U.S. Briefs: Wisconsin braces for a Supreme Court showdown

Wisconsin

The longest-serving current state Supreme Court justice—a member of its liberal majority—announced on April 11 she won’t run for a fourth 10-year term. The surprise decision by Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, 73, creates an open seat next year and promises a fight for control of the battleground state’s highest court. The seven-member court flipped to a liberal majority last year after 15 years of conservative control. Because Bradley isn’t leaving midterm, which would allow Democratic Gov. Tony Evers to appoint a replacement, contenders are preparing for 2025’s February primary and April election. Former Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel, a Waukesha County judge, already announced plans to run. Two liberal lower court judges are considering it. Planned Parenthood has asked the court to hear two challenges to a 174-year-old law conservatives have interpreted as banning abortion. In December, the court overturned Republican-drawn maps of legislative districts. —Sharon Dierberger

Maine

Legislators meeting in the Augusta State House April 12 passed a bill that could make it easier for social workers to practice in multiple states without submitting to lengthy licensing processes in each. Seven states have enacted similar legislation this year. The proposal is pending in at least 19 others, according to the National Association of Social Workers. Maine Rep. Lydia Crafts, also a licensed clinical social worker, supported the bill: “This measure would increase the mobility of social workers, enhance access to professional social work services, and improve continuity of care when clients travel or relocate.” Social workers must follow state laws and rules where they practice. There is no national standard for a social work license. —Kim Henderson

Arkansas

State auditors say Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ office may have broken several state laws when it purchased a lectern from a Virginia-based event planner. The blue and wood-paneled lectern and its case cost just over $19,000, more than double the price of similar models offered online. Sanders denies wrongdoing and called the audit’s findings “deeply flawed.” Auditors have referred their findings to local prosecutors and the state attorney general. The report claims Sanders’ office potentially violated state laws on purchasing, state property, and government records. But auditors could not say whether the state overpaid for the item. The Republican Party of Arkansas reimbursed the state for the lectern. Auditors say it’s still state property. —Leigh Jones

New Jersey

Rutgers University police are investigating an apparent hate crime at the school’s affiliated Center for Islamic Life in New Brunswick during Eid-al-Fitr, the three-day holiday marking the end of Muslim Ramadan. Vandals broke windows; damaged artwork, TVs, and printers; and destroyed a Palestinian flag before the center opened on April 10, according to the group’s chairwoman. Attorney General Matthew Platkin said it was the latest in a statewide spike of bias-­related incidents: New Jersey saw 22 percent more bias crimes in 2023 compared with the previous year. Anti-black and anti-Jewish attacks were the most common motivators for race- and religion-based crimes, according to data released in March. Nationally, the FBI tracked more than 11,600 hate crimes in 2022, including 2,042 religiously motivated incidents, a 7 percent increase over the previous year. Anti-Islamic crimes totaled 158, a slight increase from the prior year. Anti-Jewish crimes totaled more than 1,100 in the same period, a 36 percent increase from 2021. —Todd Vician

Missouri

A St. Louis judge awarded nearly $23.5 million on April 14 to a former police officer whose colleagues beat him while he was undercover at a protest. Luther Hall suffered the beating in 2017 during protests that followed the acquittal of Jason Stockley, a former police officer charged with murder for shooting a black man, Anthony Lamar Smith, in 2011. Randy Hays, Dustin Boone, Christopher Myers, and a few other officers stopped Hall on his way back to the police station and attacked him—leaving him with several herniated discs, a significant jaw injury, and gallstones that required multiple surgeries. Hall settled a separate case with the city of St. Louis for $5 million. The most recent judgment was against Hays, who is in prison on a civil rights charge. Hall’s cases against Boone and Myers are still pending. The city paid millions last year to people beaten by police during the protests. —Elizabeth Russell

Tennessee

State lawmakers voted on April 11 to ban marriages between first ­cousins. In 1829, Tennessee’s General Assembly restricted some marriages between relatives, but the statute didn’t apply to first cousins, according to a 1960 ruling. Democratic Rep. Darren Jernigan introduced the new bill and said he hoped the 75-2 vote would “close this loophole.” Not all lawmakers were convinced. Republican Rep. Gino Bulso petitioned for an amendment that would allow first cousins to marry after receiving genetic counseling. Bulso also motioned to permit same-sex first cousins to wed. “There is no public health issue, because two males may not conceive a child,” he said. Without such a proviso, Bulso argued, Tennessee would violate the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision. His amendment failed, and the bill is headed to Gov. Bill Lee’s desk. If the governor signs it, only 17 states will allow first-cousin marriages without any restrictions. —Bekah McCallum