In December, the Brennan Center issued another alarming analysis of the rush to fascism by partisan lawmakers in the states: moving beyond things like voter suppression and installing partisans as elections officials to outright attacking state courts and trying to limit the judiciary’s ability to safeguard elections.
“Many state courts will also play a major role in redistricting battles across the country over the coming year as congressional and legislative maps are redrawn,” Brennan’s analysts write. “This critical function in defending democracy has put these courts in state lawmakers’ sights.”
In 2021, there were at least 153 bills in 35 state legislatures aimed at limiting the state courts’ ability to rule in elections, their independence, and to make them more partisan. According to the Brennan Center’s court, in 14 states at least 19 of the those bills became law, and there were another 53 that advanced. Some of the new laws specifically restrict what judges will be allowed to do: ensuring access to polls, extending polling hours because of long lines, or even ordering changes or suspending state election laws. Other new laws change the very process for selecting state judges, try to limit state courts from hearing election cases, and make it easier to target and remove judges for decisions the Republican majority doesn’t like.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is calling for MAGA-type voters to harass and intimidate the judges in Texas’ highest criminal court, the Court of Criminal Appeals.