When voters head to the polls next week, some of the most important decisions they will make are in contests for state supreme court seats. Along with abortion, free speech, and school choice, state supreme courts are set to be critical battlegrounds for election integrity in the years ahead.
In total, 33 states are holding supreme court elections in 2024 for 82 of the 344 nationwide seats on state supreme courts. 61 of those seats are nominally nonpartisan, while 15 are currently held by Republicans and six are currently held by Democrats.
2020 provided undeniable evidence about the important role state supreme courts play in upholding – or undermining – election integrity. In Pennsylvania, for instance, the 5-2 majority Democrat court unilaterally extended the mail-in ballot deadline to three days after Election Day. The Democrat majority on the North Carolina Supreme Court, meanwhile, allowed ballots to be counted up to six days after Election Day.
On the other hand, the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which had a conservative majority four years ago, defended existing election integrity laws, upholding the requirement that voters had to include a witness signature on their absentee ballots for them to be valid. The Republican-led Texas Supreme Court likewise upheld the state’s stringent signature verification requirements, rejecting efforts to relax these rules.
Unsurprisingly, deep-pocketed left-wing special interests are now pouring millions of dollars into installing partisan judges to hand down rulings favorable to liberals.
The 2023 state supreme court election in Wisconsin, where Democrats invested tens of millions to secure a liberal majority for the first time in 15 years, serves as a cautionary tale for conservatives. The new liberal court has already reversed a 2022 conservative ruling that had largely banned drop boxes for absentee ballots, creating renewed concerns about election security.
Democrats also won a high-profile state supreme court contest in Pennsylvania last year, solidifying the court’s liberal majority. Outside Democrat dark money groups poured millions into the race, far outspending conservatives. With Pennsylvania expected to be one of the most hotly contested states again this year, any procedural challenges or questions about the legitimacy of ballots will be decided by this liberal court – just as was the case in 2020, when the state saw widespread controversy over irregularities in election procedures and apparent violations of election law.
Michigan’s two state supreme court races are some of the most important in the country this year given the court’s current 4-3 liberal majority. Although Michigan Supreme Court races are technically nonpartisan, candidates are nominated by the state Republican and Democrat parties.
With one seat held by a Republican-nominated judge and one seat held by a Democrat-nominated judge up for grabs, Republicans can flip control of the court by winning both races. Democrats, meanwhile, can grab a 5-2 supermajority by sweeping the contests.
The Michigan race that has been drawing the most attention is for the seat held by Justice Kyra Harris Bolden, who is running for a full term after being appointed by Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2022. Bolden’s campaign is heavily focused on abortion – despite the fact that Michigan already has some of the most radical abortion laws in the country, allowing the practice at any stage of pregnancy.
In Ohio, three seats are up for grabs, with Democrats looking to flip a court that has been under Republican control since 1986. Two incumbent Democrats are defending their seats, while one seat is open. The GOP’s spending advantage, particularly from the Republican State Leadership Committee, underscores the stakes involved, as both sides grapple with the issues of crime and abortion.
In 2022, all three Republican state supreme court candidates won their elections by double digits, suggesting that the GOP could be in a strong position to take a commanding lead on the court. Republicans can keep their majority by winning just one seat, while Democrats would need to win all three to flip control.
North Carolina has a single seat up for grabs, with Republicans hoping to cut into Democrats’ current 5-2 advantage. Incumbent Democrat Justice Allison Riggs has aggressively framed her campaign around protecting abortion access against her opponent, Jefferson Griffin. Riggs’s substantial ad spending and blatant fearmongering surrounding the issue of abortion has caused three Republican state senators to accuse her of violating the state Code of Judicial Conduct in her campaign.
Montana also has two important state supreme court elections this year, including one for chief justice. More than $3 million poured into that campaign between Cory Swanson, backed by Republican groups, and Jerry Lynch, backed by Democrat groups. Outside abortion groups like Planned Parenthood Votes are heavily invested in shaping narratives around abortion rights in the state.
Regardless of the outcomes next week, it seems clear that big-money liberal special interest groups are targeting state supreme courts as a means to back-door changes to election laws and other left-wing policies without going through the normal legislative process.
Conservatives should be aware of this threat and understand the stakes. While the U.S. Supreme Court gets most of the attention, state supreme courts individually and in the aggregate can profoundly shape the direction of the country – for better or for worse.
Allison Schuster is a contributor for AMAC Newsline, the Federalist, American Greatness, and the Conservateur, as well as a proud 2021 graduate of Hillsdale College.
