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Rebecca Bradley
Bradley in 2015
Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court
Incumbent
Assumed office
October 12, 2015
Appointed byScott Walker
Preceded byN. Patrick Crooks
Judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals
District I
In office
May 2015 – October 12, 2015
Appointed byScott Walker
Preceded byRalph Adam Fine
Succeeded byWilliam W. Brash III
Personal details
Born
Rebecca Lynn Grassl

(1971-08-02) August 2, 1971 (age 53)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
EducationMarquette University (BA)
University of Wisconsin, Madison (JD)
WebsiteCampaign website

Rebecca Lynn Grassl Bradley (born August 2, 1971) is an American lawyer, and justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, serving since 2015. She has been a state judge in Wisconsin since 2012. She was appointed to the Supreme Court by Governor Scott Walker in 2015, and won election to a 10-year term in 2016.

Early life and education

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Rebecca Lynn Grassl was born on August 2, 1971, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.[1] She attended the private, all-girls Divine Savior Holy Angels High School.[1] She earned a BS in business administration and business economics from Marquette University in 1993. She received her JD from the University of Wisconsin Law School in Madison in 1996.[2][3]

In 1992, while she was a student at Marquette University, she wrote several columns for the Marquette Tribune critical of homosexuality and comparing abortion to the Holocaust and slavery. In the columns, written under her maiden name, Rebecca Grassl, she wrote, "One will be better off contracting AIDS than developing cancer, because those afflicted with the politically correct disease will get all the funding," and "How sad that the lives of degenerate drug addicts and queers are valued more than the innocent lives of more prevalent ailments."[4][5] She also wrote, "But the homosexuals and drug addicts who do essentially kill themselves and others through their own behavior deservedly receive none of my sympathy",[6][5] as well as "Heterosexual sex is very healthy in a loving relationship; homosexual sex, however, kills."[7] In another article, Bradley compared abortion to a "time in history when Jews were treated as nonhumans and tortured and murdered" and "a time in history when blacks were treated as something less than human".[8] She apologized in 2016 after her columns were discovered by the group One Wisconsin Now.[9]

Early law career

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From 1996 to 2012,[1] Bradley worked as an attorney at several Milwaukee law firms, specializing in commercial litigation and intellectual property law, and as a software company executive.[10][11] Considered a conservative, Bradley served as president of the Milwaukee Federalist Society chapter and participated in the Thomas More Society and the Republican National Lawyers Association.[12] Bradley was a contributor to the campaign of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, a Republican.[13]

In December 2012, Walker appointed Bradley to the Milwaukee County Circuit Court, where she served in the children's court division.[2][10] She was elected to a six-year term on the court in April 2013, receiving substantial support from the conservative Wisconsin Club for Growth and defeating her future fellow Supreme Court colleague Janet Protasiewicz by a 53–47% margin.[10]

Wisconsin Supreme Court

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2015 appointment

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In May 2015, Walker elevated Bradley to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Judge Ralph Adam Fine. After the death of Justice N. Patrick Crooks in 2015, Bradley was appointed by Walker to serve as a justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court for the remainder of Crooks' term.[14]

2016 Supreme Court election

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Bradley (left) at her 2016 election

After Crooks' death, Bradley, JoAnne Kloppenburg (who narrowly lost a race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2011), and Joe Donald each announced their candidacy for the seat in the 2016 election. In the February 16 primary, Bradley edged Kloppenburg 44.7–43.2%, moving the two of them on to the general election in an even race.[15]

Bradley's homophobic writings as an undergraduate, published in 1992 in Marquette University's student newspaper, stirred controversy during the race.[16][17] She had written letters to the editor and a column for the Marquette Tribune, in which she stated she held no sympathy for AIDS patients because they were "degenerates" who had effectively chosen to kill themselves. She also referred to gay people as "queers".[18][19] She called Americans who voted for Bill Clinton "either totally stupid or entirely evil".[20] She blasted supporters of abortion as murderers, and compared abortion to the Holocaust and slavery.[18] She attacked feminists as "angry, militant, man-hating lesbians who abhor the traditional family" and defended Camille Paglia, who had written in a 1991 column that "A girl who lets herself get dead drunk at a fraternity party is a fool. A girl who goes upstairs alone with a brother at a fraternity party is an idiot."[21][22] Bradley wrote that Paglia had "legitimately suggested that women play a role in date rape".[22] Bradley apologized for her student writings in 2016, shortly after the controversy arose.[23]

