Latest news with #SusanCrawford
Yahoo
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley raised no money for reelection through end of June
MADISON – Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley is up for reelection in 2026 but did not raise money in the most recent campaign finance reporting period that spans through the end of June, according to state records. Bradley, a member of the court's conservative minority, is up for a new 10-year term on the court next year. She has not yet announced whether she will run again. But in April, Bradley told that she planned to run again to "ensure that there is a voice for the constitution and for the rule of law to preserve that in the state of Wisconsin." Liberal state Appeals Court Judge Chris Taylor, who is running for the seat, raised more than $583,000 since she launched her campaign in May, according to her campaign. Taylor is outpacing liberal Justice-elect Susan Crawford's $460,000 haul in the same timeframe during what became the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history. The 2025 race, in which Crawford defeated conservative Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel, topped $100 million in spending. Crawford's victory over Schimel, a former Republican attorney general, cemented liberal control of the seven-member body until at least 2028. While Wisconsin Supreme Court races are officially nonpartisan, justices on the court typically lean liberal or conservative. In recent years, the race has become increasingly polarized, with partisan groups continuing to back their party's preferred candidate. Liberal candidates have won four of the last five Supreme Court elections, each by double digits. In 2023, the court flipped to a liberal majority for the first time in 15 years with the election of Justice Janet Protasiewicz. While ideological control is not up for grabs in the April 2026 election, a Taylor victory would cement the court's liberal majority to 5-2. State Appeals Judge Maria Lazar has been floated as a potential candidate for conservatives if Bradley ultimately decides not to run. Lazar also raised no money during the latest reporting period, however. Anika Rickard, a spokeswoman for the Republican Party of Wisconsin, said in a statement to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the party is "already laying the groundwork to inform voters of Chris Taylor's radical record of judicial activism." "No amount of money will be able to rewrite her record as a legislator and a judge. Wisconsin voters will not be deceived and will see Taylor's true colors," Rickard said. Bradley did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment. Anna Kleiber can be reached at akleiber@ This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Rebecca Bradley raised no money for Wisconsin Supreme Court race
South China Morning Post
02-07-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
US Wisconsin court strikes down state's 19th century abortion ban
Wisconsin's top state court on Wednesday said an 1849 state law banning abortion in virtually all cases cannot be enforced, rejecting claims that it was revived after a landmark US Supreme Court ruling three years ago. Wednesday's decision, which affirms a lower court, leaves in place a 2015 Wisconsin law that bans abortion after 20 weeks. The Wisconsin Supreme Court in a 4-3 decision agreed with the state's Democratic Attorney General, Josh Kaul, that while the 19th century law has never been formally repealed, it was effectively nullified by more recent laws and regulations. In 2022, shortly after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which had recognised a constitutional right to abortion, Kaul sued a Republican district lawyer who argued that the 1849 law was back in effect and could be enforced. The Wisconsin Supreme Court maintained its liberal majority after an April election in which the winning candidate, Susan Crawford, campaigned on her support for abortion rights. The contest became the most expensive judicial election in US history and was widely seen as an early referendum on President Donald Trump 01:39 Bromance implodes as Trump 'very disappointed' by Musk's bill criticism Bromance implodes as Trump 'very disappointed' by Musk's bill criticism
CBS News
11-06-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Wisconsin lawsuit seeks to ban Elon Musk from ever offering $1 million checks to voters again
A government watchdog group in Wisconsin filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking to prohibit billionaire Elon Musk from ever again offering cash payments to voters in the battleground state like he did in this spring's hotly contested Supreme Court race. Musk handed out $1 million checks to three Wisconsin voters, including two in person just days before the state's April 1 Supreme Court election, in an effort to help elect conservative candidate Brad Schimel. Two weeks before the election, Musk's political action committee, America PAC, offered $100 to voters who signed a petition in opposition to "activist judges," or referred someone to sign it. It was all part of more than $20 million that Musk and groups he support spent on the race in an effort to flip majority control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. More than $100 million was