A Wisconsin election for a state Supreme Court justice is an example of a growing trend around the country where judicial elections are becoming politicized battles, The Marshall Project reported Tuesday.
The National Rifle Association weighed in by endorsing conservative Judge Michael Screnock, while former Vice President Joe Biden and former Attorney General Eric Holder are supporting the more liberal candidate, Judge Rebecca Dallet, the Project reported.
A new group that Holder chairs, The National Democratic Redistricting Committee, spent $165,000 in support of Dallet.
The focus on the state judge elections is tied to redistricting legislative maps around the U.S. in 2021, Holder said in a TV interview with WISN.
"What we are trying to do nationwide is to make sure that we put in place people who will do redistricting in a fair way come 2021," Holder said in the interview.
The Brennan Center for Justice found that $2.6 million had been spent on TV and radio advertising in the race.
The Brennan Center's counsel, Douglas Keith, critiqued the national involvement in the race, telling the Marshall Project "the more national attention and endorsements that come into this race, the more it looks like any other political contest."
"Public perceptions really do matter — they need to have faith that the courts are somehow different than the legislature and the governor," Keith added.
The Wisconsin election will have little effect on the state's supreme court, where conservative justices outnumber liberals five to two, but some believe that national political groups are looking at this election to signal how the 2018 midterm elections might go, The Marshall Project reported.
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