Jack, I'm going to give the perfect example of why electing fair-minded justices to state supreme courts is vitally important to protecting our rights, but first I am going to ask you to donate to seven Daily Kos-endorsed candidates running for the state supreme court in key swing states. Click here to donate $1 each to all seven.

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Access to safe and legal abortion care is one the most pressing issues on voters minds heading into the midterm elections. Some voters are even taking matters into their own hands by working on ballot initiatives that would bypass Republican gerrymanders, filibusters and packed courts to put protecting abortion rights up for a popular vote.

Take Michigan for example, where a law from 1931 banning abortions was triggered when SCOTUS overturned Roe v. Wade earlier this year. In response to the court ruling, an organization called Reproductive Freedom for All sprang into action, gathering 753,759 signatures–well over the 425,059 needed–to get an initiative on the ballot that would amend the state constitution to include the right to abortion care.

Despite the record-breaking amount of signatures delivered to the state's Board of State Canvassers, Republicans on the board voted to reject the abortion rights initiative, denying it a place on the ballot. They claimed that the petition wasn’t valid because a version of the petition circulated had missing spaces and an extraneous word. Reproductive Freedom for All didn't take their ruling as the end of the road and they appealed the decision to the state supreme court.

Fortunately, this week the Michigan Supreme Court ruled 5-2 that the measure be certified and placed on the November ballot. Chief Justice Bridget McCormack wrote:

"the challengers have not produced a single signer who claims to have been confused by the limited-spacing sections in the full text portion of the proposal" and calling the decision of the Republican board members a "sad marker of the times… They would disenfranchise millions of Michiganders not because they believe the many thousands of Michiganders who signed the proposal were confused by it, but because they think they have identified a technicality that allows them to do so…"

It's not just abortion rights, the courts in each state hear, collectively, thousands of cases a year, on issues that include workers' rights, environmental protection, police brutality, and voting access.

When independent-minded justices committed to upholding the rule of law sit on those courts, we can expect fair decisions. When far-right ideologues are in charge, however, all bets are off. That's why Daily Kos is endorsing seven democratic candidates running for state supreme court in three key states; North Carolina, Ohio, and yes, Michigan.

Help support these candidates running for one of the most important but most overlooked elections of the year: the battle for state supreme courts, by donating $7–$1 to each of the seven candidates–today.

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Thanks for all you do,
Amanda McKay, Daily Kos

Daily Kos, PO Box 70036, Oakland, CA, 94612.