spent by both sides, making it the most expensive court race in U.S. history. Musk's preferred candidate lost to Democratic-backed Susan Crawford by 10 percentage points. Her victory cemented the 4-3 liberal majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court until at least 2028. Since that election, Musk announced he will spend less on political campaigns and then feuded publicly with President Donald Trump after exiting his administration. The lawsuit filed Wednesday in state court by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign says that Musk's actions create "the risk that Wisconsin elections will become an open auction, where votes go to the preferred candidates of the highest bidders and the election outcome is determined by which candidate has a patron willing and able to pay the highest sum to Wisconsin voters." The lawsuit says that Musk and two groups he funds violated prohibitions on vote bribery and unauthorized lotteries and says his actions were an unlawful conspiracy and public nuisance. The lawsuit asks the court to order that Musk never offer similar payments to voters again. A spokesperson for Musk's America PAC did not immediately return a text message Wednesday seeking comment. There is another Wisconsin Supreme Court election in April. In November 2026, control of the Legislature and the governor's office, as well as the state's eight congressional districts, will be decided. The latest lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign and a pair of voters by the liberal Wisconsin-based Law Forward and the Washington-based Democracy Defenders Fund. It was filed against Musk, his group America PAC that announced the petition and the Musk-funded group United States of America Inc. that made the payments. The court that Crawford joins in August could ultimately hear the new lawsuit. Crawford would almost certainly be asked to recuse from the case, and if she did, the court would be left with a 3-3 split between conservative and liberal justices. The current court, also controlled 4-3 by liberals, declined to hear a similar hastily filed lawsuit brought by Wisconsin's Democratic attorney general seeking to block Musk's handing out of two $1 million checks to voters two days before the election. Two lower courts rejected that lawsuit before the Supreme Court declined to hear it on procedural grounds. Musk's attorneys argued in that case that Musk was exercising his free speech rights with the giveaways and any attempt to restrict that would violate both the Wisconsin and U.S. constitutions. Musk's political action committee used a nearly identical tactic before the presidential election last year, offering to pay $1 million a day to voters in Wisconsin and six other battleground states who signed a petition supporting the First and Second amendments. A judge in Pennsylvania said prosecutors failed to show the effort was an illegal lottery and allowed it to continue through Election Day. A federal lawsuit filed in Pennsylvania in April alleges that Musk and his political action committee failed to pay more than $20,000 for getting people to sign that petition in 2024. America PAC on Monday filed a motion to dismiss. That case is pending.
CBS News
20-05-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Judge who fought for abortion rights runs for Wis. Supreme Court against incumbent who backed Trump in 2020 loss
A Wisconsin appeals court judge who was an outspoken supporter of abortion rights in the state Legislature announced Tuesday that she is running for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, taking on an incumbent conservative justice who sided with President Donald Trump in his failed attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss. Wisconsin Appeals Court Judge Chris Taylor, 57, becomes the first liberal candidate to enter the 2026 race. The election next year won't be for control of the court in the battleground state because liberals already hold a 4-3 majority. The race is for a seat held by conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley, who said last month she is running for reelection. Liberals won the majority of the court in 2024 and they will hold it until at least 2028 thanks to the victory in April by Democratic-backed Susan Crawford over a conservative candidate supported by Trump and billionaire Elon Musk. That race broke spending records and became an early litmus test for Trump and Musk in the presidential swing state that Trump won in 2024 and 2016, but lost in 2020. Crawford won by 10 points, marking the 12th victory out of 15 races for a Democratic-backed statewide candidate in Wisconsin. Liberals have a chance to expand their majority on the court next year to 5-2. If Bradley wins, the 4-3 liberal majority would be maintained. In an interview Monday with The Associated Press, Taylor said she is running "to make sure that people get a fair shake, that the judiciary remains independent and impartial and that people have confidence in the judiciary." She accused Bradley of prioritizing a right-wing agenda, noting her siding with Trump in his unsuccessful attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss. Bradley did not immediately respond to an email Tuesday seeking comment. Taylor was an outspoken supporter of abortion rights, gun control