Here & Now

What Separates the Candidates for Supreme Court

Frederica Freyberg:
Next Tuesday is the spring election. In the race for Wisconsin Supreme Court, voters will choose between two appeals court judges, Lisa Neubauer and Brian Hagedorn. They joined us on separate occasions earlier this year. Tonight, excerpts from those interviews allow a compare and contrast.

Zac Schultz:
Wisconsin Supreme Court races are still technically non-partisan. But in practice, they’ve become proxy elections for Democrats and Republicans. The political parties and sometimes the candidates themselves make it clear to voters which side they are on. In this election, Brian Hagedorn is supported by Republicans.

Brian Hagedorn:
I’m running for the Supreme Court because I believe we need a justice who’s going to defend the rule of law, uphold the Constitution and protect the public. By defending the rule of law, I mean that the job of a judge is to say what the law is and not what the judge thinks the law should be.

Zac Schultz:
Lisa Neubauer is supported by Democrats.

Lisa Neubauer:
I am running for the Supreme Court because I am fighting to protect an independent judiciary in our state. We have to have that true third branch that we all learned about in grade school civics, the independent, impartial, fair judiciary.

Zac Schultz:
Neubauer’s husband and daughter have been elected to office as Democrats. And Hagedorn was first appointed to the Court of Appeals by Republican Governor Scott Walker, after serving as his chief legal counsel. But both candidates say they will be independent voices on the court.

Brian Hagedorn:
There’s nothing implicitly or otherwise wrong with people having backgrounds in government service, as I have. I’ve not been, you know, elected to political office. I’ve not been a prolific political giver or anything along those lines.

Lisa Neubauer:
I have never given money to any political party or political candidate since I’ve been on the court, 11 years. And you can’t look at my decision-making over 11 years, and that’s literally thousands of cases, and say Lisa has, you know, any kind of an agenda, any kind of outcome in mind, any kind of ideology that drives her decision-making.

Zac Schultz:
Neubauer has the support of most judges while Hagedorn is endorsed by the conservatives on the Supreme Court and most of the sheriffs.

Lisa Neubauer:
I am so honored now to have the support of over 325 judges in this state. And that is judges from red counties, judges from blue counties. It is judges from, I think, over 62 counties in this state who trust me to continue to be the kind of judge I’ve been for 11 years, and that is fair, impartial, and independent.

Brian Hagedorn:
The judges that actually review our work are members of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. I have five justices supporting me. My opponent has none. I’m proud of the endorsements I have. Also the support of judges, district attorneys.

Zac Schultz:
Most of the attention in this race has been on Hagedorn’s personal beliefs. Blog posts from his time as a law student show him comparing same-sex marriage to beastiality and more recently, he and his wife created a private Christian school that bars LGBT students and teachers. He says as a judge, he does not treat gay and lesbian people differently.

Brian Hagedorn:
I’m not running to impose my moral religious views at all. My whole campaign is premised on the idea that my job as a judge is to say what the law is and not what I think the law should be. In fact, I am deeply committed to protecting everyone’s religious freedom. People don’t have to agree with me at all. In fact, I will defend people’s right to disagree with whatever personal views I may have. And I want to reiterate, I’m not running on my personal views. I never have.

Zac Schultz:
In our interview, Neubauer said voters will decide.

Lisa Neubauer:
I really think that there’s a lot of information out there now for voters to work with in order to decide who they trust to be fair, impartial and independent and that is going to be up to the voters to decide.

Frederica Freyberg:
For more on the state Supreme Court race and for other spring election coverage, go to WisconsinVote.org.