Daley kicks off state Supreme Court run

Listen to this article

While announcing his candidacy for the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Monday afternoon, Rock County Circuit Judge James Daley said it is important to keep a justice’s individual’s beliefs out of any decision he or she may make.

The problem is, he said, that there are some justices that “have either forgotten or ignored this simple but basic tenant of constitutional law.”

Daley made these remarks while officially announcing his state Supreme Court run. He will take on Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, who was first elected in 1995 and is known for being a part of the court’s liberal wing.

Supporters hope that Daley will be elected to make the court’s conservative bloc, which is made up of four justices, even larger.

Daley has been a judge in Rock County since 1989 and was appointed by then-Gov. Tommy Thompson. He is currently the chief judge of his judicial district. Prior to being appointed, he served as Rock County’s district attorney. A retired brigadier general, Daley is known to many in the legal community for being the leader of one of the state’s first veteran’s courts.

During his brief announcement, held at a pavilion outside the county’s courthouse in Janesville, about two dozen supporters stood behind him. His remarks were brief, but he highlighted his military service and his judicial philosophy.

“Judges must avoid substituting their individual opinion concerning a policy enacted by another branch of government … that is within the constitutionally mandated authority of that branch simply because a judge does not agree with that policy,” he said.

In terms of specifics, though, that’s all he gave on Monday. Following his news conference, Daley said he had to go to a meeting. He did not take any questions.

His campaign manager, Briton Schiel, said Daley would not be available for the rest of Monday.

However, some of the two dozen sheriffs, veterans and attorneys who stood behind him as he made his short announcement said Daley, if elected, would be a strong conservative justice.

Don Hilbig, a retired social worker from Beloit, said Daley is a “strong conservative man with excellent strong values.”

But others, such as attorney George Steil, of Brennan Steil SC, Janesville, said that Daley can be better seen as a bipartisan candidate, and one who can “add a level of scholarship and bipartisanship and even-handed approach” to the court’s decisions, and not necessarily a political bent.

“He’s not going to interpret the law as he would see it. He would interpret the law as its written,” Steil said. He doesn’t want to take the bench and be a legislator. I think his goal is to enforce the law as it’s written and not to put his own personal beliefs into the system.”

Democratic Rock County Sheriff Robert Spoden said he and other sheriffs will support Daley because of his work with law enforcement.

Schiel said on Friday that the judge was announcing now because he wanted to get an early start. He registered a campaign committee on Aug. 11, but petitions to get on the ballot can’t be circulated until Dec. 1. They are due Jan. 6.

Bradley is expected to make a formal announcement in the coming weeks.

According to the Government Accountability Board’s website, Justice Pat Roggensack’s campaign gave Daley’s campaign $1,000 on Dec. 19, when Daley was running unopposed to retain his seat in Rock County.

— The Associated Press also contributed to this report.