(The Center Square) – Maria Lazar entered the Wisconsin Supreme Court case as a conservative Wednesday, hoping to fill the open spot of conservative Rebecca Bradley for a 10-year term.
Fellow Court of Appeals Judge Chris Taylor, a former Dane County District Judge, has already entered the race. Taylor is a former Democratic legislator who was appointed as a Dane County judge.
The race will be on the ballot on April 7.
“I see that the state of Wisconsin is going down a very, very dangerous path,” Lazar told Jay Weber on News Talk 1130 WISN. “And the path they are going down is our judges are turning into politicians. We are the third branch of government. We are not legislators, we are not executives. We are the judiciary, we are independent, we do not stand for one side or the other.”
Taylor compared Lazar to Bradley in comments after Lazar entered the race.
“Just like Rebecca Bradley, Maria Lazar has spent her career rolling back people’s rights, attacking reproductive health care and voting rights, and doing the bidding of powerful special interests and her billionaire friends,” Taylor said. “If elected, Maria Lazar would be the most extreme member of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. It’s no surprise that she’s backed by the same right-wing billionaires who tried unsuccessfully to buy a seat on our supreme court this last April, which Wisconsinites overwhelmingly rejected.”
Taylor was the Policy/Political Director for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin from 2003-2011 before being part of the Legislature from 2011 to 2020, when she was appointed in Dane County.
“What I have seen happen in the past few races has really disturbed me,” Lazar said. “It seems like our court is for sale. It’s up to political parties and we’re actually possibly putting politicians in black robes.”
Lazar grew up in Brookfield, went to Mount Mary College and then Georgetown Law before returning to Milwaukee to begin her career in private practice.
She spent five years as an assistant attorney general for the Wisconsin Department of Justice.
