State Supreme Court races could have major impact on future policy

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Key battleground states are poised to play a role in November’s election, but not just in choosing the next president.

Ballots in states such as Michigan, Arizona, and North Carolina will be presenting voters with choices for seats on state Supreme Courts where decisions will be made on key policy issues such as gun rights, redistricting, and abortion.

“In 2024, 82 state Supreme Court seats are to be decided by voters in 33 states and Guam, according to Ballotpedia. Of those, 18 races are partisan, 34 are nonpartisan and 30 are retention elections, meaning that rather than deciding between two candidates, voters will determine whether a justice typically appointed by a governor will remain on the state’s high court,” Fox News reported.”However, some of the races have already been decided, while other candidates are running unopposed on the November ballot.”

Two Supreme Court seats are being decided in Michigan where Democrats hold a 4-3 majority. One open seat is to be decided between Andrew Fink, a Republican state representative, and Kimberly Thomas, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School.

“Across the nation, as the federal Supreme Court is tearing back the role of the federal court, you’ve seen an increased role for state courts,” former Michigan Assistant Attorney General David Porter said.

Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer appointed incumbent Supreme Court Judge Kyra Harris Bolden who is fighting to retain her seat against Patrick O’Grady, a state circuit court judge.

“In the last two decades, the state Supreme Court was led by a conservative majority,” Porter said. “We are now seeing a big shift. Liberal justices have taken control and are more interested in revisiting decisions of the past 20 years.”

Republican-appointed justices Clint Bolick and Katheryn Hackett King are on the ballot to retain their seats in Arizona, another battleground state.

“I don’t know if voters are paying more attention to these races, but there is more out-of-state money being spent than in the past retention races,” former Arizona Solicitor General Dominic Draye told Fox News Digital. “I don’t remember before seeing yard signs. Now I see yard signs everywhere, and I’m getting mailers to retain or don’t retain.”

Democrat Gov. Katie Hobbs would be set to pick replacements if the seats open up for other candidates in the high court where all seven justices are Republican appointees.

“It has devolved into a policy debate instead of a debate about whether a judge can be fair and impartial,” Draye said. “There are people who want to obtain certain outcomes in the judicial process and change the composition of the court.”

According to Fox News:

In North Carolina, Republicans have a 5-2 state Supreme Court majority and aim to make it 6-1. Incumbent Judge Allison Riggs, a Democrat, is running against Republican challenger Jefferson Griffin, a state appeals court judge.

Although Nevada is a fiercely contested battleground state between presidential candidates, three incumbent state Supreme Court judges, Elissa Caddish, Patricia Lee and Lidia Stiglich, are running unopposed and have nothing to worry about from the likely high voter turnout.

Meanwhile, another high-profile state on the national stage, Georgia, already had state Supreme Court elections in May.

There are other states, such as Montana and Ohio, where other high-profile races will drive voter turnout which, in turn, will affect Supreme Court races. The larger states of Texas and Florida also have Supreme Court races in November.

Senior Staff Writer — [email protected]
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida. Powers also contributes to BizPac Review.