As the national political climate drives Tennessee's Republican supermajority further to the right, a succession of new state laws reflect the party's interest in cultural battles over guns, race and sexuality.
Yet in a review of the year'slegislative output, some bills that might seem otherwise in line with Republican priorities didn't make it to the governor's desk.
And on certain issues such as marijuana, Tennessee Republicans are even behind their peers in surrounding states.
Political analyst Otis Sanford looks at some of the possible reasons for those outcomes.
A clarification on a brief reference to Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn in this conversation:
While Sen. Blackburn has not yet specifically called for a ban on contraceptives, she sparked controversy by questioning the validityof an older Supreme Court ruling ensuring marital privacy. She suggested that the ruling that prevents states from banning birth control is "constitutionally unsound."
Some conservative Republicanshave notedthat once the Supreme Court overturns a woman's Constitutional right to abortion, it may also return to states the legality of various birth control methods.
Gov. Tate Reeves recently did not rule out the possibility of legislating birth control in a recent interview with CNN.
