On Tuesday, April 2, as voters select a new justice to sit on the Wisconsin Supreme Court for a 10-year term, hanging in the balance is whether next year Wisconsinites can wrest the seven-seat court away from the rightwing stranglehold imposed on it by former Governor Scott Walker, who consistently fought to pack the high court with backers of his divisive, hyper-partisan agenda.
At stake before this court could be rulings on such vital issues as voter identification, redistricting, women’s healthcare and the Republican Party’s lame duck power grabs. Conservatives control the current court four to three. That balance stays if Chief Judge of the Wisconsin District Two Court of Appeals Lisa Neubauer wins, setting the stage for the court to flip in 2020. It goes to five to two favoring conservatives if her opponent, Judge Brian Hagedorn, who also sits on the District Two Court, wins.
That is because it is also the race to fill the shoes of trailblazing, unapologetically progressive Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Shirley Abrahamson, who is retiring after more than 40 years on the court. Yet, it appears at first glance that there is not really a candidate in her mold on the ballot. That is, until you look beyond Neubauer’s cautious script of “fair, impartial and independent” into her life of dedicated community service and pursuit of justice that evokes Abrahamson’s intellect and compassion.
Walker’s Sidekick
In Wisconsin’s current political climate, stark partisan divisions make it easy to tell Democrats from Republicans, even in an officially nonpartisan race like this. A perfect example is Hagedorn—Walker’s former chief legal sidekick and union-bashing right-winger—who has longingly described his vision of a Republican takeover. Yet, Hagedorn’s such an unapologetic homophobe that even Republicans are fleeing his sinking ship of a campaign.
However, progressives are having a bit of a challenge defining (perhaps even embracing) the mild-mannered Neubauer. Somewhat ironically, Republicans are eager to erroneously peg her as a Democratic firebrand, based on her history of donations before becoming a judge. They howl that her daughter, Greta Neubauer, is a Democratic legislator, as was her husband, Jeff Neubauer. Lisa Neubauer has steadfastly shunned political labels throughout the campaign, steering far away from questions that could signal her political ideology.
“I have chosen the path of a judge; that’s a different path than that of my husband and daughter,” Neubauer, 61, says. Earlier in her judicial career, she was backed by such conservative stalwarts as Republican National Committee lawyer Michael Grebe and Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty’s Rick Esenberg.
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In stark contrast, Hagedorn, 40, showcases a life of headline-grabbing extremist opinions, comparing same-sex relationships to bestiality and calling for the overturn of Roe v. Wade, a case he calls his litmus test when choosing a political candidate. He’s so rightwing that even heavyweight Republican backers like Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are avoiding him, and the Wisconsin Realtors Association rescinded its endorsement for the first time in its history, now asking Hagedorn for its $18,000 donation back. In fact, one of the only groups to still stand with Hagedorn (other than the Koch Brothers) is the National Rifle Association. Surprise!
Neubauer’s Community Service
Neubauer, a mother of three and longtime Racine community member, has spent the last 11 years on the bench of the District Two Court of Appeals. Like Abrahamson, she was the first woman to sit on her court. She worked for nearly 20 years at Foley and Lardner, focused on environmental cleanup law and held key leadership positions in the firm. But, beyond her résumé, there lies a deeper story.
Neubauer is a mentor to fellow breast cancer survivors. Her lengthy history of community service informs her judicial work, including serving on the boards of Racine Area United Way, Legal Action of Wisconsin and the Equal Justice Coalition—the latter two being organizations that provide legal assistance to low-income individuals. She also spent time tutoring in Racine’s public schools and volunteering with Big Brothers, Big Sisters. Much of this is relayed in her biographic video (pinned to the top of her Twitter account), which takes us back to a life-altering moment that defined her outlook on justice.
In 1978, Neubauer was 21 when she went to pick up a friend from a Chicago police station—a visit that got her strip-searched by Chicago police officers. In the wake of the unjust incident, she bravely became a Jane Doe in a successful lawsuit that forever altered police search laws, not just in Chicago, but also in Wisconsin and across the nation. “I was not going to stay quiet about it,” she recalls in the video, adding later, “It also taught me about the importance of looking to the courts.”
