers. States Are Blocking Their Construction.

In a new op-ed for Talking Points Memo, State Futures President Gaby Goldstein highlights the bold and encouraging steps states are taking to protect the growing number of people held in overfunded, overcrowded, underregulated mass detention facilities.

Collective State Action Can Protect Democracy

In a new op ed for Democracy Docket, State Futures President Gaby Goldstein highlights how states are defending democracy, protecting elections, and coordinating on public health, climate, labor standards, and more.

State Lawmakers Are Fighting for Communities + Rule of Law

In a new op ed for Talking Points Memo, State Futures President Gaby Goldstein argues that the arrest of 11 New York state legislators and the viral video of an Illinois lawmaker racing down a suburban street confronting masked federal agents capture something too often overlooked: while the federal government carries out a deeply unpopular agenda, state lawmakers are fighting back visibly and boldly. A hopeful story is unfolding as legislators defend communities with their voices and their bodies, uphold the rule of law, and embody a vision of government that protects rather than persecutes.The next step is to knit these efforts together so the energy in Illinois, New York, and beyond becomes a coordinated front.

A Labor Day Call for Action From the States

In this Labor Day op ed for Talking Points Memo, State Futures President Gaby Goldstein and NYU Wagner Labor Initiative Director Terri Gerstein argue that as the Trump administration and conservatives in Congress eviscerate workers’ rights, this is a moment for states to act — and not timidly or in isolation. States have extraordinary untapped power, especially if they choose to wield it together. As federal labor protections crumble, states must fill the void, thinking boldly, cooperatively and creatively about how to build a country that supports working people. 

Blue State Dems Are Having an Overdue Reckoning With Their Own Power

In this op ed for Talking Points Memo, State Futures President Gaby Goldstein explains that while immediate headlines are about redistricting, the more significant story is the growing willingness of blue states to use power more forcefully in an era of declining federal reliability and rising authoritarian threat. If gerrymandering is now back on the table, then the real opportunity lies in something broader: a more serious and strategic approach to wielding blue state power.