The Sconi

Waukesha County Judge Jennifer Dorow has launched her campaign for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, hailing herself as someone completely in tune with the people of her community.

"Why I am running – I understand families and their desire for a safe and nurturing community in which to live,” Dorow said in a post to Twitter. “I understand the need for fair and reliable laws that support and protect our schools, businesses and other institutions.”

ABC News12 reports Dorow has become a household name in the community after presiding over the trial of Waukesha Christmas Parade attacker Darrell Brooks. In seeking a seat on the high court, Dorow is hoping to replace retiring Justice Pat Roggensack.  

"We must replace Justice Roggensack with a judicial conservative who will fairly and faithfully apply the law as written to the facts of the cases that go for the court," Dorow told WISN.com.  

Even as she insists her candidacy has nothing to do with trying to capitalize on the exposure she got from the Waukesha parade attack trial, Dorow has faced her share of critics, with fellow conservative Supreme Court candidate Dan Kelly telling Channel 3000.com, “I’m struggling to think of any other reason that she would believe she would be a qualified candidate for the Supreme Court.”

Ultimately, Dorow sentenced Brooks to life in prison for driving an SUV through Waukesha's Christmas parade last year, earning her lasting praise from some over her handling of the case. Still, Kelly argues that she lacks a “track record of a scholastic and a serious approach to the law."

Fox News also reports that Dorow’s time on the bench has also sparked controversy, including her 2019 decision to stay the prison sentence of a Pewaukee man who killed his 3-year-old son in a car crash after drinking. At trial, Nicholas Dischler was found to have been heavily drinking at a campground celebration marking his son's third birthday before getting behind the wheel with the boy in the car without a carseat.

A female passenger was also ejected from the vehicle when Dischler rammed into a tree.

In the end, Dorow sentenced Dischler to probation, asserting as part of her ruling "I'm going to withhold sentence, place you on probation for a period of five years."

Critics also point out in 2019 Dorow sentenced a man who repeatedly masturbated in a Culver's drive thru in front of teenage workers to probation. According to WISN, Lee Holtgrieve admitted to police that he did masturbate in his car, "but thought the workers at Culver's were all over the age of 16."

At trial, the 49-year-old Holtgrieve faced up to 15 years behind bars on charges of publicly committing an indecent act of sexual gratification and intentionally causing a child between the ages of 13 and 18 to see sexually explicit acts for the purpose of sexually gratifying the perpetrator.

The state's Supreme Court primary will be held on Feb. 21, with the general election taking place roughly six weeks later on April 4. In addition to Kelly, PBSWisconsin.com reports liberal circuit court judges Everett Mitchell of Dane County and Janet Protasiewicz of Milwaukee County are also vying for the open seat.