2016 Wisconsin Supreme Court election

The 2016 Wisconsin Supreme Court election was held on April 5, 2016, to elect a justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court for a ten-year term. Incumbent justice Rebecca Bradley defeated Wisconsin Court of Appeals judge JoAnne Kloppenburg.

As more than two candidates filed to run, a nonpartisan primary was held on February 17, 2016. In the primary, Milwaukee County circuit judge Joe Donald was eliminated.

Appointment Incumbent Justice N. Patrick Crooks announced on September 16, 2015, that he would retire and not seek reelection. One week later, Crooks died unexpectedly in his court chambers, leaving a vacancy before the spring election. Amongst the three announced candidates prior to Crooks' death, Kloppenburg stated she would not apply for the interim vacancy while Donald stated that Governor Scott Walker should not appoint anyone that is already a candidate in the spring election, reasoning that it would unfairly influence the upcoming election. Bradley, who had been previously appointed by Governor Walker twice, first to the Milwaukee County Circuit Court in 2012, and again to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals in May 2015, did apply for the vacancy. On October 9, 2015, Governor Walker announced he has appointed to Judge Rebecca Bradley to the vacant seat. Democratic legislative leaders in the Wisconsin Assembly and Wisconsin Senate denounced Bradley's appointment.

Appointee Rebecca Bradley, Judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals (District I division)

Considered but not appointed Claude Covelli, attorney Jim Troupis, Judge of the Dane County Circuit (Branch 3)

Primary election Candidates Advanced Rebecca Bradley, incumbent Supreme Court justice JoAnne Kloppenburg, Judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals (District IV division)

Eliminated in primary M. Joseph Donald, Judge of the Milwaukee County Circuit Court (Branch 2)

Withdrawn Claude Covelli, personal injury attorney

Endorsements

Results

General election Campaign Bradley ran as a judicial conservative, arguing that “the role of a justice is to interpret the law, not invent it,” and criticizing Kloppenburg as a candidate who would “legislate from the bench.” Kloppenburg was supported by liberal groups, she did not identify herself as a liberal, instead describing herself as a “judicial independent.” Kloppenburg sought to highlight Bradley’s conservative and partisan background, including her prior association with the Republican National Lawyers Association and her past presidency of the Milwaukee chapter of the Federalist Society. Kloppenburg also criticized Bradley for a news column she wrote, defending the right of pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for contraceptives based on their religious beliefs.

One month before the election, One Wisconsin Now held a news conference surrounding controversial articles Bradley had written during her time as a college student at Marquette University in 1992. Her writings were in response to the results of the 1992 United States presidential election. In those writings, Bradley made several inflammatory statements about AIDS, homosexuality, abortion, and Bill Clinton, including the following: "Perhaps AIDS Awareness should seek to educate us with their misdirected compassion for the degenerates who basically commit suicide through their behavior." "Heterosexual sex is very healthy in a loving martial relationship. Homosexual sex, however, kills." “One will be better off contracting AIDS than developing cancer, because those afflicted with the politically-correct disease will be getting all of the funding.” Clinton "supports the Freedom of Choice Act, which will allow women to mutilate and dismember their helpless children through their ninth month of pregnancy. Anyone who could consciously vote for such a murderer is obviously immoral." "Women even declare some right to control their bodies, neglecting the fact that in choosing abortion they are asserting a right to control another body, and a right to murder their own flesh and blood."

In response, Kloppenburg called Bradley’s comments “abhorrent and disturbing” and argued that Bradley’s alignment with conservative causes and Governor Scott Walker “speaks louder than any apology she tries to make.” Senator Tammy Baldwin described the comments as “hate speech,” while Governor Walker defended Bradley, stating that many people make mistakes when they are young and that he believed much of society probably held different views than they did in college. State legislators, including Lisa Subeck and Chris Taylor, called on Bradley to resign. Bradley apologized for the comments, stating, “To those offended by comments I made as a young college student, I apologize, and assure you that those comments are not reflective of my worldview,” and argued that the comments had no bearing on her work as a judge or on the issues in the campaign.

Judicial ethics was also a theme of the election, with Kloppenburg advocating for stronger recusal rules for judges, while Bradley did not take a position. Both candidates received criticism concerning ethical judgment. Kloppenburg received criticism for not recusing herself from a case in 2014, where one of the parties had spent money for her opponent in her previous race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2011. Bradley's ethical judgment was called into question, when records were revealed into her representation of a former romantic partner in a child custodial case.

Outside groups spent heavily on the election, with groups supporting Bradley outspending Kloppenburg 4-to-1.

A large turnout for the election was expected, as it was held on the same day as the highly competitive Democratic and Republican presidential primaries. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, leading candidates in the Democratic presidential primary, urged supporters to vote for Kloppenburg, while Bradley appeared at campaign events with Republican candidate Ted Cruz.

Post-primary endorsements

Debates 2016 Wisconsin Supreme Court election debates Date Host Moderators Link Candidates Participant Absent Non-invitee Invitee Withdrawn Bradley Kloppenburg 1 March 9, 2016 Milwaukee Bar Association Steve Walters WisEye 2 March 15, 2016 WISN-TVMarquette University Law School Mike Gousha YouTube 3 March 17, 2016 Wisconsin Public TelevisionWisconsin Public RadioMilwaukee Journal Sentinel Frederica FreybergShawn Johnson YouTube 4 March 23, 2016 Rotary Club of MadisonWisconsinEye Steve Walters WisEye

Polling Pollster Datesadministered Samplesize Marginof error RebeccaBradley JoAnneKloppenburg Other UndecidedMarquette University Law SchoolMarch 24–28, 2016957 (LV)± 4.1%41%36%5%18%1,405 (RV)± 3.3%38%32%8%22%Marquette University Law SchoolFebruary 18–21, 2016802 (RV)± 4.5%30%30%9% 31%

Results Bradley was declared the winner on election night, defeating Kloppenburg by a 5-point margin. This maintained the 5–2 conservative split on the Court. During her victory speech, Bradley quoted Winston Churchill, proclaiming "There is nothing more exhilarating than being shot at without result.", referring to the controversy during the campaign over her previous college writings and relationships in her personal life. Democrats attributed Kloppenburg's loss due to the high Republican turnout in the concurrent presidential primary election and the spending advantage by groups supporting Bradley.

2016 Wisconsin Supreme Court election

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