Republican legislators around the country have identified the biggest obstacles to their unprecedented mid-decade redistricting: the courts and the voters. So they’re responding by launching an all-out war on both.

They’ve met pro-democracy rulings with threats to impeach judges, pack the courts, and make judicial elections partisan. They’re also working to undermine the power of voters to have a voice in the redistricting process, by attacking voter-approved constitutional amendments and making it harder for voters to put amendments on the ballot.

The GOP’s attacks are highlighting the importance of state courts as perhaps the last line of defense for protecting fair elections.

Perhaps nowhere is that clearer than in Utah. Last month, a Republican lawmaker in the state filed impeachment charges against Judge Dianna Gibson, after she struck down the state’s gerrymandered congressional map and called out lawmakers for defying a voter-approved constitutional amendment that requires fair election districts. Gibson ordered the state to adopt a new map that will likely give Democrats one of Utah’s four congressional seats.

State Rep. Matt MacPherson accused Gibson of “gross abuse of power, violating the separation of powers, and failing to uphold her oath of office to the Utah Constitution.”