By Richard Moore
The Northwoods River News
September 23, 2015
(Full Article)

The 2015 spring race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court was a mild-mannered event, but experts don’t expect the same next spring in the race for the seat the late Justice Patrick Crooks held until his death Monday in Madison.

 

This past April Justice Ann Walsh Bradley won a third 10-year term on the bench, easily besting Rock County circuit court judge James Daley. Bradley is part of the court’s liberal minority, but conservatives did not rally around Daley and did not actively recruit a more conservative challenger.

 

The monied players mostly stayed on the sidelines, in part because of the lukewarm feeling among conservatives for Daley and in part because they focused more on a referendum to change the way the court’s chief justice is selected.

 

Voters approved a measure to allow the court to choose its own chief justice; previously the justice with the most seniority served as chief justice. After the referendum, the justices moved quickly to topple long-time chief justice Shirley Abrahamson and replace her with conservative justice Patience Roggensack. Abrahamson has contested the legitimacy of her ouster – so far without success – saying the change should be made at the end of her term.

 

Next year’s race will likely have more bite. So far three candidates have jumped into the fray, including a rising star in the conservative judicial firmament.

In a flattering piece in June, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel described Bradley as a “rising star” in the conservative judiciary – a characterization the conservative website RightWisconsin embraced – and her ascent has been swift. Gov. Scott Walker appointed Bradley to the Milwaukee County circuit court in 2012, and she won election on her own to that seat in 2013.

 

She went on to preside in Children’s Court, handling caseloads involving guardianship and parental rights, juvenile delinquency and criminal matters, and children or juveniles in need of protection or services. She is also a past chairwoman and current member of the Wisconsin State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. This May, Walker appointed her again, this time to the appellate court to replace the late Ralph Adam Fine.

 

“Judge Bradley is a superb judge with a strong track record, both in the private sector and on the bench,” Walker said. “Her commitment to public service and to the rule of law will make her an outstanding addition to the appellate bench.”

 

Prior to becoming a judge, Bradley practiced in the private sector for 16 years, first for Hinshaw and Culbertson and later for Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek in Milwaukee. She also spent several years in-house with international software firm RedPrairie Corporation, where she was promoted to vice president of legal operations.

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