With Wisconsin’s Supreme Court election on track to be the most expensive judiciary election in history, neither candidate has pledged to recuse themselves from hearing cases involving the political parties backing their races.
In an interview with WPR, liberal candidate Susan Crawford said that, much as she will not prejudge cases, she will also not prejudge the parties that bring them.
“I think it really comes down to, what kind of dispute is it? Who’s the other party in the case? What kind of legal issues are they raising? And only then make a decision about whether I could be fair and impartial in such a case or not,” she said at a campaign stop in western Wisconsin on Saturday.
That includes the state Democratic Party, she said, which has donated about $2 million in support of her campaign to date.
In a written statement, her conservative opponent, Brad Schimel, said he will set “personal history aside” when ruling, but he did not respond to questions about recusing from cases involving the Republican Party of Wisconsin.
“Before each case, I search my conscience and decide truthfully whether I can rule objectively. I will hold myself to that same process when I serve on the Wisconsin Supreme Court,” he said.
Schimel has received about $1.7 million from the state GOP….