MADISON – State Appeals Judge Pedro Colón is entering the next race for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court as the second candidate seeking to join the court’s liberal majority.
Colón, a former Milwaukee County circuit judge and Democratic member of the state Assembly, said he wants to make the court system more accessible to Wisconsin residents − an approach he said he built from his own experience growing up in Milwaukee and navigating school and the city while initially unable to speak English.
“The legal language, the fear and background − all the wood and the robes and the gavel and everything that surrounds it − makes people feel like they don’t really speak the language,” Colón said in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“I want real people with real disagreements to understand the court system. And the best way you can do that is by writing decisions that are clear, that are rooted in our Constitution, and that really make a statement about how we are all equal before the law.”
Colón, 58, served in the state Assembly from 1999 until 2010, when he was appointed to the circuit court by former Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle. He was appointed to the Wisconsin Appeals Court’s District I in 2023 by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. The district covers Milwaukee County.
Colón joins Clark County Circuit Judge Lyndsey Brunette in the 2027 race, which began just after the last race for Supreme Court ended with a 20-point win for liberal state appeals judge Chris Taylor.
With Taylor’s win, the state Supreme Court is now controlled by liberals 5-2.
Whoever emerges from the next race for state Supreme Court will replace retiring conservative Supreme Court Justice Annette Ziegler. No names have yet been floated on the conservative side for the 2027 race.
Colón signaled he would rule in ways that preserve or expand voting rules, keep abortion access and oppose arrests that are made during immigration enforcement actions that take place without warrants.
“While a lot of people get stuck talking about legal philosophies, I like to be grounded in that Constitution and be practical about the decisions I make so that people understand where their rights begin and end,” he said. “We’re all together in this to make sure that the Constitution guards us against unhinged government action that, unfortunately, we see too readily today.”
When asked which state Supreme Court justices he admired, Colón pointed to former chief justices Shirley Abrahamson and Ann Walsh Bradley, both members of the court’s liberal wing, swing justice Patrick Crooks and conservative justice David Prosser because of Prosser’s rulings related to the Fourth Amendment, which protects from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government.
Colón received degrees from Marquette University and the University of Wisconsin Law School. He lives in Milwaukee.
The next Supreme Court election is April 6, 2027. If additional candidates enter the officially nonpartisan race, a Feb. 16 primary election will narrow the field to two.
Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Appeals Judge Pedro Colon joins 2027 race for Wisconsin Supreme Court
Reporting by Molly Beck, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
