State Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley came under fire Monday after a liberal advocacy group released an editorial penned by the justice in which she described the actions of gay members within her college community as “immoral.”
One Wisconsin Now released the letter to the editor that Bradley wrote as a college student at Marquette University 24 years ago.
The letter, which appeared in a student-run newspaper on Marquette’s campus called The Marquette Tribune, criticizes Marquette’s student government for creating an AIDS Awareness organization on campus.
Bradley apologized for her behavior, according to a Wisconsin State Journal article published Monday.
"To those offended by comments I made as a young college student, I apologize, and assure you that those comments are not reflective of my worldview," Bradley said in the article.
Although Bradley apologized for her actions, her opponents question her ability to remain an impartial justice serving the State Supreme Court.
“Rebecca Bradley has revealed such a depth of hatred and contempt for people that she cannot be trusted to uphold the most basic tenet of our judicial system, that all are equal before the law,” said One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross in a statement.
Bradley, along with Judge JoAnne Kloppenburg, are the final two candidates running in the election for State Supreme Court justice. The election is set for April 5.
Kloppenburg released a statement condemning Bradley’s writings as a college student “abhorrent” and “disturbing.”
“There is no statute of limitations on hate,” Kloppenburg said in the statement.
Bradley’s letter to the editor also included statements such as “perhaps AIDS awareness should seek to educate us with their misdirected compassion for the degenerates who basically commit suicide through their behavior” and “Homosexual sex, however, kills."
In the State Journal article, Bradley maintains that these comments she wrote back in 1992 will not affect her ability to judge cases fairly.
“These comments have nothing to do with who I am as a person or a jurist, and they have nothing to do with the issues facing the voters of this state,” Bradley said in the article.
