Liberal Wisconsin judge launches state Supreme Court bid
Wisconsin Court of Appeals Judge Chris Taylor announced on Tuesday that she's launching a campaign to challenge conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley on the state Supreme Court next year.
'Justices on the Wisconsin Supreme Court must be fair, independent, and impartial. Justice Rebecca Bradley has proven that she's more interested in pushing her own right-wing political agenda than protecting Wisconsinites' rights and freedoms,' Taylor said in a statement.
'Extremism and partisanship have no place on our state's highest court,' she continued. 'Everyone who comes before the court deserves to be heard, respected, and treated equally – that's exactly what I'll do as a Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice.'
Taylor has served on the Wisconsin Court of Appeals since 2023, and previously served as a judge in the Dane County Circuit Court. She served in the Wisconsin state legislature between 2011 and 2020 as a Democrat, and was a vocal supporter of abortion access, including testifying before the U.S. Senate over the Women's Health Protection Act.
Taylor also spent time as a public policy director at Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin.
In an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published on Tuesday, the liberal judge did not make a commitment around recusing herself on cases pertaining to Planned Parenthood in the event she won the seat next year.
'I would not categorically say because I worked for Planned Parenthood 15 years ago that I can't hear a case on reproductive health care,' Taylor told the Wisconsin news outlet. 'That would be like a judge who worked for a law firm 15 years ago who would say, 'Well I can never take a case from that law firm.''
The announcement comes more than a month after liberal Justice Susan Crawford won an open seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, keeping the 4-3 liberal majority of the high court intact.
Next year's race will not determine control of the Wisconsin court, but it could provide an opportunity for liberals to expand the court further to a 5-2 majority.
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