You’ve probably been following the recent drama in D.C. over U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his lavish vacations, private jet travel, and even his comfy “man of the people” RV — all funded, it turns out, by fabulously wealthy Americans who want to see ultraconservative jurisprudence, and who befriended Thomas after his elevation to the high court.

But the real high-stakes players — like Jeff Yass from the Philadelphia suburbs, whose bets that started with his college poker game and led to a major investment in TikTok have made him the richest man in the state — know where the real action is: state courts. The power wielded in places like the Pennsylvania Supreme Court — over important things like drawing congressional maps, funding schools, punishing polluters, rewarding tax evasion, or crimping worker power — is enormous. And those justices are elected here, as in other key states.

Yet the average voter pays almost zero attention. You know who does? Billionaires.