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State Supreme Court Justice Caught Editing Own Wikipedia Entry

Can you possibly imagine any US Supreme Court justice doing this and why is it Sam Alito?

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oops keyboardJustice Rebecca Bradley — fresh off an absolutely bonkers concurring opinion ranting that CLE courses telling lawyers to knock off the racist jokes “damage human dignity” — just got caught offering her opinion in the most cringeworthy way possible: personally editing her own Wikipedia entry to make herself look better.

And how did she get caught? Someone noticed some sketchy edits from username “Rlgbjd,” which they worked out stood for “Rebecca Lynn Grassl Bradley, J.D.” And seems to be the same handle she uses for her personal email.

Doing it yourself? Come on, Becks! That’s something you make clerks do for you.

As Newsweek explains:

An X user, with the handle @arizonasunblock, posted on the site formerly called Twitter: “Conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court justice @JudgeBradleyWI is currently engaging in an edit war on her Wikipedia page under an anonymous username that she also uses in her personal email. You cannot make this stuff up.”

Adding “J.D.” to your identity is like riding your bike to the office — either you think it makes you better than everyone else when it just makes you look ridorkulous, or you’ve had your license suspended.

It’s just shy of insisting people address you as “Doctor.”

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Why the edits? Bradley’s path to the Wisconsin Supreme Court is littered with facts that most people wouldn’t want in their internet profile. Like how she spent her college years writing op-ed columns explaining that, “Homosexual sex, however, kills,” and comparing abortion to the Holocaust and slavery. But, she doesn’t seem to have dealt with those passages in her entry. As her recent opinion in the CLE case demonstrates, she might not be as ashamed of those takes as one might suspect.

Though Bradley is a little miffed that the collective internet remembers that time she compared COVID health restrictions to forcing Japanese-Americans into internment camps — something she absolutely did.

Wikipedia said of the hearing in question that “She compared the stay-at-home orders to the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, and labeled it ‘tyrannic.'”

Bradley edited the entry by adding a little something between “she” and “compared”:

… wrote in a concurring opinion to the decision that overturned Secretary Palm’s orders that ‘Although headlines may sensationalize the invocation of cases such as Korematsu, the point of citing them is not to draw comparisons between the circumstances of people horrifically interned by their government during a war and those of people subjected to isolation orders during a pandemic. We mention cases like Korematsu in order to test the limits of government authority, to remind the state that urging courts to approve the exercise of extraordinary power during times of emergency may lead to extraordinary abuses of its citizens.’

“The media misleadingly suggested she…

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That’s a lot of weight for one caret to hold.

Once caught in the act, Bradley decided to lean in, telling the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “Liberal media has distorted my record since the beginning of my judicial career, and I refuse to let false accusations go unchecked.” Except it wasn’t a false accusation… she actually did make the comparison! She added some mealy-mouthed excuse about how she was just trying to make a slippery slope argument as though that makes her look… better?

“On my Wikipedia page, I added excerpts from actual opinions and removed dishonest information about my background[…] Clearly, the media has made no effort to report honestly so public officials have no choice but to correct the record for them.”

Wikipedia editors did not agree and reversed her changes. She hasn’t gone back in to wreak more havoc with her personal account.

Maybe she’s finally learned her lesson that don’t manage your image editing your own Wikipedia page — you write bad faith letters to the Wall Street Journal!

Earlier: Wisconsin Supreme Court Goes Full Korematsu. You Never Go Full Korematsu.
State Supreme Court Justice Uncorks Bonkers Tantrum That You Really Have To Read To Believe
Lawyers Calling Themselves ‘Doctor’ Is Still Stupid: Trump Lawyer Edition

HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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