and unions while representing Wisconsin's liberal capital city Madison as a Democrat in the Legislature from 2011 to 2020. Before that, she worked as an attorney and as public policy director for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. Her past comments and positions will almost certainly be used by conservatives to argue that Taylor is biased and must not hear cases involving many topics including abortion, redistricting and union rights. Taylor said her record as a judge over the past five years shows she can be objective. "There is no room for partisanship in the judiciary," she said. Taylor said she would not step aside from a case just because it dealt with abortion, union rights or redistricting. Whether to recuse would be a case-by-case decision based on the facts, she said. "There are cases where, if you do not feel you can be impartial, you need to recuse and I have done that," Taylor said. "But whole topics? I would say no." The Wisconsin Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling within weeks in one challenge it heard last year to the state's 1849 abortion ban law. It has agreed to hear another case brought by Planned Parenthood that seeks to make abortion a constitutional right, but has yet to schedule a date for oral arguments. That case most likely will be heard before the winner of next year's election takes their seat in August 2026. Taylor was outspoken in opposition to then-Gov. Scott Walker's signature law, known as Act 10, that effectively ended collective bargaining rights for most public workers. A Dane County circuit judge struck down most of the law as unconstitutional in December and the Supreme Court is considering whether to hear an appeal. The Wisconsin Supreme Court faces a number of other high-profile cases, including a pair filed earlier this month seeking to overturn the state's Republican-drawn congressional maps. Taylor was appointed to the Dane County Circuit Court in 2020 by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. She won election to the state appeals court in 2023. Bradley, the incumbent, was appointed to the Supreme Court by Walker in 2015 and won election to a full term in 2016.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lawsuit challenges Wisconsin's congressional maps
Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition by Tony Webster CC BY 2.0 A yard sign in Mellen, Wisconsin reads: "This Time Wisconsin Deserves Fair Maps," paid for by the Fair Elections Project, The political sign supports redistricting legislation to reform gerrymandering. A lawsuit filed Thursday seeks to have the Wisconsin Supreme Court declare the state's current congressional maps unconstitutional because they pack a 'substantial share' of the state's Democratic voters into only two of eight districts. The lawsuit, filed against the Wisconsin Elections Commission by the Democratic law firm Elias Law Group on behalf of nine Wisconsin voters, seeks to have the case bypass the lower courts and be taken up directly by the state Supreme Court. The filing comes one month after the state elected Susan Crawford to the Court, maintaining a 4-3 liberal majority on the body until at least 2028. 'Wisconsin's congressional map is antithetical to virtually every principle necessary to sustain a representative democracy,' the lawsuit states. 'It impermissibly disadvantages voters based on their political views and partisan affiliation, systematically disfavoring Democrats because they are Democrats. By packing the substantial share of Wisconsin's Democrats into just two congressional districts, while cracking other Democratic communities into uncompetitive Republican districts, the map condemns the party that regularly splits or wins the statewide vote to permanent minority status in the state's congressional delegation.' The lawsuit argues that the nine voters are deprived of their rights because they are Democratic voters who have been drawn into districts that prevent them from electing their chosen candidates. In 2021, Gov. Tony Evers and Republicans in control of the Legislature reached a stalemate in negotiations over new congressional and legislative maps, which required the Court to step in. The Court, then controlled by a 4-3 conservative majority, ruled that it would only consider proposed new maps under a 'least change' standard — meaning maps had to adhere as closely as possible to the maps that Republicans instituted in 2011. Those 2011 maps were considered among the most extreme partisan gerrymanders in the country. In 2022, the Court ultimately chose congressional maps proposed by Evers, but the lawsuit argues that the Court rejected the 'least change' approach when it declared the legislative maps unconstitutional in 2023 and should therefore do the same for the congressional maps. Last year the Court rejected a similar effort. 'This Court has since determined that the novel 'least change' approach that directly led to this result lacked any basis in this Court's precedents, the Wisconsin Constitution, or past Wisconsin redistricting practice,' the lawsuit states. 'Yet the congressional map adopted under the 'least change' approach is now in effect and will remain in effect for the remainder of the decade absent this Court's action.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
