(The Center Square) – It took less than five minutes for the candidates running for Wisconsin’s open Supreme Court seat to start accusing each other of having a political agenda.
Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel and Dane County Judge Susan Crawford faced off in their only debate Wednesday night ahead of next month’s election.
Schimel was the first to talk about politics and the high court. He said he’s running to stop progressive justices from abandoning the rule of law.
“The stakes are huge. I don’t know if they could be bigger. I’ve never been involved in anything where the stakes are bigger than this. If you told me five years ago the Wisconsin Supreme Court would be going through a political agenda, I would have said you’re crazy. They stay within some guardrails. But that’s not happening now,” Schimel said. “I watched in 2023 how a candidate, who ended up winning on the Supreme Court, promised on the campaign trail how they would rule on cases that weren’t even filed yet.”
Crawford said that Schimel is the one being political.
“He is paying good lip service to the principles of impartiality and open-mindedness, but throughout this campaign he has taken issues on cases pending before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, including cases like one involving an 1849 abortion law that if it were in effect would criminalize pretty much all abortions in Wisconsin,” Crawford said.
Schimel says lawmakers, not the court, should decide what Wisconsin’s abortion law should be.
The two went back-and- in the hour-long debate.
They talked about billionaire donors. Crawford got money from George Soros and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, while Elon Musk is spending big to support Schimel.
They also talked about each other’s past.
Schimel took issue with some of Crawford’s light sentences for criminals during her time as a judge in Dane County. Crawford countered with questions about the backlog of rape kits during Schimel’s time as attorney general.
They also talked about recusing themselves from possible future Supreme Court cases, and about whether they would hear a challenge to Act 10.
The debate ended largely where it started, with a politically tinged look at what the Wisconsin Supreme Court will do after Election Day.
“Important thing for voters to know is that the cases that come before the Supreme Court can involve a wide array of issues of great importance to Wisconsinites,” Crawford said.
“Unfortunately, since the majority on the court right now is running through a political agenda, what cases get filed and what cases get accepted by the Supreme Court is going to be impacted by who wins the election,” Schimel added.
The Center Square detailed some of those potential cases here.
Voters will make their decision in the race April 1.
