MADISON, Wis. (CN) — Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Ann Walsh Bradley announced Thursday morning that she will not seek reelection when her term expires next year, concluding her three decade tenure at the end of July 2025.
The 73 year-old liberal justice said she was confident she could win a fourth ten-year term on the high court if she chose to run, but that the time had come for new blood.
"It's just time to pass the torch, bringing fresh perspectives to the court," Walsh Bradley said in a prepared statement.
Walsh Bradley also said Thursday that she intends to continue working in the public sphere, despite leaving her state Supreme Court seat of 30 years and her overall judicial career of 40.
"Although I will conclude my tenure on the court, my dedication to public service remains unwavering," she said.
Her departure could endanger the Wisconsin Supreme Court's current 4-3 liberal majority, secured in April 2023 with the election of progressive Justice Janet Protasiewicz.
Conservatives controlled the state Supreme Court for 15 years before Protasiewicz took office, and with the Wisconsin state government otherwise divided between a Republican-controlled legislature and a Democratic executive, they fought tooth and nail to keep that control.
By some estimates the fight over what is now Protasiewicz's seat was the most expensive Supreme Court election campaign in U.S. history. Candidates and special interest groups spent more than $51 million on the race, the political watchdog nonprofit Wisconsin Democracy Campaign said last July, and Wisconsin political news service WisPolitics reported that spending had already exceeded $45 million by last March.
Wisconsin Democracy Campaign estimated total spending in the 2023 Supreme Court race was five times higher than the previous state record of $10 million, set during the 2020 election. Spending in 2023 was also more than triple the prior $15 million national record for a judicial race, set in Illinois in 2004.
Alexander Tahk, a professor of political science at University of Wisconsin - Madison, told Courthouse News that the race for Walsh Bradley's seat could be just as contentious.
Wisconsin is a purple state still grappling with issues such as abortion access and LGBTQ rights, he said, and conservatives will be eager to reclaim the high court.
"Were this retirement coming from the conservative side, that didn't shift the court's ideological composition, it might be quieter," Tahk said.
There are several public figures in Wisconsin, both conservative and liberal, who might be interested in taking Walsh Bradley's seat in 2025.
Former Wisconsin attorney general and current state circuit court judge Brad Schimel, a Republican, announced his intent to run against her last November. Conservative circuit judge Jennifer Dorow, who presided over the criminal trial of the 2021 Waukesha Christmas parade attack perpetrator Darrell Brooks Jr., is also a "plausible" candidate, Tahk said, as is Josh Kaul, a Democrat and the current Wisconsin Attorney General.
Current state appellate judge and former Democratic state lawmaker Chris Taylor also told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Thursday that she may enter the race.
Tahk predicted that with Walsh Bradley's days on the bench numbered, the Supreme Court's liberals may look to rule on an increased number of cases dealing with contentious ideological and political issues. Under its new liberal majority, the court has made several rulings since last year that have tipped the balance of power towards Democrats and away from conservative institutions.
This past December the court declared the state's 2022 legislative electoral maps, which heavily favored Republicans, unconstitutional. It was a reversal of the court's stance on the issue from April 2022 when conservatives enjoyed a 4-3 majority, and paved the way for the state legislature to adopt new legislative voting maps this past February that were championed by Democratic Governor Tony Evers.
Last month the high court also upheld a lower court order mandating Amazon cannot classify most of its delivery drivers as independent contractors, and ruled that Catholic charities in the state are not religiously exempt from paying Wisconsin unemployment insurance taxes. The same Catholic groups employ disabled individuals to perform work for typically sub-minimum wages, and Walsh Bradley wrote the majority opinion finding they were not substantively different from taxpaying secular employers.
"We determine that in our inquiry into whether an organization is 'operated primarily for religious purposes' within the meaning of [Wisconsin law], we must examine both the motivations and the activities of the organization," Walsh Bradley wrote. "Applying this analysis to the facts before us, we conclude that the petitioners are not operated primarily for religious purposes within the meaning of [Wisconsin tax law]."
Looming over these issues is the question of abortion access, which is still at large in the Badger State. The high court is currently considering whether to declare an 1849 state abortion ban unconstitutional, per a petition from Planned Parenthood. Attorney General Kaul also challenged the law in state court in June 2022, with Dane County Judge Diane Schlipper ruling early last December that the law pertains to feticide, not consensual abortions. A Wisconsin district attorney appealed that ruling only weeks later.
The ideological composition of the state Supreme Court could ultimately decide the issue. Tahk said he expected it to be a major factor in the race for Walsh Bradley's seat next year.
"I think it'll be a reasonably close election, Wisconsin's about as purple a state can get right now," Tahk said. "But given the prominence of abortion, it could give liberals an edge."
Follow @djbyrnes1
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.
Additional Reads
-
-
Contributor-Test-Post-2024-04-12 April 12, 2024
