Wisconsin high court justice’s retirement may threaten liberal majority 

Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Ann Walsh Bradley will not seek reelection to the bench next spring — a move that may threaten the slim liberal majority of the state’s high court.

“My decision has not come lightly. It is made after careful consideration and reflection. I know I can do the job and do it well. I know I can win reelection, should I run. But, it’s just time to pass the torch, bringing fresh perspectives to the court,” Bradley said in her statement.

She said she will retire at the end of her third 10-year term on July 31, 2025. Former Wisconsin Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel announced last year that he would run for Bradley’s seat.

Only four other justices in the state Supreme Court’s 177-year history will have served longer than Bradley by the time she retires, she noted in the announcement. She became the first woman elected to the bench, rather than appointed, when she was first elected in 1995.

The state’s Supreme Court has garnered national attention in recent years. The court nearly overturned President Biden’s election win in 2020, coming one vote short of a majority, after former President Trump challenged the election in the state.

“The Wisconsin Supreme Court makes crucial decisions about women’s reproductive rights, and for nearly 30 years we have had a defender of those freedoms in Justice Ann Walsh Bradley,” Biden-Harris 2024 Wisconsin Communications Director Brianna Johnson said in a statement. “With her decision not to seek reelection, the future of reproductive rights in Wisconsin is once again in flux.”

The statement continued, “As Donald Trump brags about overturning Roe and enabling extreme state abortion bans across the country, it’s clear that the surest way voters can protect their abortion rights in Wisconsin is to reelect President Joe Biden this November.”

The Wisconsin Supreme Court flipped to a liberal majority for the first time in 15 years in 2023, with the swearing in of now-Justice Janet Protasiewicz. She replaced former conservative Justice Patience Roggensack on the court to make it a 4-3 liberal majority.

The court overturned GOP-drawn legislative maps in December, ruling that the current maps violate the state constitution’s contiguity requirements. Protasiewicz had previously called the GOP-drawn maps “unfair” and “rigged” during her campaign.

Updated at 6:48 p.m. EST.