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Candidates for Wisconsin Supreme Court are supposed to be independent and nonpartisan. Yet both judges in the April 2 election have close ties to political parties and are backed by special interests.

Brian Hagedorn was former Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s chief legal counsel, fighting for a conservative agenda at the statehouse as recently as 2015. Hagedorn also faulted the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005 for rejecting an anti-sodomy law, claiming the decision could lead to the legalization of bestiality. That’s a backward view and offensive comparison — one he refuses to distance himself from today. Hagedorn has been paid thousands of dollars in recent years to speak to a group that has supported criminalizing sodomy and sterilizing transgender people.

All of that creates an appearance of partiality and judicial activism, rather than neutral application of the law.

Lisa Neubauer is the liberal-backed candidate in the race. Her husband was chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, and her daughter is a Democratic state lawmaker. She donated money to the campaigns of Democratic politicians before she became a judge, and worked for a Democratic state senator after college.