By Mercedes Fulbright and Sandra Castro Solís | While national headlines fixate on the U.S. Supreme Court, state courts shape nearly every part of our lives. From traffic violations and business disputes to child custody and criminal charges, an estimated 95 percent of all legal cases in the United States are handled in state courts.
State courts decide whether you can access abortion care, whether your protest leads to jail time, whether you keep custody of your child and whether your gender identity is protected or punished. Despite their vast power, state courts remain one of the most overlooked battlegrounds—and opportunities—in the fight for justice. As organizers, we’ve seen the cost of that neglect. Now we’re calling on progressive movements to treat state courts not as a footnote, but as a headline.
This fight won’t be easy. Conservatives dedicated decades to capturing the courts and building an infrastructure of power that operates behind the scenes. Since the 1980s, the Federalist Society has cultivated a pipeline of judges to dominate the federal judiciary, including all three of Trump’s Supreme Court picks. By the mid-2000s, this strategy pivoted to state courts. Backed by a coordinated dark-money agenda, billionaires like Leonard Leo and the Koch network funneled billions into reshaping state courts to serve their political interests.
They may hide behind super PACs and “judicial impartiality,” but there is a distinct playbook: Flood the courts with extremists, then shield them with claims of neutrality. Hijack the language of democracy and weaponize it to attack “activist judges.” Use dog whistles like “law and order” to justify criminalizing dissent. Let’s be clear. When Elon Musk tweets that a woman running for judge is an “activist,” he’s trying to discredit her before she can rule against corporate power. When Trump loyalists gut judicial ethics rules, they aren’t just bending the law. They are rewriting the rules of power.
Their agenda is to dismantle constitutional protections, disempower communities of color, and consolidate white moneyed interests. And it’s working. Today, nearly 60 percent of state supreme court justices were appointed by Republican governors, according to Alliance for Justice. Most of these courts now lean conservative, marking a dramatic shift from decades ago. These are the same courts that determine whether trans people are protected under the law, whether corporations can pollute without consequence, and whether communities can hold police accountable. If your fight for justice ends in front of a state court judge, the odds are already stacked against you.
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