Conservative-backed Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Maria Lazar discussed judicial impartiality, gerrymandering and the importance of freedom of speech for University of Wisconsin-Madison students in an interview with The Daily Cardinal Friday.
Lazar launched her campaign in October, months after her liberal-backed opponent Chris Taylor — a former Democratic state representative who served on the Dane County Circuit Court from 2020 to 2023 before being elected to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals.
Lazar previously served as Wisconsin assistant attorney general from 2010 to 2015. She was then elected to the Waukesha County District Court in 2015 and state Court of Appeals in 2022.
The two will square off in the April 7 spring election, which will determine the size of the court’s liberal majority.
Judicial impartiality
Lazar, whose campaign focuses on “returning fairness and impartially” to the court, emphasized the importance of not letting personal views impact judicial opinions.
“I put all my views behind my black robe, and so that when I’m sitting on that bench, they’re there, and my judicial approach and judicial response, and deliberations are made outside of that,” Lazar said.
She added that she believes Taylor is “overstepping” as a judge because of her past role in the state Assembly.
“I see my opponent leaning that way in that she’s openly stating her membership in a political party, and she’s openly stating her views,” Lazar said. “That’s not appropriate.”
Despite championing her independence, every Republican U.S. Congressman in the state has endorsed Lazar.
“Judge Maria Lazar has the experience, integrity, and sound judgment Wisconsin needs on our supreme court, and we are proud to endorse her,” the congressmen said in a joint statement.
Lazar noted the disadvantage of “election fatigue” from last year’s state supreme court race, a problem she said Taylor and her will both face in this race. Last spring’s race attracted more public attention, including record-breaking donations from Elon Musk, because the result determined the court’s ideological leaning.
“Last year, our state was the epicenter,” Lazar said. “It was inundated with ads, with rhetoric, or policy and political playbooks, and I think that a lot of people that I talk to, as I go across the state, are just really tired of that.”
UW-Madison students
Lazar highlighted the importance of free speech and protecting constitutional rights, especially in regard to “diversity of thought” on college campuses.
“Freedom of speech is so important, and I really respect and believe it should be protected, it should be encouraged, it is necessary, and it doesn't matter if the speech is offensive to me personally or hurtful or hateful,” Lazar said. “As a judge, I will always look to make sure that our first rights, our freedoms, our constitutional rights and the bill or rights are always protected.”
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression gave UW-Madison an “F” grade for free speech on campus in 2024. The survey showed 40% of the 423 students sampled said they have self-censored on campus at least once a month, but not all survey data paints as clear of a picture. Lazar said she’s surprised by that ranking, and believes solutions have to come from university administrators.
“I’m quite frankly surprised that it's low,” Lazar said. “I think it would have to come top-down from your management, to your president, your chancellors and individuals who would make sure that people feel like they have the ability to speak.”
Lazar said she wants UW-Madison students to know she will apply the law fairly if elected.
“I think that young college students should know that they need to get a justice on this court who is not going to agree with them 100% of the time, but someone that they always believe is doing the legal, the judicial, the fair thing,” Lazar said.
Gerrymandering
Gov. Tony Evers called for a special legislative session in April to consider a constitutional amendment which would ban partisan gerrymandering in Wisconsin. Evers signed new legislative maps in 2024, following a Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling that the old maps were unconstitutional.
Wisconsin had what experts considered to be some of the most gerrymandered maps in the country. Lazar disagrees.
“I don't think that Wisconsin [had] the most gerrymandered maps,” she said.
The state supreme court adopted maps in the 2020 census with the “least changes” from the previous districts, to only make necessary adjustments inducing population shifts, which maintained a Republican edge. Lazar said she respected the supreme court’s decision and would avoid changing constituents’ districts as much as possible if elected.
“I talked to one person in one of my campaign travels who said that in the last four years, he's been moved from one district to another,” Lazar said. “He's never been in the same one, and that's a little bit absurd.”
Lazar acknowledged the difficulty of drawing fair maps in Wisconsin and added she would refer to federal precedent when adopting maps. She said this is what justices should do rather than drawing maps in favor of a political party.
Lazar urged voters to carefully consider which candidate to vote for next month.
“The state of Wisconsin needs to take a good, hard look at themselves in the mirror and say, ‘Who do we want on this court for ten years?’” Lazar said. “I think they want a judge and a justice who actually stands for independence, integrity, impartiality and judicial restraint.”
