Alan J. Borsuk – Page 126 – Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog

Firm Positions from the Archbishop

Post author:Alan J. Borsuk
Post published:February 17, 2010
Post category:Religion & Law Speakers at Marquette

In an appearance at Marquette Law School Tuesday, Milwaukee’s new Archbishop, the Most Reverend Jerome Listecki, discussed, among other things, the approach he will take to those who differ from Catholic Church positions on issues such as abortion.

Listecki said he wants to show personal warmth and good humor in carrying out his duties as head of the ten-county archdiocese, and the most effective way to deal with people is in a caring, one-on-one manner.

But when it comes to advocating policies, he made it clear he will come down on what is generally labeled the conservative side of church issues, and he will not be reluctant to speak out when he feels it is necessary.

The Legacy of the Little Rock Crucible

Post author:Alan J. Borsuk
Post published:February 11, 2010
Post category:Education & Law Race & Law Speakers at Marquette

“That crucible moment” – that’s a phrase Ernest Green used to describe the period when he and eight other African American students enrolled in and attended Little Rock Center High School in 1957. It took the president of the United States and 10,000 soldiers to help them get in the door in deeply segregationist Arkansas. But more than anything, their success took the determination and self-control that the nine showed against almost overwhelming opposition and hate. The events of that fall became a huge landmark in the fight to end official segregation.

I didn’t expect to be as moved as I was when six of the nine took the stage at the Varsity Theater this week to receive Marquette’s highest honor, the Pere Marquette Discovery Award, from Father Robert Wild, S.J., the university’s president.

Maybe it was because I was just barely old enough at the time – I was seven – to have the television images from Little Rock permanently planted in my mind. And here they were, in person.

Mother and Daughter, Justly Proud

Post author:Alan J. Borsuk
Post published:February 4, 2010
Post category:Judges & Judicial Process Speakers at Marquette Wisconsin Court System Wisconsin Supreme Court

Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Pat Roggensack and Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Ellen Brostrom are wary of almost all of the labels that people try to put on them and on other justices and judges.

But one label they are proud of is mother and daughter, and that was clear Thursday during an “On the Issues with Mike Gousha” session at the Law School. The two are believed to be the only mother and daughter to serve on the bench at the same time in Wisconsin history, Gousha said.

“You’ve just been an incredible role model for me,” Judge Brostrom told her mother. Justice Roggensack said she never intentionally put her daughter on the path to being a judge, but she agreed she was very pleased when Bostrom narrowly won election in 2009.

When Gousha asked how the two of them react to labels such as “conservative” or “liberal” when it comes to describing judges, Justice Roggensack said, “I think it’s a lazy definition.” The use of labels reflects the high degree of partisanship of the times, especially when it comes to elections. She said labels are useful in negative campaigning, which is the way campaigns “can hit hardest fastest.”

Most cases that come before the state Supreme Court don’t fit on a liberal-conservative axis, she said.