Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's (R) newly-appointed state Supreme Court justice, Rebecca Bradley, once wrote columns calling gay people "queers" and arguing that individuals who get AIDS deserve no sympathy.
Bradley is a conservative judicial superstar, rising through the ranks during Walker's tenure with the support of groups like the Wisconsin Club for Growth. The governor first named her to the Milwaukee County Circuit Court in 2012, and then he elevated her to Wisconsin Court of Appeals in May 2015. In October, when a vacancy arose on the state Supreme Court, Walker again gave her a plum appointment.
Bradley is now up for a full 10-year term, with voters heading to the polls on April 5.
But the homosexuals and drug addicts who do essentially kill themselves and others through their own behavior deservedly receive none of my sympathy.
Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley, in 1992
On Monday, the liberal group One Wisconsin Now released columns Bradley wrote in 1992 for the student newspaper at Marquette University, urging her to resign from office.
In one column, she criticized people trying to bring attention to the AIDS epidemic, hitting "their misdirected compassion for the degenerates who basically commit suicide through their behavior."
"But the homosexuals and drug addicts who do essentially kill themselves and others through their own behavior deservedly receive none of my sympathy," she wrote in another column.
She also argued that it would be better to get AIDS than cancer, "because those afflicted with the politically-correct disease will be getting all of the funding."
"How sad that the lives of degenerate drug addicts and queers are valued more than the innocent victims of more prevalent ailments," she added.
In a statement, Bradley said she was embarrassed by her old writings, but she also argued that those issues having nothing to do with her current work.
"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," she said, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "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."
She also called One Wisconsin Now's release of her old columns part of a "blatant mudslinging campaign to distract the people from the issues at hand."
A recent poll found a dead heat between Bradley and her rival, state Appeals Judge JoAnne Kloppenburg, who is favored by liberals.
Want more updates from Amanda? Sign up for her newsletter, Piping Hot Truth.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
