MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The stakes were already high in next spring’s Wisconsin Supreme Court election, and majority control was at stake. But a judge’s decision this week restoring collective bargaining rights to tens of thousands of teachers and other public employees in the state is making competition even more intense.
The liberal-controlled court has already handed Democrats a major victory by striking down Republican-drafted legislative plans. Pending lawsuits backed by liberals aim to protect abortion access in the state and quell Republican attempts to overthrow the state’s nonpartisan elections chief.
Now the court may be poised to deliver another devastating victory for Democrats, public teachers and government workers by restoring the collective bargaining rights they lost 13 years ago in a fight that decimated unions, sparked massive protests and emboldened Republicans to which later restricted the rights of private sector unions.
Liberals won a majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court for the first time in 15 years after a 2023 election that saw ponderous participation between the Republican and Democratic parties, broke turnout records and broke the national record for spending on a judicial race.
Abortion took center stage in this race. Now it appears that union rights could be a major issue in the 2025 contest to replace a retiring liberal justice.
“You can argue that this race is more important than the legislative race or the governor’s race,” Rick Esenberg, president of the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, said Wednesday. “I don’t think you can understate the importance of this race to voters, no matter what side of the political divide you are on.”
The April 1 election will pit Judge Brad Schimel, a Republican who supports President-elect Donald Trump and was Wisconsin’s attorney general from 2015 to 2019, against Susan Crawford, a liberal judge whose former law firm represented teachers in a lawsuit the Collective Bargaining Act should be repealed.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court, then controlled by conservatives, upheld the law known as Act 10 in 2014.
Crawford’s previous attempt to repeal Law 10 raises questions about whether she can decide on it objectively, Schimel said in a statement to The Associated Press. During his campaign on Monday, he branded Crawford a “radical” and said she would be a “pawn” of the Democratic Party if elected.
When Schimel was attorney general, he said he would defend Act 10 and oppose its restrictions being applied to police and firefighter unions, which were exempt from the law.
Treating public safety employees differently than others makes the law unconstitutional, Dane County Circuit Judge Jacob Frost ruled Monday. He sided with teachers and restored collective bargaining rights, and the Republican-controlled Legislature immediately appealed.
Crawford’s former law firm is not involved in the current case.
Neither Schimel nor Crawford responded Wednesday when asked whether they would recuse themselves if a case against Act 10 went to trial.
Appeals against Monday’s ruling striking down Act 10 are typically first heard by a state appeals court – a process that can take months. But the officials who sued could ask the state Supreme Court to take the case directly, which would allow a decision before the recent justice sits in August.
Crawford was supported by the state teachers union, which was gutted after Act 10 took effect, as well as the Wisconsin Democratic Party and all four current liberal justices on the court. In addition to suing to overturn the anti-union law, Crawford also previously represented Planned Parenthood in a case to expand abortion access in Wisconsin.
Christina Brey, spokeswoman for the statewide teachers union Wisconsin Education Association Council, said she could not speculate on whether Crawford would hear a case against Act 10.
Brey said Crawford won the union’s support because “we believe she will be the most committed, nonpartisan and constitutional justice available to the Supreme Court.”
Schimel is supported by Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, all five Republican members of Congress in the state, the conservative group Americans for Prosperity and a host of law enforcement and officials, including 50 county sheriffs.
If Crawford wins, liberal control of the court would be locked in at least until 2028, the next time a liberal justice is up for election.
Candidates have until January 1st to enter the April 1st race. The winner will serve a 10-year term.