Pre-election polls showed Bradley with a slight lead, but with a significant portion of the electorate still undecided.[24] She was projected as the winner by a 53–47% margin on election night, and she quoted Winston Churchill at the end of her victory speech: "There is nothing more exhilarating than being shot at without result."[25]

Tenure

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In June 2019, Bradley wrote the majority opinion for the Wisconsin Supreme Court when conservatives on the court upheld a series of laws, passed by the Republican-led Wisconsin legislature and Republican Governor Scott Walker during a lame-duck session, limiting the powers of the incoming Democratic Governor (Tony Evers) and Attorney General (Josh Kaul).[26][27]

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, she dissented from a Wisconsin Supreme Court decision ordering the postponement of jury trials and the suspension of in-person court proceedings for public health reasons.[28] In April 2020, during the pandemic, she joined the conservative majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court in striking down Governor Evers' order to postpone an April 7 Wisconsin election due to the public health risks of the coronavirus.[29] She voted in person on April 2, although casting a ballot in person before the date of the election is considered an absentee vote in Wisconsin. Examination of Justice Bradley's voting record demonstrates that she voted in person on Election Day in 4 of the 5 previous elections.[30] In May 2020, she compared the stay-at-home orders to the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, and labeled them "tyrannic".[31] In November 2020, while COVID-19 cases were surging in Wisconsin, she was in the Wisconsin Supreme Court's conservative majority which prevented the City of Racine Public Health Department from ordering school closures.[32] In the fallout of the 2020 presidential election, Bradley issued a dissenting minority opinion in the unsuccessful case brought by the Trump campaign to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Wisconsin. While agreeing with at least some of the Trump campaign's allegations, none of the dissenting judges (including Bradley) would say what relief they thought should be given to Trump's campaign; instead, they merely agreed that Trump was right. Bradley's dissent called the majority's decision not to overturn the election "an indelible stain" that would cause "significant harm to the rule of law".[33]

In 2021, Bradley was the sole judge on the Wisconsin Supreme Court to rule in favor of a man who argued that his Second Amendment rights allowed him to brandish firearms while intoxicated and arguing with his roommates.[34] Bradley said that the conviction against the man "erodes a fundamental freedom".[34] In 2021, Bradley wrote a majority decision for the Wisconsin Supreme Court declining changes in district maps that favored Republicans. In her decision, Bradley wrote that questions about the redistricting maps "must be resolved through the political process and not by the judiciary".[35][36]

In the 2022 decision Teigen v. Wisconsin Election Commission, which held that ballot drop boxes are illegal under Wisconsin statutes, Bradley wrote "If elections are conducted outside of the law, the people have not conferred their consent on the government. Such elections are unlawful and their results are illegitimate."[37] Teigen was ultimately overturned by the Wisconsin Supreme Court on July 5, 2024, with Bradley authoring the dissenting opinion.[38]

Electoral history

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Wisconsin Circuit Court (2013)

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Wisconsin Circuit Court, Milwaukee Circuit, Branch 45 Election, 2013[39]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Primary election, February 19, 2013
Nonpartisan Rebecca Bradley (incumbent) 32,997 59.64%
Nonpartisan Janet Claire Protasiewicz 16,173 29.23%
Nonpartisan Gil Urfer 6,158 11.13%
Total votes 55,328 100.0%
General election, April 2, 2013
Nonpartisan Rebecca Bradley (incumbent) 55,177 53.13%
Nonpartisan Janet Claire Protasiewicz 48,685 46.87%
Total votes 103,862 100.0%

Wisconsin Supreme Court (2016)

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Wisconsin Supreme Court Election, 2016[40]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Primary election, February 16, 2016
Nonpartisan Rebecca Bradley (incumbent) 251,823 44.61%
Nonpartisan JoAnne Kloppenburg 243,190 43.16%
Nonpartisan M. Joseph Donald 68,373 12.12%
Scattering 631 0.11%
Total votes 567,038 100.0%
General election, April 5, 2016
Nonpartisan Rebecca Bradley (incumbent) 1,024,892 52.35%
Nonpartisan JoAnne Kloppenburg 929,377 47.47%
Scattering 4,678 0.24%
Total votes 1,957,947 100.0%

