On May 16, 2023, Julia Spiegel published “Advancing Global Human Rights Locally” in Just Security. The first move is hers: “International human rights are often viewed as the prerogative of the federal government. But that’s not the law, nor the reality.” She writes that states and localities “can complement or fill a void in federal action in important ways.” And: “The new wave of human rights is local.” Those sentences are hers. They are not a court finding.
She lists the tools: legislation, executive orders, proclamations, budgets, economic measures, including sanctions reinforcement and divestment. Under “Build and engage in networks,” she writes that like-minded states “can serve as a critical resource for sharing ideas and supporting each other’s work as a collective.” After naming C40 and the U.S. Climate Alliance, she adds: “U.S. states have similar networks, such as the U.S. Climate Alliance and the newly formed Reproductive Freedom Alliance, but they could benefit from more.” The byline is her personal capacity; Just Security’s author page says the views are her own. The essay is also flagged as part of the Truman Center’s Toolkit for Strategic Subnational Diplomacy. This site does not invent a Trump sentence in that piece. The void-in-federal-action line is the line.