Conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court justice won’t seek reelection

MILWAUKEE (CN) — Justice Rebecca Bradley announced Friday that she would not seek a second term in 2026, opening the race for a seat on a liberal-majority court.

The court’s balance shifted after two conservative candidates were handily defeated by liberals, flipping the majority for the first time in 15 years. Both races set national spending records, fueled largely by out-of-state interest in controlling the battleground state.

Bradley has been a staunch conservative voice on the court, often accusing the liberal majority of being “activist judges” in her frequent dissents.

“I will not seek reelection to the Wisconsin Supreme Court because I believe the best path for me to rebuild the conservative movement and fight for liberty is not as a minority member of the court,” Bradley said in a statement.

Though Bradley had previously said she would run again, her lack of fundraising was an early indicator of Friday’s announcement.

Bradley, 54, was appointed to the state Supreme Court in 2015 by former Governor Scott Walker after serving on the District I Court of Appeals, the Milwaukee County Circuit Court and 16 years in private practice.

Wisconsin Appellate Judge Chris Taylor is so far the only candidate in the now wide open race for Bradley’s seat. She joined the bench after nearly a decade in the State Assembly.

Taylor has already raised over $1 million, according to a statement from her campaign manager, Ashley Franz, and she has been endorsed by all four liberal state Supreme Court justices.

A republican candidate will need to jump in soon to catch up to Taylor’s campaign, as yard signs and Instagram campaigns are already doing the work of getting her name out to voters.

Bradley has been ringing the alarm about what she sees as judicial activism by the court’s majority for some time — a warning which she reiterated in her statement on Friday.

“For years I have warned that under the control of judicial activists, the court will make itself more powerful than the legislature, more powerful than the governor,” Bradley said. “That warning went unheeded, and Wisconsin has seen only the beginning of what an alarming shift from thoughtful, principled judicial service toward bitter partisanship, personal attacks and political gamesmanship is that have no place in court.”

Her written dissenting opinions frequently make these same accusations, often going after liberal justices’ social media presence and campaign statements as evidence of political bias.

Justice Susan Crawford, who defeated Judge Brad Schimel in 2025 in a stunning $100 million race, told Courthouse News in June that disagreement on the bench is healthy and leads to better decision making on tough cases. She also condemned Bradley’s personal attacks written in her dissents.

“All the justices should really focus on the legal doctrines of the case and should not be out there accusing another justice of bringing in some type of extra-judicial or extra-legal consideration unless they have pretty darn good evidence of that,” Crawford said.

In July, Bradley wrote a strongly worded dissent to the majority opinion to overturn a law written in 1849 that instituted a total ban on abortions in the state. In her opinion, Bradley accused Chief Justice Jill Karofsky of betraying women as a whole.

She also backed the enforcement of Act 10, the law curbing collective bargaining rights for most state workers, when a nurse’s union sought recognition from the UW Hospital and Clinic Authority.

Act 10 could return to the Supreme Court after Bradley’s term ends, as a lower court ruling invalidating the law moves through appeals.

In 2020, Bradley voted to take up President Donald Trump’s lawsuit seeking to reverse the results of the general election in Wisconsin. Bradley argued in her dissenting opinion that the court had a constitutional responsibility to promptly decide the legal questions presented in the case, which alleged unlawful practices by the Wisconsin Elections Commission and other state officials.

Bradley’s term ends in July 2026, after which she says she will take stock of the issues in the conservative movement and fix them.

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