Her deep range of endorsements is testament to the respect she commands from colleagues in all parts of the justice system. Her campaign lists more than 340 judges from both sides of the political spectrum, including 10 of the other judges who serve with both she and her opponent on the District Two Court of Appeals. Her ever-growing list also includes police officers, district attorneys and lawyers.
Asked why she’s in the race, Neubauer keeps to her simple, straightforward mantra: “I have a deep record that shows I am fully committed to making sure our next justice is committed to being fair, impartial and independent. What does that mean? It means that when people walk through the doors of our court, they have confidence they’re going to receive justice. I don’t have any ideology with me. I don’t bring an agenda.”
The race comes down to a choice between a Scott Walker acolyte and anti-LGBTQ bigot in Brian Hagedorn and a deeply experienced, community-minded humanitarian in Lisa Neubauer. She may not show the fire and wit for which Abrahamson is renowned, but like her, Neubauer is about protecting access for all to the judicial system and finding reasonable alternatives to incarceration that also protect the public’s safety. Like Abrahamson, Neubauer is a warm, hugely experienced candidate who cares deeply about justice.
Hagedorn’s Extreme Rightwing Views
While most recent Wisconsin Supreme Court candidates and Walker appointees have been partisan, extremist and openly anti-LGBTQ, Hagedorn lowers the bar even further.
“Brian Hagedorn is more extreme, more partisan and more beholden to special interests than any recent Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate we’ve seen,” says Joanna Beilman-Dulin, research director for One Wisconsin Now. “He has shown through his views, writings and actions just how extreme he is.”
Given that he’s been in the campaign spotlight less than a year, Hagedorn’s hit parade is surprisingly long. In his law school blog, Hagedorn argued that a U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down anti-sodomy laws in Texas could end up legalizing bestiality. He also wrote of his “hate” for Planned Parenthood—a “wicked organization,” in his opinion. In the same blog he labeled the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) a “disgrace to America.”
According to One Wisconsin Now, Hagedorn was the lawyer at the center of drafting Walker’s attempt to gut the Wisconsin Idea. He fought a losing battle to hide those open records from the public. (The Wisconsin Idea is a philosophy embraced by the University of Wisconsin System holding that university research should be applied to solve problems and improve health, quality of life, the environment and agriculture for all citizens of the state.)
While a sitting judge, Hagedorn was paid to give speeches by the Alliance Defending Freedom, an organization that has supported criminalizing sodomy and sterilizing transgender people. The Augustine Academy—a private Christian school Hagedorn co-founded in Merton, Wis.—prohibits students, teachers, board members and even students’ parents from being in same-sex relationships, and it reserves the right to fire teachers and kick out students simply for being LGBTQ.
Hagedorn has completely refused to distance himself from his homophobic views. Instead, his response is to double down, portraying himself as victim due to his evangelical Christian faith. While Democrats may find Neubauer’s reticence to criticize frustrating, he accused her of “shameful attacks,” donning this martyr cloak at last Friday’s Wisconsin State Bar-sponsored debate. It’s a hypocritical move, given that he has demonized other religious views. “The U.S. Constitution provides no religious test for public office,” Hagedorn tweeted.
However, most voters do want justices to behave ethically. A few weeks ago, Hagedorn shocked observers when he indicated he might not recuse himself from cases involving the controversial Act 10. (He cites his drafting work on Walker’s anti-worker law as the “most significant and satisfying” of his career.) It’s a good thing that revisiting the state’s current judicial recusal rules is near the top of Neubauer’s agenda—if she’s elected.
But even with her opponent seemingly shooting himself in the foot (as well as the leg, arm and hand), a victory by Lisa Neubauer is certainly not guaranteed. The possibility that low voter turnout could impact the race looms large. In that context, Neubauer’s cautious refusal to deviate from her tight campaign script may put her at risk with the currently politicized Wisconsin electorate. As she has stated many times during the course of the campaign, she’s trusting the voters to look at her judicial record. For the sake of the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s future, here’s hoping voters turn out to prove that Neubauer’s adherence to her ‘fair, impartial and independent’ mantra is not a mistake. Vote Tuesday, April 2.
