Will Wisconsin Supreme Court Strengthen Recusal Rules?

The interior of the Wisconsin State Capitol on Monday, July 14, 2025, in Madison, Wis. Angela Major/WPR

Following a string of multimillion dollar judicial elections, a group of retired judges wants the Wisconsin Supreme Court to tighten recusal rules in cases where judges or justices receive campaign donations from litigants.

The judges say the current recusal rules are “broken,” and while the court’s former conservative majority rejected attempts to change them, there’s hope the current liberal majority will consider it.

In recent years, Wisconsin Supreme Court races have become more partisan and far more expensive. At the same time, more litigants in politically-charged cases have asked justices to recuse themselves from proceedings because of comments and political donations from the campaign trail. For the most part, those justices have declined the invitations.

Currently, it’s up to justices and judges themselves to decide whether to step aside from cases under the recusal rule, which was enacted by the Supreme Court’s former conservative majority in 2010.

Retired Dane County Circuit Court Judge Sara O’Brien told WPR the current rules were written by the lobbyist groups Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce and Wisconsin Realtors Association, and were aimed at protecting donors, “not to protect fair courts.”

“So, it literally says if I got $100 million from a party, I can still hear the case unless there’s some other reason to think I’m biased. And I think everyone knows that’s ridiculous,” said O’Brien.

O’Brien is one of nine retired circuit court judges who petitioned the Supreme Court in January to change the recusal process. Their proposed rule would make it mandatory for judges and justices to remove themselves from cases if donations raise “a reasonable question concerning the judge’s ability to be impartial.”

The petition includes nine factors to consider, such as the size of a contribution, the timing, the nature of a contributor’s “political activities or support and prior relationship with the judge,” and whether that support “causes the judge’s impartiality to be questioned.”

O’Brien pointed to record-setting spending in the 2023 and 2025 Supreme Court races as a reason to enact the recusal standards now. She said some liberal Supreme Court justices on the bench have previously called for recusal changes.

2017 attempt to tighten campaign cash recusals failed, but there’s a new Supreme Court now

This isn’t the first time a group of judges tried to convince Supreme Court justices to create new recusal rules for themselves and lower court judges. A 2017 petition endorsed by 56 judges would have required recusals if justices receive contributions of $10,000 or more from a party or lawyer in a case before them.

At the time, conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley said judges in Wisconsin should be “highly offended by this petition because it attacks their integrity and their character.” She and fellow conservative Justices Annette Ziegler, Dan Kelly, Michael Gableman and David Prosser denied the request. At the time, former Justices Ann Walsh Bradley and Shirley Abrahamson, both liberals, dissented.

Things have changed a lot since 2017. Justice Rebecca Bradley will leave the bench in August. Justice-elect Chris Taylor will take office, growing liberals’ majority to a 5-2 spread.

O’Brien said liberal Supreme Court justices and candidates have been more open to changing recusal rules. In October, liberal Chief Justice Jill Karofsky told WISN-TV’s “UpFront” that she hopes to hold a public hearing on the matter by the end of the court’s term.

O’Brien said she hopes new recusal standards will “dampen” the flood of campaign money going into judicial campaigns, which could even affect donations to liberal candidates.

“We filed a certain petition that doesn’t have to be adopted wholesale,” said O’Brien. “It can be modified. A completely different rule could be adopted. We’re just trying to get the ball rolling.”

Fellow retired Dane County Circuit Court Judge Richard Niess, who is also behind the current recusal petition, agrees that spending in races for the Supreme Court and lower benches is out of control, and average citizens want change. He said their request is an “opening bid” aimed at letting the public weigh in.

“Have a large discussion involving those who are concerned about this issue, so that all of the potential ramifications and all of the potential alternatives to our current situation can be fully aired, so that people in the state of Wisconsin, the voters, understand why the rules are what they are, can change them to a better way,” said Niess.

The Supreme Court has scheduled a June 4 public hearing on the recusal rule petition.

Listen to the WPR report

Wisconsin Supreme Court looks into campaign-related recusal rules was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.