— The lone Republican on North Carolina's Supreme Court criticized every other judge on the court this weekend, pitching himself as a lone bulwark against liberal judicial activism.

In a campaign speech in Wake County, Justice Paul Newby compared his six Democratic colleagues to freshman Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat known by her initials who has become something of a boogeyman for Republicans looking to highlight the national Democratic Party's leftward shift.

"Imagine seven 'AOCs' on the state Supreme Court," Newby told a Republican crowd Saturday.

"Well, folks, we got six," he said to laughs. "It's six to one."

Newby keyed on new Justice Anita Earls in particular, though not by name, bringing up her election last year following a race that drew heavily partisan players and millions in political spending.

"I lose sleep at night thinking, what would it be like if we had no one to hold accountable those that want to cause social change through our judicial branch," Newby said. "In 2018, the left put $1.5 million to get their 'AOC' person on the court."

Newby's comments were recorded, then sent Tuesday to WRAL News. Newby did not return a message left for him in his chambers at the Supreme Court, but political adviser Paul Shumaker called back, saying the judge was on a family vacation this week.

Shumaker said Newby was giving "an example of ideological differences, not direct reference to anyone."

"Candidates pointing out the ideological difference between themselves and others is not new to the political process of either party," Shumaker said in a text message.

Chief Justice Cheri Beasley didn't return a message seeking comment.

Newby, the longest-serving member of the Supreme Court, was upset when Gov. Roy Cooper appointed Beasley to the top spot on the court to fill a vacancy earlier this year. He's running against her for the seat next year in one of three Supreme Court races on the ballot, all of which are likely to be well-funded partisan affairs.

Earls declined to comment on Newby's remarks.

It was unusual for Newby to call out his fellow justices, court watchers said Tuesday, and another signal of how partisanship has seeped into judicial races.

"There's something uncomfortable about it," former Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr said.

"I'm sure, knowing Judge Newby, it wasn't said in a mean-spirited way, but I'm sure people would say that's not really what you should say," Orr said.

Orr is a Republican, though he's had a falling out with some in the party in the age of President Donald Trump. He said he doesn't see North Carolina's Supreme Court as far left, based on its record of opinions.

Former Supreme Court Justice Barbara Jackson, a Republican who lost her re-election bid to Earls last year, said most court opinions are unanimous and that she found herself agreeing most with Justice Sam Ervin IV, a Democrat, during her last year on the state's high court.

“A lot of people want to assign your political affiliation ... to your ideology and how you’re going to vote on a case, and I don’t think it works out that way," Jackson said.

Jackson declined to comment Newby's remarks, having not heard them in context, but she said everything that Supreme Court justices can do "to foster collegiality is a benefit to the citizens of North Carolina.”

Newby told the crowd Saturday to watch the state Supreme Court between now and the 2020 elections, and he predicted judicial activism aplenty. High-profile, and deeply partisan, issues are headed to the court, including a decision on the state's latest voter ID law and a partisan gerrymandering case that is being heard by a lower court this week.

He called the judiciary "the most dangerous branch of government" and said Democrats want to "sue till you're blue." That's been a mantra for some time in North Carolina for Republicans angry over repeated lawsuits filed by Democrats and nonpartisan, but left-leaning, groups to overturn election maps drawn by the Republican legislature, along with other election laws.

Before she joined the court, Earls was the lead attorney in several of those lawsuits, making her a hero for the left.

"Earls was very ideological and very partisan (during the campaign) and took stands on pending cases, and no one in the media bothered to report," Shumaker said in a text message.

Newby also took issue with those who complain about the United States, saying people are trying to immigrate here because it's a free country.

"What countries are they leaving?" he asked. "Socialism. I'm sorry, we may not be perfect, but we're the best nation in the world, and why don't we just use common sense? If we're as bad as the other side says we are, I will buy you a ticket to leave. I mean, just leave. ... We don't build walls to keep you in. We've got to have a wall to keep you out if you're trying to get here illegally."

Newby's comments came the day before Trump tweeted that Ocasio-Cortez and three other minority congresswomen should "go back" to the countries they came from if they're going to complain about the United States. Three of the four congresswomen Trump targeted were born in the United States. The fourth is a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Somalia.

Newby's "just leave" comment didn't single anyone out but seemed to be a broad swipe at people who complain about the United States.