Wisconsin Supreme Court

Wisconsin Supreme Court
Seal of the Wisconsin Supreme Court
Established in	1841
Jurisdiction	Wisconsin , United States
Location	Madison, Wisconsin
Authorized by	Wisconsin Constitution
Decisions are appealed to	Supreme Court of the United States

The Wisconsin Supreme Court is the highest appellate court in the state of Wisconsin. The Supreme Court has jurisdiction over original actions, appeals from lower courts, and regulation or administration of the practice of law in Wisconsin.^[1]

Location

The Wisconsin Supreme Court normally sits in its main hearing room in the East Wing of the Wisconsin State Capitol building in Madison, Wisconsin. Since 1993, the court has also travelled, once or twice a year, to another part of the state to hear several cases as part of its "Justice on Wheels" program. The purpose of this program is to give the people of Wisconsin a better opportunity to understand the operations of the state supreme court and the court system.

Justices

The court is composed of seven justices who are elected in state-wide, non-partisan elections. Each justice is elected for a ten-year term, and only one justice may be elected in any year. In the event of a vacancy on the court, the governor has the power to appoint an individual to the vacancy, but that justice must then stand for election in the first year where no other justice's term expires.

The justice with the longest continuous service on the court serves as the chief justice, unless that justice declines, in which case the role passes to the next senior justice of the court. In such a case, the declining justice continues to serve as a justice on the court.

Current justices

Although justices are selected in non-partisan elections, a party identification is provided if a justice is generally associated with a political party.

Former justices

Controversy

The Court has ruled that business groups making donations to the election campaigns of justices may have cases affecting their companies decided on by a justice who received a donation from the party involved. The rule was proposed by two powerful Wisconsin business groups, the Wisconsin Realtors Association and Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce. This ruling has been controversial.^[2]. The vote was 4-3 Voting in favor of Justices receiving donations from plaintiffs were Prosser, Gableman, Roggensack, and Zeigler. Voting against were Abrahamson, Crooks, and Bradley.

In fiction

In the popular mystery novel The Westing Game, and its film adaptation, the character Josie-Jo "J.J." Ford is a judge on the Appellate Division of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Five years after the end of the story it shows she becomes a judge on the United States Circuit Court of Appeals, and is later appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The novel, which takes place in the 1970s, states she was the first black and the first woman to be elected to a judgeship in the state.

See also

• Wisconsin Court of Appeals
• Wisconsin Circuit Court
• Wisconsin Municipal Courts

References

External links

• Wisconsin Supreme Court
• Supreme Court opinions: 1995-present
• Oral arguments: 1997-present
• Internal Operating Procedures of the Supreme Court

Coordinates: 43°04′29″N 89°23′04″W / 43.074635°N 89.384562°W / 43.074635; -89.384562

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