The League of Women Voters of Dane County hosted an expert panel Thursday to discuss what voters should look for in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race ahead of the April 1 spring election.
The “Choosing a WI Supreme Court Justice” event invited three local experts to discuss the race: University of Wisconsin Law School professor and expert on state courts Robert Yablon, retired Wisconsin Judge Paul Higginbotham and lawyer Jeff Mandell. Experts addressed the basic purpose and procedures of the Wisconsin Supreme Court and answered several prompts regarding how to choose a candidate, the role of campaign finance and what voters can expect in this election.
How to evaluate a candidate
While it is a basic requirement outlined in the Wisconsin Constitution that all candidates be a licensed lawyer in the state of Wisconsin for at least five years prior to the election, Yablon said voters should look for the experience a candidate has had with particularly “complicated and legally complex cases,” noting the intense nature of the state Supreme Court and the extensive experience of many current judges.
When assessing a candidate, Yablon said to consider their experience and how it might compare to the high intensity of being a justice on the state’s high court.
Yablon also said voters should look for several basic aspects of character including humility, integrity and open-mindedness. A Supreme Court justice needs to be able to set aside their predisposed inclinations and act in the favor of what is right, meaning listening respectfully to colleagues and knowing how to say no “to more than just their adversaries,” Yablon said.
Yablon ended his section with a reminder that an important role of the court is “steadying our system of government and checking overreach by the other branches” and that choosing a candidate should include assessing their ability to do that.
The role of campaign finance in the Supreme Court race
Higginbotham, who retired in 2017 after a long career serving the Wisconsin Court of Appeals and Dane County Circuit Court, discussed the role of money, specifically dark money, in Supreme Court elections.
Dark money refers to funding for campaigns or to influence public policy whose source is not disclosed.
Higginbotham emphasized the importance of understanding how dark money might be impacting a candidate's campaign trail.
“Money is speech,” he said.
Funding campaigns can be “highly effective” in influencing how a candidate may participate in controversial cases, Higginbotham said, noting that voters might want to consider what entities and organizations could be contributing to a candidate’s campaign and exactly how that might affect their term on the Supreme Court.
The most recent round of campaign finance reports showed that Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Susan Crawford received $2 million in funding from the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, while opponent Brad Schimel received $1.7 million from the Republican Party of Wisconsin.
Crawford raised $4.5 million from individual donors since entering the race compared to Schimel’s $2.7 million, February campaign finance reports show. The two candidates in this year’s race have raised more money so far than at the same point in the 2023 judicial race, which broke the national record for most money spent on a court race.
Higginbotham said the influence of dark money and the increased level of campaign funding might suggest the idea that “a candidate’s vote can be bought” and told voters to consider that when assessing candidates.
How the race affects citizens
Mandell, a general counsel at Law Forward, a law firm dedicated to “protecting democracy and working to ensure fair elections,” finished the discussion with a conversation on what is at stake in this election.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court is the superintending and administrative authority as well as appellate jurisdiction over all of the state's courts. It oversees crucial cases, such as those related to voting rights, who gets to vote and absentee ballot procedures.
The court gets the final say in these cases, and understanding each candidate’s ability to navigate controversial and complex topics is important in this election, Mandell said.
“I think that all of those could very well affect people's lives and help illustrate the stakes not only for individual voters, but also help illustrate why there is so much money pouring into these elections,” Mandell said.
The 2025 spring general election will take place on April 1. Voters can find their polling location here.
