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The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday heard oral arguments in a lawsuit brought by Republicans in the state legislature who claim that State Health Secretary Andrea Palm exceeded her authority in ordering “non-essential” businesses to close in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As the arguments unfolded via video conference, several on the court’s conservative majority appeared skeptical of the order’s legality. Among them was Justice Rebecca Bradley, a staunch conservative and Federalist Society member. Bradley referred to the order as “tyranny” and later compared it to the internment of Japanese Americans in camps during World War II. Though Wisconsin Supreme...

The state Supreme Court's conservative justices, during arguments Tuesday that were at times testy and complicated by video technology, expressed deep skepticism about the authority of a cabinet secretary to extend Gov. Tony Evers' "safer at home" strategy for controlling the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. The 90-minute arguments, heard remotely by video conference, came after Evers and leaders from both parties in the Legislature met for the first time to discuss a bipartisan response to the pandemic, which through Monday afternoon had killed 340 Wisconsin residents and sickened 8,236. Chief Justice Patience Roggensack thanked...

A conservative justice on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court is questioning whether Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’s stay-at-home orders are the “definition of tyranny.” Evers issued his first stay-at-home order on March 24 and then extended it on April 16. It is currently set to expire on May 26, but a case brought by Republican legislative leaders could scale it back immediately. "My question for you is, where in the constitution did the people of Wisconsin confer authority on a single, unelected Cabinet secretary to compel almost 6 million people to stay at home and close their businesses and face imprisonment if they...

Rebecca Bradley elected to state Supreme Court From the Wisconsin 2016 spring election series WAUWATOSA — Justice Rebecca Bradley was elected Tuesday to a 10-year seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, defeating state Appeals Judge JoAnne Kloppenburg in a bitter, highly charged race. With 98 percent of precincts reporting, Bradley held a decisive lead over Kloppenburg, who made her second unsuccessful run for a seat on the state’s highest court. Bradley told supporters at a election night party in Wauwatosa that she drew strength during the campaign from her fiance who, during tough moments of the spring campaign, quoted Winston...

The U.S. Supreme Court isn’t the only one traversing hazardous ground. Wisconsin’s highest court could see its nominally Conservative majority diminished this April. There’s no mystery about which direction the character of the Wisconsin Court would move if Joanne Kloppenburg unseats Justice Bradley—the constitutionalist Rebecca Bradley, not the Liberal Ann Walsh Bradley—April 5. Kloppenburg has never let reluctance to prejudge cases impede her pursuit of a seat on the state Supreme Court. The intent to overturn Conservative reforms like the Act 10 government union smackdown was openly understood to be the whole reason for her initial candidacy in 2011. A...

Madison - State Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley and Appeals Judge JoAnne Kloppenburg advanced in Tuesday's primary and will square off in the April 5 election for a 10-year term on the high court. With 98% of the vote counted, Bradley had 45% to Kloppenburg's 43%, with Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Joe Donald finishing third. Donald conceded an hour after the polls closed. The race pits two ideologically contrasting candidates who in the next two months will make the case that, if elected, they will act independently and steer clear of partisanship on the bench. Republican Gov. Scott Walker appointed...

Stoughton -- Gov. Scott Walker said he could appoint a new justice to the Wisconsin Supreme Court by the end of this week. "I interviewed all three of the applicants yesterday," Walker told reporters at a high school here Thursday. The Republican governor said he would make his decisions "probably in the next couple days because you’ve got oral arguments coming. I think it’s important for the people of the state. They want the court to be filled. They don’t want a long-term vacancy on the Supreme Court." Three people have asked Walker to put them on the state's highest...