Free Republic

MADISON, Wis. (CN) - Wisconsin's former chief justice is taking her fight to regain her position to a federal appeals court. Justice Shirley Abrahamson lost her position as chief justice of the state's Supreme Court in April, after voters approved an amendment to the state constitution that changed how the court's top judge is selected. Previously, the justice with the most seniority held the position of chief justice; the amendment, however, empowered the judges on the court to choose their own chief justice. On April 29, the four of the court's seven justices voted by email to elect Patience Roggensack...

MADISON, Wis. – It’s been a busy few weeks around the Wisconsin Supreme Court, if not actually inside the state’s top court. On Tuesday, Supreme Court Justice Shirley Abrahamson asked a federal appeals court to, at least temporarily, give her back the job of chief justice, a position she lost in an April vote of her fellow justices. The next day, hoping to expedite her appeals case, Abrahamson asked U.S. District Court Judge James Peterson to hit the pause button on her underlying federal claim – that her civil rights were violated when Wisconsin voters changed the state constitution, which...

Three Wisconsin Supreme Court justices skipped a ceremony Monday to swear in recent Marquette University Law School graduates, amid a bitter dispute over who should be in charge of the state's high court. It was the first time the court was to meet as a group since conservatives who control the court voted to make Patience Roggensack chief justice. Shirley Abrahamson, who had held the job for 19 years, has contended she remains chief justice and has sued over the issue in federal court in Madison. U.S. District Judge James Peterson, who is hearing that case, declined to issue an...

Back in 2011, a dust-up between several Wisconsin Supreme Court justices led to a series of headlines revealing a long history of Wisconsin’s highest court not playing nice together. In response to this disclosure, the State Legislature offered a constitutional amendment changing the way the Supreme Court chooses its chief justice, by electing one instead of giving the title to the longest serving member. This spring voters approved this constitutional amendment by a 53-47 margin. This new constitutional provision allows the seven justices to vote for a chief justice they believe will be best to lead the court. Less than...

Patience Roggensack said Tuesday there is no doubt she is the Wisconsin Supreme Court's chief justice and that she didn't want to fight with any of her colleagues — in the process, taking jabs at how the court has been run. The justice told conservative WTMJ-AM (620) radio host Charlie Sykes she had been meeting with top court staff in recent days and planned to allow them and other justices to have more input than they have in the past. ~snip~ Roggensack did not respond to interview requests from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel last week and did not immediately respond...

MADISON, Wis. – Shirley Abrahamson may be trying all she can to hold on to the reins of power, but the former state Supreme Court Justice doesn’t have the votes. On Wednesday, the four conservative members of the seven-person court took up a motion by Justice Michael Gableman to elect Justice Patience Roggensack as the court’s new chief justice. The legal reading is that Abrahamson’s nearly 20-year term as chief justice is over. “As of yesterday (there are) four votes in favor of the motion, all by email,” a source close to the court told Wisconsin Watchdog. The vote was...

MADISON, Wis. — Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm has broken his usual “no-comment” silence on all things John Doe by firing off a very public and very confrontational response to Gov. Scott Walker. First Amendment and other legal experts have blasted the partisan prosecutor’s rhetoric as somewhere between childish and downright scary. Could the man who brought Wisconsin its notorious John Doe investigations face professional sanctions for suggesting Walker could face criminal defamatory charges for criticizing Chisholm’s investigation? Maybe, but actual charges probably aren’t likely, legal ethics experts tell Wisconsin Watchdog, although many agree Chisholm’s threatening language is troubling....

Madison— A federal judge declined Thursday to put an immediate halt on an amendment to the state constitution adopted by voters this week that would allow the members of the Wisconsin Supreme Court to choose the chief justice. The job of chief justice has automatically gone to the most senior member of the Supreme Court for the last 126 years. Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson and her supporters sued to keep her position as the court's leader on Wednesday, a day after voters approved changing how the chief justice is selected. She argues the provision can't go into effect until her...

Madison— Voters on Tuesday approved letting state Supreme Court justices choose who will lead them — a change to a 126-year-old system that is likely to result in the demotion of Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson. With 97% of precincts reporting, the proposed amendment to the state constitution had 53% "yes" votes and 47% "no" votes. The proposal often overshadowed a race for a seat on the high court, with outside money flowing mostly to the referendum rather than the court election. In that race, Justice Ann Walsh Bradley — an ally of Abrahamson's — won a third 10-year term on...

Wailing that the Wisconsin Supreme Court is “dysfunctional” is a favorite tactic whenever Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson’s Liberal allies are trying to defeat a Conservative justice, so it’s revealing this week to see how desperate they are to preserve the status quo. As we’ve mentioned, there’s a referendum on next Tuesday’s spring election ballot. A “yes” vote would amend the Wisconsin Constitution so that the chief justice would be subject to election every two years by a vote of all seven sitting justices. This would replace the current system, in which the chief justice is whichever one has been on...

Acting with unusual speed, the state Supreme Court on Tuesday reinstated Gov. Scott Walker's plan to all but end collective bargaining for tens of thousands of public workers.