Partisan conflict over courts has erupted in many of the 38 states where justices are either directly elected or, as in Kansas, face periodic retention elections, without an opposing candidate. As conservatives in Washington attempt to preserve a majority on the federal Supreme Court, politically ascendant conservatives in several states are seeking to reshape courts that they consider to be overly liberal vestiges of eras past.

“We’ve seen this tug of war between courts and political branches all around the country,” said Alicia Bannon, a senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University.