Molly Beck

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Supreme Court Justice Shirley Abrahamson was not in the audience Tuesday but at the center of a final debate between two judges seeking to replace her.

Brian Hagedorn and Lisa Neubauer, both state appeals court judges, are seeking a 10-year term on the state Supreme Court. The candidates met for a final time Tuesday before the April 2 election in a televised debate at Marquette University Law School.

The debate was bitter, with Neubauer questioning Hagedorn's temperament and Hagedorn calling Neubauer a liar.

Just minutes after opening statements, Hagedorn turned to Neubauer's past praise of Abrahamson — a justice who has been on the court for 43 years and is beloved by liberals but deplored by conservatives.

When Neubauer said she would be a justice with "no thumb on the scale," Hagedorn noted Neubauer looks up to Abrahamson, who he said "does have her thumb on the scale."

RELATED:Supreme Court candidate Brian Hagedorn defends blog posts, says religious views under attack

"I could tell you how that justice was going to vote on every single case that I (had)," Hagedorn said about arguing cases before the Supreme Court when he was chief legal counsel for former Gov. Scott Walker.

Neubauer said Hagedorn was "signaling" his partisan stripes by criticizing Abrahamson. Neubauer is backed by liberals while Hagedorn is backed by conservatives.

"He demeans a current member of the court," Neubauer said. "This is an issue of temperament."

Abrahamson, 85, is the longest-serving Supreme Court justice in state history, has earned international recognition and was the first woman to serve on the court.

RELATED:Wisconsin Justice Shirley Abrahamson says she has cancer but plans to finish term in 2019

She is battling cancer and announced last year she wouldn't seek another term.

"Certainly Justice Abrahamson has been a pioneer," Hagedorn said. "It is OK to talk about our legitimate differences."

Differences were plenty.

Neubauer repeatedly turned to law school-era blog posts Hagedorn wrote in which he characterized the overturning of an anti-sodomy law as a basis to legalize bestiality and called Planned Parenthood a wicked organization.

"He had a blog where he laid forth his views on very fundamental constitutional issues that are going to impact the people in our state every single day," Neubauer said. "It's not just the writings in this blog, it's the actions."

Neubauer said Hagedorn founded a school that "bans gay children, teachers, parents" and is "taking money from a group that has been labeled a hate group because their views are so extreme."

"Judge Neubauer's lying," Hagedorn responded. "It’s really unfortunate, Judge Neubauer, that you want to sacrifice your integrity to win a seat on the state Supreme Court.”

Hagedorn said Neubauer could not criticize his handling of cases and was "deliberately trying to undermine" his reputation and engaging in "vile name calling" that is "unbecoming of a judge."

Neubauer said she was not making stuff up.

"These are his words," she said.

With millions in spending by outside groups seeking to sway the Wisconsin court by electing justices aligned to their ideology, the issue of when a justice would recuse from cases involving such groups is a key issue in each Supreme Court race.

Neubauer said Tuesday she would recuse herself from cases involving a group created by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, which has spent hundreds of thousands on behalf of Neubauer.

Meanwhile, Hagedorn said he would recuse himself from cases involving issues he litigated as chief counsel for Walker.

But neither would say whether they would recuse from cases involving Planned Parenthood, which has spent six figures on behalf of Neubauer and was characterized as a "wicked organization" by Hagedorn.

Both candidates also called for stronger recusal rules for Supreme Court justices, but neither offered at what spending level would require a justice to remove themselves from the case.