The Wisconsin Supreme Court, which has become a high-stakes partisan battleground in recent years, could potentially undergo yet another major shift next year.

Conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley announced on Friday that she will not run for re-election to another 10-year term in 2026, as she instead believes she can be more impactful for her ideological movement from outside the high court, according to CBS News.

That sets up an election next year for an open seat on the currently 4-3 liberal majority court, and includes the distinct possibility that liberals could increase that majority if their candidate is victorious, as has been the case for four of the past five Supreme Court elections in the state.

"I will not seek reelection ..."

Local ABC affiliate WISN reported on Friday that Justice Bradley stated, "For years I have warned that under the control of judicial activists, the court will make itself more powerful than the legislature, more powerful than the governor."

"That warning went unheeded, and Wisconsin has seen only the beginning of what is an alarming shift from thoughtful, principled judicial service toward bitter partisanship, personal attacks, and political gamesmanship that have no place in court," she continued.

"The conservative movement needs to take stock of its failures, identify the problem, and fix it," Bradley added. "I will not seek reelection to the Wisconsin Supreme Court because I believe the best path for me to rebuild the conservative movement and fight for liberty is not as a minority member of the Court."

WisPolitics reported that Bradley had suggested in April that she intended to run for another term next year, following the victory of liberal Justice Susan Crawford in a hard-fought and highly partisan campaign.

However, it doesn't appear that Bradley did much, if any, fundraising for a re-election campaign over the first half of the year, and doubts that emerged about her intention to seek a second term now seem to have been confirmed.

Reliably conservative justice

CBS News reported that Justice Bradley, who previously served for three years as a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge and for one year as a state appeals court judge, was first appointed to the Wisconsin Supreme Court to fill a vacancy in 2015 by then-Republican Gov. Scott Walker.

She went on to win an election in 2016 for a full 10-year term and, since then, has been a reliable vote for conservatives on a range of hot-button issues in the state, including abortion, election integrity, and the rights of labor unions and workers.

The outlet noted that liberal candidates have won four of the past five elections, thereby flipping the court's partisan balance and ending a 15-year conservative majority in 2023.

Who will run to fill the vacant seat?

If the liberals were to win again in next year's election in April for Bradley's seat on the bench, the liberal majority would be increased to 5-2, while a victory by a conservative candidate would merely maintain the current 4-3 status quo until at least 2028, per CBS News.

According to WISN, liberal Appeals Court Judge Chris Taylor has already announced his candidacy for the 2026 Supreme Court election.

On the other side, conservative Appeals Court Judge Maria Lazar has expressed her interest in launching a campaign for the high court, given Justice Bradley's announcement, and is expected to make a final decision in the next few weeks.