In a ruling viewed as one of the term’s most highly politicized, the state’s Republican-dominated high court struck down Laredo’s plastic-bag ban. The ruling probably marks the end of similar bans in other cities across Texas. Jay Aiyer writes that the ruling is “a larger blow to those who really have seen Texas as a state that has sided with local control and local initiatives.” This type of disagreement over state versus local control has increasingly become a flashpoint, with varying results.
