The state Assembly passed an amendment to the state constitution Thursday that would allow state Supreme Court justices to elect their chief justice and overturn the long-standing current policy in which the most senior justice assumes the role.
Debate of the resolution, originally introduced by a group of state Republicans, featured strong Democratic opposition amid claims that state GOP members were attempting to undermine current Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson and her would-be successor Ann Walsh Bradley, both of whom are liberal in an otherwise conservative court.
State Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, accused state Republicans of using the resolution as a political tool to accomplish a “power grab” while speaking on the Assembly floor Thursday.
“[State Republicans] are attempting to reach into the judiciary and interfere with that independent branch,” Taylor said. “I guess you can’t rig all of government if you don’t rig all the branches of government.”
Republicans maintain that they are interested in creating a court based on meritocracy, and that longevity in office is an inappropriate means for determining who should serve as chief justice.
State Rep. Rob Hutton, R-Brookfield, noted the Supreme Courts of Iowa and Illinois have an election-style process, and rebuked the idea that the move was political in nature.
“Allowing our justices to vote amongst their peers to select their chief justice gives them an equal say in the process,” Hutton said. “This will put us on an equal plane with our neighbors.”
Wisconsin is one of five states that use seniority to determine the chief justice of the state Supreme Court, and has used it without challenge since achieving statehood in 1848.
