North Carolina Republicans want to let justices remove Democratic judges

Republicans in North Carolina have passed a bill that gives the GOP majority on the state Supreme Court the power to remove judges they don’t like. The bill allows the justices to override the recommendations of the Judicial Standards Commission, which investigates complaints alleging violations of ethics rules.

If this bill becomes law, the Republican justices could unilaterally determine that the two Democratic justices violated ethics rules and kick them off the court, disregarding the votes of millions of North Carolinians who elected them. Republicans have already tried to sanction or remove these justices. And one of them, Justice Anita Earls, is now facing a tough reelection challenge from a recently retired state legislator.