Supreme Court Justice, or Supreme Court candidate, Maria.
Thank you.
I'll take Supreme Court Justice, but I'm actually
Supreme Court Justice candidate.
So welcome, everyone.
Thank you.
I'm going to start out with an apology
that I have an alto voice.
So it's a little bit lower than normal.
And I apologize, but you're a great group that I can talk to.
I'm going to tell you why this race.
Well, first of all, I should have introduced myself.
I am Judge Maria Lazar.
I'm on the Court of Appeals District 2, not your county.
I am the 12 counties that surround Milwaukee,
but don't include it.
I am going to tell you why this race is so important,
why it is that I'm the better qualified candidate,
and I am, and why we're going to be successful and prevail
in April.
First of all, this race is so important
because we are dealing with a court that I believe
has lost a lot of respect in the state of Wisconsin.
I honestly believe that people go into that court
and think that they are not getting a fair opportunity
to be heard.
I don't know if that's true or not,
but I know the perception is that that's what's happening.
This is a court that needs to have a justice who
has independence, impartiality, and integrity,
and judicial restraint.
You need to elect someone when you look at the candidates
in this race who has a proven track record to do the right thing
and to follow the law and not legislate from the bench.
You may think that it's good to have a judge who's
going to be active and do what they want
and say what the law should be in their mind,
but that's the absolute wrong thing you want.
This court is so important.
We have three branches of government,
and the judiciary is set there to do one thing.
One thing only to say what the law is.
You're going to be hearing from a lot of people today
who are going to talk to you about the legislature
and everything else and policy.
That is not the court.
You're going to hear people today talking about agendas
and mandates.
That is not this court.
This court is the body that is supposed
to be sober, quiet, calm, and say what the law is.
And that's what I've done for the 11 years
that I've been on the bench as opposed to my opponents
about four or five.
And that's what I will do for the next 10 years
on the state Supreme Court.
We are looking at a court that is now four to three.
When I win, it will stay four to three.
We're not changing its composition.
But the three votes are so very important
because you need three votes to bring a case up
from the Court of Appeals.
Right now, every year, 500 appeals
are brought up to the state Supreme Court
where they ask them to take them,
and they take about 12 or 14.
The importance is which cases they're taking
and what they're looking at.
In the last few years, the state Supreme Court
has decided that it has a mandate
to do things the way they want, not what the law is.
And I'll explain one case.
Catholic Charities.
Catholic Charities ask for tax exemption
because they're a religious group.
The state Supreme Court in Wisconsin
voted four to three that they were not.
The US Supreme Court, which is not a body
that's all one political persuasion or agenda.
They don't have agendas, I apologize.
They voted nine to zero that Wisconsin was wrong.
And the reason is, you cannot tell a religious group
what they can do and how they're gonna act.
We have constitutional rights.
Our state Supreme Court in Wisconsin is not looking at that.
They need someone on the dissent,
which is where I'll be, the four to three.
But you need someone there who is going to do their job
and stand up every day, stand up for everyone's rights
and do just that.
Hamilton said when they founded our country
that the judiciary was really the weakest,
least important, least significant branch of all.
Except, he said the danger would be
if you unite the judiciary and the legislature
because then you lead to tyranny.
And I'm very concerned that in our state,
the people in this state think that's where we're headed
and perception is very important.
We need to have justices on that court
who can stand up and say if I have a bias,
I'm off the case.
If you all think I have a bias, I'm off the case.
I do that every day in my job on the court of appeals.
Now, I was gonna tell you about why I'm more qualified.
I have spent my entire life leading up to this role.
I was born in Wisconsin,
elected only for three years to go to Georgetown Law School.
I came back, I spent 20 years in private practice.
After that, I spent five years
at the Wisconsin Department of Justice,
representing you, representing state officials,
representing the office of people in this government.
And then after that, I had a Dane County judge
in the smallest of cases.
One that people probably don't care about,
but I did concerning a foster child.
And I had that judge say to me on the record in court
that the law did not matter and I lost.
Now, you may not know me well,
but once you get to know me, I don't like to lose.
And I don't like to lose when I shouldn't lose.
So I went home and I was absolutely devastated
because I lost that case.
That foster child lost the rights that I thought he had
and it was never gonna change.
So I went home and I talked to my family
and I said, you know what, I can do better.
So I ran for judge in my home county of Waukesha.
I ran unopposed, which by the way,
for everybody running for office,
I highly recommend it's the best way to run an election.
It is fantastic.
So the only thing you have to worry about
is my campaign person, which I had before I was unopposed,
said, don't go anywhere and say anything stupid.
So just shut your mouth.
And on the election night, we looked at,
don't have all these people do right-ins against you.
So that was sort of a running joke
about how many I'd get against me.
But no, there wasn't a right-in campaign.
I won, it was fantastic.
And then I ran again.
So I served seven years there
and I was in every rotation except for family.
And I was presiding judge and two of them,
including criminal during COVID,
which I can tell you was absolutely fantastically difficult
to manage five criminal judges
when I have one courtroom open in the building at all.
And you have to do rights for every defendant,
as well as keep everyone safe
because we all thought there were all these issues.
So after that, there was an opening on the Court of Appeals.
I ran for that, opposed, contested seat,
a little more difficult, but I won that.
And I have loved being on the Court of Appeals
like you would not believe.
I read all the time.
I write all the time.
My driver husband has told me
that he will take me places as long as I read in the car.
So I do read in the car.
You even have a little flashlight
so I can read when it gets darker
on these days in Wisconsin.
So it has been my absolute pleasure
to drive around the state
and to tell everyone why this race is so important
and to tell you when you look at the two candidates,
there is no question.
The choice is clear and stark.
I am a judge.
I've been a judge for 11 years.
It is who I am.
I will be the best justice that you've had.
My opponent was a politician,
literally a member of a party in Madison.
She was appointed by a politician
to the first bench she had,
no appointments, no party members.
And she has told you in black and white on her website
that she will do her job to do the judicial,
she will use a judicial philosophy that is people based.
You're not, I don't think we have a lot of lawyers
in the room, but I'll tell you this.
One, that's not a judicial philosophy.
Two, what it means is she's telling you
that she's going to operate with the same agenda
and mandate as a state Supreme Court currently does.
She's going to rule on cases based on who you are,
not what the law says.
And that is scary.
We need a justice up there
who's not one side or the other,
who is actually independent.
You can look up my record, go to my website.
You can see every opinion I've published.
You can see opinions I wrote on the trial circuit court.
You can see what I stand for, how I work, how hard I work.
And then I am the better qualified,
better judiciously bound person for this position.
Now you're going to hear a lot of people today.
So I'm going to stop and just say,
tell everyone in April, this is an important election.
We are going to win this election
and tell everyone that I need their votes,
have a look at both of us, and the choice is clear.
So thank you for letting me come here today to talk to you.
I appreciate it, and I will run off to the next place,
but I don't think I have time for questions,
so I appreciate everyone here.
Thank you so very much, and I appreciate it all.
Thank you.
Thank you for letting me come.
Thank you.
No, thank you for your time and its evening.
I will, thank you so much for letting me come and talk.