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State Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley on Monday apologized for opinions she published 24 years ago as a college student that referred to people with AIDS as “degenerates” and called gay people “queers.”

“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 a statement. “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.

“I am frankly embarrassed at the content and tone of what I wrote those many years ago,” Bradley said in the statement, in which she also said she wrote them as “a very young student.”

Bradley was responding to the release of two letters to the editor and one column she wrote in 1992 as a student at Marquette University when she had a different last name. Liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now disclosed the writings, published in the Marquette Tribune, at a state Capitol news conference Monday.

The revelation comes less than a month before Wisconsin voters go to the polls to determine whether Bradley should retain her seat on the high court or whether she should be replaced by Appeals Court judge Joanne Kloppenburg.