>> As of April 2024, five states—California, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New Jersey—used this method at the state supreme court level and four stat

>> As of April 2024, five states—California, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New Jersey—used this method at the state supreme court level and four states used this selection method for at least one type of court below the supreme court level. So we're only concerned about this for a few blue states' courts (and even in those cases there might be an electoral backstop permitting removal). Got it. I guess the correct answer here is for those states to change their laws to be more democratic by subjecting their judiciaries to elections and by passing state laws that criminalize bribery by state and local officials? I'm glad we both agree that the legitimate political strategy of corruption and sympathetic political appointments has been going on for years, and been used by both parties. But you still haven't shown that it's accelerated in the past decade. Next thing you're going to tell me is that gerrymandering has only been a problem since the Democratic-Republicans started doing it!