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Elected Officials - Wisconsin Legislative Documents" (PDF). Wisconsin Blue Book 2017-2018. p. 9. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 1, 2020. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
  2. ^ a b Garza, Jesse (May 11, 2015). "Walker appoints Judge Rebecca Bradley to District 1 Court of Appeals". The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Archived from the original on July 16, 2015. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
  3. ^ DeFour, Matthew (October 10, 2015). "Scott Walker appoints Rebecca Bradley to Supreme Court". Wisconsin State Journal. Archived from the original on May 17, 2020. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  4. ^ DeFour, Matthew; Beck, Molly (March 9, 2016). "Rebecca Bradley: 'Deeply sorry' for 1992 comments about gays, people with AIDS". Wisconsin State Journal. Archived from the original on January 13, 2021. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
  5. ^ a b Grassl, Rebecca (February 11, 1992). "What MU really needs is morality" (PDF). Marquette Tribune. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 10, 2016.
  6. ^ Rodriguez, Mathew (April 6, 2016). "New Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley's Homophobic Quotes Are Despicable". Mic. Archived from the original on October 28, 2020. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
  7. ^ Wickman, Natalie; Lindsey, Tricia (March 10, 2016). "Justice's former MU professor reflects on her character". Marquette Tribune. Vol. 100, no. 21. p. 6. Archived from the original on April 15, 2023. Retrieved April 15, 2023.
  8. ^ Wickman, Natalie; Lindsey, Tricia (March 10, 2016). "WI Justice's controversial '92 articles revisited". Marquette Tribune. Vol. 100, no. 21. p. 1. Archived from the original on April 15, 2023. Retrieved April 15, 2023.
  9. ^ Wickman, Natalie (March 10, 2016). "Alumna Rebecca Bradley under fire for controversial writings from 1992". Marquette Wire. Archived from the original on September 30, 2022. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
  10. ^ a b c Vielmetti, Bruce (June 27, 2015). "Rebecca Bradley's star rises among conservative judiciary". The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Archived from the original on July 30, 2015. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
  11. ^ "Gov. Walker Appoints Rebecca Bradley to Wisconsin Supreme Court". State Bar of Wisconsin. October 9, 2015. Retrieved August 11, 2023.
  12. ^ Vielmetti, Bruce (November 26, 2012). "Rebecca Bradley named circuit judge in Milwaukee". The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Archived from the original on August 20, 2015. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
  13. ^ Fischer, Brendan (March 28, 2013). "In a Divided Wisconsin, Scott Walker Even Looms Large in Local Judicial Races". PR Watch. Archived from the original on October 27, 2015. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
  14. ^ Horne, Michael (March 9, 2016). "The Two Homes of Rebecca Bradley". Urban Milwaukee. Archived from the original on March 26, 2017.
  15. ^ Glauber, Bill (February 25, 2016). "Rebecca Bradley-Joanne Kloppenburg race a dead heat for high court". The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Archived from the original on March 30, 2016. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
  16. ^ Godar, Bryna (April 3, 2016). "Bradley, Kloppenburg square off in state Supreme Court race". Associated Press. Archived from the original on April 8, 2016. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  17. ^ DeFour, Matthew; Beck, Molly (March 9, 2016). "Rebecca Bradley: 'Deeply sorry' for 1992 comments about gays, people with AIDS". Wisconsin State Journal. Archived from the original on January 13, 2021. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  18. ^ a b Marley, Patrick (March 7, 2016). "Rebecca Bradley in 1992: 'Queers' with AIDS, addicts merit no sympathy". The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Archived from the original on March 8, 2016. Retrieved March 7, 2016.
  19. ^ "Election 2016: Rebecca Bradley, JoAnne Kloppenburg signal political leanings". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Archived from the original on September 30, 2020. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  20. ^ "Rebecca Grassi 'Crossfire' column, 11/11/1992" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on March 9, 2016. Retrieved March 7, 2016.
