WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) – Only days out from Election day, special interest groups have set their sights on five state supreme courts, spending more than $1 million in a final push to secure high court victories.
In the last week, outside groups have spent $1 million on TV ad buys for state supreme court races in Illinois, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina, and Ohio, according to a Thursday press release issued by Justice at Stake and the Brennan Center for Justice.
For the entirety of the election cycle, special interests groups have spent close to $2.1 million in the aforementioned states.
In their press release, the groups state they obtained the money totals through campaign finance records and estimates from Kantar Media.
Factoring in spending by political parties, the total nears $4.5 million, with Illinois ($1.1 million) heading the PAC in most TV ad spending by outside groups.
As previously reported by Legal Newsline, several law firms from different states have donated more than $1.2 million to Campaign for 2016 – a committee bent on stopping the retention of Illinois Supreme Court Justice Lloyd Karmeier.
The committee has used the money to purchase TV ad buys attacking Karmeier.
Reach David Yates at elections@legalnewsline.com