Doug Bock Clark | ProPublica

Paul Newby, a born-again Christian, has turned his perch atop North Carolina’s Supreme Court into an instrument of political power. Over two decades, he’s driven changes that have reverberated well beyond the borders of his state.

Republican Jefferson Griffin is trying to overturn his election loss by asking the North Carolina Supreme Court to toss 5,500 military and overseas absentee ballots. He used the same method to vote in 2019 and 2020.

The decisions came despite the Judicial Standards Commission’s recommendations to publicly reprimand the judges, and these are likely the only times in more than a decade in which the court didn’t follow the commission’s guidance.