Gregory Wayne Abbott is an American politician,attorney,and jurist serving as the 48th governor of Texas since 2015. A member of the Republican Party,he served as the 50th attorney general of Texas from 2002 to 2015 and as a justice of the Texas Supreme Court from 1996 to 2001.
The Alabama Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of Alabama. It is a bicameral body composed of the House of Representatives and Senate. It is one of the few state legislatures in which members of both chambers serve four-year terms and in which all are elected in the same cycle. The most recent election was on November 8,2022. The new legislature assumes office immediately following the certification of the election results by the Alabama Secretary of State which occurs within a few days following the election.
The Supreme Court of Alabama is the highest court in the state of Alabama. The court consists of a chief justice and eight associate justices. Each justice is elected in partisan elections for staggered six-year terms. The Supreme Court is housed in the Heflin-Torbert Judicial Building in downtown Montgomery,Alabama.
The lieutenant governor of Alabama is the president of the Alabama Senate,elected to serve a four-year term. The office was created in 1868,abolished in 1875,and recreated in 1901. According to the current constitution,should the governor be out of the state for more than 20 days,the lieutenant governor becomes acting governor,and if the governor dies,resigns or is removed from office,the lieutenant governor ascends to the governorship. Earlier constitutions said the powers of the governor devolved upon the successor,rather than them necessarily becoming governor,but the official listing includes these as full governors. The governor and lieutenant governor are not elected on the same ticket.
Kay Ellen Ivey is an American politician who is the 54th governor of Alabama,serving since 2017. Originally a conservative Southern Democrat,Ivey became a member of the Republican Party in 2002. She was the 38th Alabama state treasurer from 2003 to 2011 and the 30th lieutenant governor of Alabama from 2011 to 2017.
The Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) is the agency responsible for incarceration of convicted felons in the state of Alabama in the United States. It is headquartered in the Alabama Criminal Justice Center in Montgomery.
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,and transgender (LGBT) individuals in the U.S. state of Alabama have federal protections,but still face legal challenges and discrimination on the state level that is not experienced by non-LGBT residents. LGBT rights in Alabama—a Republican Party stronghold located in both the Deep South and greater Bible Belt—are severely limited in comparison to other states. As one of the most socially conservative states in the U.S.,Alabama is one of the only two states along with neighboring Mississippi where opposition to same-sex marriage outnumbers support.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Alabama since June 26,2015,in accordance with the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges. Not all counties immediately complied with the ruling,copying behavior from the civil rights era when they had refused to perform interracial marriages. A year after the Supreme Court ruling,twelve counties would either issue licenses to no one or only to opposite-sex couples. By 2017,this number had dropped to only eight counties,with all eight refusing to issue licenses to anyone. In May 2019,the Alabama Legislature passed a bill replacing the option that counties issue marriage licenses and perform marriage ceremonies with the requirement of counties to record marriage certificates. Subsequently,all counties complied and announced on August 29,2019 that they would record marriage certificates for interracial and same-sex couples. Previously,Alabama had banned the licensing of same-sex marriages and the recognition of such marriages from other jurisdictions by executive order in 1996,by statute in 1998,and by constitutional amendment in June 2006.
Robert Julian Bentley is an American former politician and physician who served as the 53rd governor of Alabama from 2011 until 2017 upon his resignation after a sex scandal involving a political aide and subsequent arrest. A member of the Republican Party,Bentley was elected governor in 2010 and re-elected in 2014.
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,and transgender (LGBT) people in Tennessee may experience some legal challenges that non-LGBT residents do not. Same-sex sexual activity has been legal in the state since 1996. Marriage licenses have been issued to same-sex couples in Tennessee since the Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26,2015.
Robert Andres Bonta is an American lawyer and politician serving as the attorney general of California since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party,he previously served as a member of the California State Assembly for the 18th district from 2012 to 2021 and as a member of the Alameda City Council from 2010 to 2012.
A six-week abortion ban,also called a "fetal heartbeat bill" by proponents,is a law in the United States which makes abortion illegal as early as six weeks gestational age,which is when proponents claim that a "fetal heartbeat" can be detected. Medical and reproductive health experts,including the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists,say that the reference to a fetal heartbeat is medically inaccurate and misleading because a conceptus is not called a fetus until eight weeks after fertilization,as well as that at four weeks after fertilization,the embryo has no heart,only a group of cells which will become a heart. Medical professionals advise that a true fetal heartbeat cannot be detected until around 17 to 20 weeks of gestation when the chambers of the heart have become sufficiently developed.
Spencer James Cox is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 18th governor of Utah since 2021. A member of the Republican Party,he served as the eighth lieutenant governor of Utah from 2013 to 2021. In Fairview,Utah,where Cox lives and was raised,he was elected to the city council in 2004 and then as mayor in 2005. In 2008,he was elected as a Sanpete County county commissioner.
The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) is a law enforcement agency serving the U.S. state of Alabama. It exists within the Executive Branch of State Government to coordinate public safety in Alabama. It was formed on 1 January 2015 by the merger of 12 state law enforcement agencies. The Secretary,its chief executive,is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the Governor of Alabama. ALEA is divided into two functional divisions,the Department of Public Safety and the State Bureau of Investigations. The Secretary of ALEA is responsible for appointing a Director of both divisions,after consultation with the Governor.
Jim Zeigler is an American lawyer and politician who served as state auditor of Alabama from 2015 to 2023. Before becoming state auditor,he served on the Alabama Public Service Commission from 1974 to 1978.
Phillip W. Williams Jr. is an American politician,radio show host and attorney from the state of Alabama. A member of the Republican Party,Williams served in the Alabama Senate from 2010 until 2018,representing the 10th district,encompassing Etowah County and parts of Cherokee County. Since leaving the state legislature,Williams has served as a policy director for the Alabama Policy Institute and hosts a conservative radio program,Rightside Radio.
Steve Marshall is an American lawyer serving as the 48th attorney general of Alabama. He was appointed in February 2017 by Governor Robert J. Bentley to fill the vacancy created by previous attorney general Luther Strange's appointment to the United States Senate. He was elected to a full term in 2018,and was re-elected in 2022. He previously served as district attorney in Marshall County for 16 years.
Timothy Ivan Melson is an American politician and physician. A member of the Republican Party,he serves in the Alabama State Senate,representing its 1st district since 2014.
Will Ainsworth is an American politician serving as the 31st and incumbent lieutenant governor of Alabama since 2019. He served in the Alabama House of Representatives from 2014 to 2018,representing its 27th district.
