MADISON, Wisc.—Labor-backed judge Rebecca Dallet won election to a vacant seat on the state Supreme
Court Apr. 3, defeating Michael Screnock, a circuit judge from rural Sauk County backed by Gov. Scott Walker. Dallet, a Milwaukee County circuit judge for 11 years, won a 10-year term by a 56%-44% margin, reducing the court’s pro-Walker majority from 5-2 to 4-3. Unions including International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 494 in Milwaukee had campaigned for her, seeking to reduce the court’s support for Walker’s anti-labor laws. Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Phil Neuenfeldt called the result “one step in our continued fight to unrig an economic and political system that is stacked against working people.” Screnock was appointed a judge by Walker in 2015, after working on the legal team that defended the governor’s 2011 law eviscerating collective bargaining for most public workers; the state Supreme Court upheld it by 5-2 in 2014. He blamed “tremendous outside influence from liberal special interest groups” for his defeat. “Next, they’ll target me and work to undo our bold reforms,” Walker posted on Twitter. Read more
