The Arizona GOP put Proposition 137 on the ballot in June, amid widespread outrage over the supreme court’s April decision to uphold a Civil War-era abortion ban. Within weeks of that ruling, the progressive group Progress Arizona launched a campaign to unseat two of the justices who sided with the majority and are up for retention this fall, Clint Bolick and Kathryn King, providing an outlet for voters put off by the decision and the court’s ideological makeup.

Proposition 137, if it passes on Nov. 5, would nullify Bolick and King’s retention races that are taking place on the same day, as well as cancel future elections.

The proposal is “a power grab,” said Abigail Jackson, digital director of Progress Arizona. “This was responding to the energy and the anger we saw around that decision. The extremist legislators who pushed the proposal forward did it with the intention of protecting these judges.”

She added, “It is designed to take away our voices.”

Jake Faleschini, program director for the Alliance for Justice, a national organization that works to build progressive strength in the judiciary, points to a string of changes the GOP has pushed nationwide to consolidate power in state courts. In Arizona, Republicans last decade expanded the state supreme court and secured a strong conservative majority.

“At the end of the day, they want policy outcomes from the courts and they are willing to change the rules to achieve that,” Faleschini told Bolts.

“What we are seeing now is a bit of an awakening from the left around just how important these courts are for maintaining our rights,” he said. “As these rights have been taken away by the [U.S.] Supreme Court, some of the state supreme courts are no longer there as willing participants in proactively protecting their rights.”

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The system was approved by Arizona voters in 1974, with support from Sandra Day O’Connor, who at the time was a Republican state senator. After she retired from the U.S. Supreme Court in 2006, O’Connor worked to bring Arizona’s system to other states.

This year, the Arizona Judges Association, a professional organization that represents hundreds of judges, advocated for the measure to end retention elections. Jonathan Paton, a former GOP lawmaker who lobbies on their behalf, told lawmakers that scrapping retention elections would improve accountability because it’s too difficult for voters to make informed decisions on judges.

“I represent the Judges Association, and I don’t know who most of these people are that appear on the ballot,” Paton testified in the legislature. “So, do we think that the average voter knows?”

Paton is married to Court of Appeals Judge Angela Paton, who is also up for retention this fall and has been targeted by a progressive group. If Prop 137 passes, it would also nullify the results of her election.

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R&i TP