Primaries spotlight coming battles over state supreme courts

Spending and campaigning around the judicial races could intensify if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, which a leaked draft opinion indicates justices are prepared to do.

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“State courts are going to be front-and-center in the fight over abortion access,” said Doug Keith, an attorney in the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program. “These races … in some states are likely going to take a prominence that they’ve never had before.”

Michigan is among the states where abortion could be a central factor in court races this fall. One Democratic and one Republican justice are up for reelection to a court where Democrats hold a 4-3 majority. The races are technically nonpartisan, even though candidates are nominated by political parties.

Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is asking the state’s high court to recognize a right to abortion in the state Constitution. She also wants it to declare unconstitutional a 1931 near-total abortion ban that would go into effect if Roe is reversed.

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