  21. ^ Paglia, Camille (February 17, 1991). "Perspective Needed -- Feminism's Lie: Denying Reality About Sexual Power And Rape". The Seattle Times.
  22. ^ a b Opoien, Jessie (March 9, 2016). "Rebecca Bradley in 1992: Camille Paglia 'legitimately suggested' women play role in date rape". Capital Times. Archived from the original on April 12, 2016. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  23. ^ Beck, Molly (March 7, 2016). "Rebecca Bradley apologizes for college newspaper columns calling gay people 'degenerates'". The Wisconsin State Journal. Archived from the original on May 6, 2016. Retrieved March 7, 2016.
  24. ^ "Poll: Close race between Rebecca Bradley, JoAnne Cloppenburg". Associated Press. March 30, 2016. Archived from the original on April 4, 2016. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
  25. ^ Marley, Patrick. "Rebecca Bradley beats JoAnne Kloppenburg in high court race". The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Archived from the original on September 1, 2019. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  26. ^ Marley, Patrick (June 21, 2019). "On 4-3 vote, Wisconsin Supreme Court upholds state's lame-duck laws limiting power of Democratic governor". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Archived from the original on June 21, 2019. Retrieved June 22, 2019.
  27. ^ White, Laurel (June 21, 2019). "Wisconsin Supreme Court Sides With GOP Lawmakers To Limit Democratic Governor's Power". NPR. Archived from the original on April 10, 2020. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  28. ^ Vetterkind, iley (March 29, 2020). "As election nears, COVID-19 pandemic highlights judicial style of Supreme Court candidates". Wisconsin State Journal. Archived from the original on May 19, 2020. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  29. ^ Johnson, Shawn (April 6, 2020). "Wisconsin's Election Is Happening After State Supreme Court Blocks Evers". Wisconsin Public Radio. Archived from the original on April 14, 2020. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  30. ^ Bice, Daniel (April 13, 2020). "Bice: All seven Supreme Court justices voted absentee, even those who hadn't in the past". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Archived from the original on June 13, 2020. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
  31. ^ "The Latest: Wisconsin waives road test for young drivers". Star Tribune. Associated Press. May 5, 2020. Archived from the original on May 12, 2020. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  32. ^ Carson, Sophie (November 25, 2020). "Wisconsin Supreme Court blocks Racine health order closing public and private schools until it decides on Dane County case". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Archived from the original on November 27, 2020. Retrieved November 28, 2020.
  33. ^ Lambe, Jerry (December 14, 2020). "Wisconsin's Rejection of a Trump-Backed Supreme Court Candidate Ended Up Being Extremely Important". Law & Crime. Archived from the original on December 15, 2020. Retrieved December 15, 2020.
  34. ^ a b Bauer, Scott (May 4, 2021). "Divided Wisconsin Supreme Court upholds man's gun conviction". AP News. Archived from the original on May 4, 2021. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
  35. ^ Bauer, Scott (November 30, 2021). "Top Wisconsin court affirms GOP's preferred approach to maps". Star Tribune. Associated Press. Archived from the original on November 30, 2021. Retrieved November 30, 2021.
  36. ^ Schmidt, Mitchell (December 1, 2021). "State Supreme Court to follow GOP proposal for 'least-change' approach to redistricting". Wisconsin State Journal. Archived from the original on December 1, 2021. Retrieved November 30, 2021.
  37. ^ "Teigen v. Wisconsin Elections Commission". Justia Law. Archived from the original on May 23, 2023. Retrieved May 23, 2023.
  38. ^ Smith, Mitch (July 5, 2024). "Wisconsin Supreme Court Says Ballot Drop Boxes Can Again Be Used". The New York Times. Retrieved July 7, 2024.
  39. ^ "Elections". Wisconsin Blue Book 2013-2014 (Report). Madison, Wisconsin: State of Wisconsin. 2013. pp. 876, 878. Archived from the original on January 1, 2020. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  40. ^ "Elections Results". Wisconsin Blue Book 2017-2018 (Report). Madison, Wisconsin: State of Wisconsin. 2017. pp. 508, 511. Archived from the original on January 1, 2020. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
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