How the Wisconsin Supreme Court race could decide future of election law
With years of continued gridlock between the Republican-controlled Legislature and Democratic governor, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has become the arbiter over some of the most heated election rule debates from redistricting and drop boxes to the status of the states top election official.
Thats what makes Aprils Supreme Court election a race to watch. It features two candidates with a stark ideological divide, competing for the seat of a retiring liberal justice and the chance to secure a majority in the current 4-3 liberal court. And it could determine how voters cast ballots in elections for years to come.
Conservative Brad Schimel is a Waukesha County judge and former Republican attorney general. Liberal Susan Crawford is a Dane County judge and former assistant attorney general under a Democratic administration. While the court is technically nonpartisan, both candidates are running with the support of their respective state parties, with partisan politicians providing endorsements on both sides.
We dont know what cases are going to come forward or what the facts or the arguments would be, said Barry Burden, a UW-Madison political science professor and founder of the Elections Research Center. But Crawford versus Schimel being on the court does send it in a different ideological direction.
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