WISCONSIN, FEBRUARY— Ed Fallone thanked his supporters tonight and congratulated Judge Jill Karofsky as she advanced in the primary election to challenge Justice Daniel Kelly on the April 7 ballot for the Wisconsin Supreme Court.  He made the following remarks at his election watch party at the Best Place in Milwaukee:

“I just called Judge Jill Karofsky and congratulated her on running a strong campaign.

When I announced my campaign for the Wisconsin Supreme Court last March, I said that it was time for a change.  I said that we could choose the kind of Supreme Court Justice that we wanted to represent us.  And as I traveled across our great state, talking to voters in Platteville, Hudson, Waunakee, Menomonie, Kenosha and, yes — even Milwaukee and Madison – the voters listened.

They told me that they wanted a Supreme Court justice who had spent a career fighting for our civil rights.  They agreed that our state’s highest court would benefit from the expertise of a Constitutional Law professor.  The voters applauded when I said that I would be the first Latino justice in our state’s history.  And most of all, the voters told me that it was time for a justice who has spent 25 years helping working families, so that the quality of justice they receive in our courts does not depend on the amount of money that they have.

This was a campaign about bringing diversity to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.  I am proud of the broad coalition of voters who came out and voted for me today.  It begins with the working families of Wisconsin, who have so often been neglected and ignored in our legal system.  It includes voters who reflect the rich diversity of Wisconsin: African American families, Muslim and Sikh immigrants, and our Native American community.  And I am so proud of the outpouring of support that I received from mi familia, la comunidad Latina.

We may have fallen short in the voting today, but we proved something.  We proved that a campaign built on diversity can win votes across the entire state of Wisconsin.  The fight to elect more diverse candidates to office will continue.  It doesn’t end tonight, and it doesn’t end with me.  I promise to you tonight that I will keep fighting to elect qualified candidates of color in future judicial elections, future statewide elections and future local elections throughout Wisconsin.

In the meantime. our work in this race is not done.  We cannot rest until we defeat Daniel Kelly on April 7.

Across the state, voters are demanding change on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.  Our veterans in Wisconsin want more Veterans Courts that provide treatment and mentoring to veterans struggling to adjust to civilian life, not a Supreme Court justice who dismisses diversion programs as ‘social activism.’  Small business owners in our state want a stable legal environment that promotes fair competition, not a Supreme Court justice who protects big business at the expense of small entrepreneurs.  And the members of the practicing bar want a Supreme Court justice who will respect established legal precedent, not someone with a personal agenda to remake the law.

Daniel Kelly has always had an agenda.  He had an agenda when he chose to attend the Christian Broadcasting Network University School of Law, which assigned Bibles as required legal textbooks.  He had an agenda when he chose to pursue a career representing the rich and the politically powerful.  Dan Kelly had an agenda when he applied to Governor Walker for an appointment to the Supreme Court, and he chose to include a writing sample that compared Affirmative Action to slavery and that said precedent permitting same sex marriage will rob the institution of marriage of all meaning.

Dan Kelly’s agenda is to overturn any prior precedent that he personally disagrees with, and to leave us with Dan Kelly’s Constitution, where our rights are defined according to Dan Kelly’s morality.  This cannot stand.

We must unite to defeat Dan Kelly on April 7.  I am ready to do everything that I can to back Judge Jill Karofsky.  I urge all of my supporters here tonight, and across the state, to do the same.

Thank you so much for believing in my campaign.  I am truly grateful.  On behalf of Heidi and myself, Good night.”

Ed Fallone is a constitutional law scholar who has devoted over 27 years of his life to the law and ensuring that the Wisconsin legal system works for all Wisconsinites. He has taught over 2,300 Wisconsin lawyers including judges and elected officials. Ed would have been the first Latino to serve on our state’s highest court and would have brought expertise in corporate and criminal law to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. His mother is a Mexican immigrant and his father was a teacher, he comes from a working class family and has two children who attended Yale University and the American University School of International Service. Ed was running for Wisconsin Supreme Court to preserve the independence of the judiciary and defend our rights to equal treatment under the law and self-governance.

The primary election for the Supreme Court was held February 18, 2020.

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