MADISON, Wis. — Right-wing Court of Appeals judge and candidate for Wisconsin Supreme Court Maria Lazar has once again suggested that she’s not above using a seat on our state’s highest court to advance a right-wing political agenda. Lazar’s admission stems from a recent radio interview in which she bizarrely complained that right-wing special interests and corporations don’t have a “fair opportunity” to be heard before the non-partisan Wisconsin Supreme Court.
“Maria Lazar needs to re-read the job description for the Wisconsin Supreme Court,” commented A Better Wisconsin Together Communications Director Lucy Ripp. “We depend on justices to protect our rights and freedoms, not to shill for a right-wing political agenda and tip the scales to benefit big corporate special interests, as Maria Lazar seems to think.”
Ripp noted that as a lower court judge Lazar has, on notable occasions, tipped the scales to benefit a right-wing, corporate-friendly agenda including:
- Joining a 2-1 majority ruling in favor of conservative business group Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce Inc., holding that the DNR’s PFAS regulation was unlawful under Wisconsin’s “spills law.” [2024 WI App 18] This ruling severely limited the state of Wisconsin’s ability to protect drinking water. Lazar was overturned in a 5-2 Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling holding that DNR does have authority to address PFAS contamination. [2025 WI 26]
- In Josh Kaul v. Wisconsin State Legislature, Lazar authored a 2-1 opinion upholding a 2018 lame duck law requirement that the Wisconsin Department of Justice get approval from the GOP-controlled legislature for certain settlements. The Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned Lazar unanimously in 2025. [2025 WI 23]
- Authoring a 2-1 court of appeals decision that would give election conspiracists access to personal voter information. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 12/27/23] The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled 5-2 that Lazar had failed to follow proper court procedure in her decision, calling out Lazar’s “patent violation” of precedent. [Wisconsin Examiner, 1/17/25]
Lazar has also publicly declared the MAGA faction of the U.S. Supreme Court was “very wise” for overturning the Roe v. Wade decision that protected abortion rights, and she backed recusal rules for state court judges and justices that were literally written by corporate special interests that have business before courts.
Lazar has embraced the far right-wing on the campaign trail too, including:
- Rubbing elbows at two right-wing Republican events with former Trump official General Michael Flynn and disgraced former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice Michael Gableman;
- Participating in a summer panel discussion hosted by The 5Riders, a far-right so-called “patriot group” where she seemed to lay groundwork to cozy up to Donald Trump supporters in Wisconsin;
- In another recent interview, Lazar highlighted the dissents of former U.S. Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia as a source of personal inspiration. Among Scalia’s many notorious dissents is an opinion in support of unlimited corporate spending on political campaigns.
