Conservative Wisconsin justice throws fit over her new colleague
Conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley launched a hypocrisy-laden attack against fellow Justice Susan Crawford, who had a sweeping victory over conservative Judge Brad Schimel on Tuesday.
Bradley called Crawford’s campaign “disgusting” and accused the Democratic Party of “buying another justice.”
“I think the way Judge Crawford ran her race was disgusting. When you see $100 million plus being spent on one state Supreme Court race, that is telling you that the Democratic Party is buying another justice, just like they did with justice prior,” she said.
Bradley’s hypocrisy is stunning but not surprising. Billionaire egomaniac Elon Musk spent a purported $25 million in a spectacularly failed attempt to buy the election. Musk even handed out $1 million checks to get voters to vote for Schimel.
According to the Brennan Center of Justice, more than half of the money spent in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race—EXCLUDING Musk’s $25 million—was spent on Schimel, not Crawford.
Unsurprisingly, Bradley’s career in Wisconsin is marked by classic government welfare cronyism.
In 2012, after working for years at a private tech law firm, Bradley was appointed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker to the Milwaukee County Circuit Court. He then appointed her to District I Court of Appeals a couple of years later before placing her in the Wisconsin Supreme Court seat of the late Justice Neil Patrick Crooks’ death in 2015.
Wisconsin’s conservative justices have been publicly melting down since losing their majority control over the state’s highest court. With Crawford’s win, Democrats retain a 4-3 majority.
“I’m not looking forward to working with [Crawford],” Bradley said.
The results of Tuesday’s election saw all 72 counties in Wisconsin swing left, and with Bradley’s seat up for reelection in 2026, she may not need to worry about serving alongside Crawford for much longer. And over the next four years, all three conservative judges on the Wisconsin Supreme Court are up for reelection.
With higher voter turnout expected in 2026, Republicans are a lot less likely to fare well. No wonder Bradley’s such a wreck.