https://www.commondreams.org/news/2024-state-court-races

#State Supreme #Court Races Could Make or Break 'Firewall for Our #Democracy'
JULIA CONLEY
Jan 04, 2024

..."In Wisconsin, Justice Janet Protasiewicz won her state supreme court seat last April in an election that inspired the state's highest-ever turnout for an off-election year #judicial race. Supporters of the #Democratic judge highlighted her strong backing of #abortion #rights, voting access, and worker protections, and noted that a Democratic majority on the state's high court could decide whether former President Donald Trump would be able to challenge the 2024 election results, as he attempted to in 2020.

Voters in Ohio and Michigan are among those who face similarly high stakes this year, Harris said. In the former state, two Democratic judges and one Republican are up for reelection to a court that currently has a 4-3 majority favoring the GOP.
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In Michigan, where the high court has a 4-3 Democratic majority and two judges on the 2024 ballot—one from each party—victories for the GOP could also allow a new conservative majority to reverse several pro-abortion rights laws passed in 2023.

"After Roe v. Wade was overturned, we had to turn to state courts and state constitutions as the critical backstop to protecting access to abortion," Brigitte Amiri, deputy director at the ACLU's Reproductive Freedom Project, told the AP. "And the stakes are unbelievably high in each of these cases in each of these states."

The results of this year's state court races could also have implications for redistricting efforts, which the Republican State Leadership Committee told the AP it is focusing on heavily, calling the state supreme courts the "last line of defense against far-left national groups."...