Wisconsin Supreme Court – Page 9 – Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog

The Chief’s Lawsuit

Post author:Edward A. Fallone
Post published:May 8, 2015
Post category:Constitutional Interpretation Constitutional Law Judges & Judicial Process Public Wisconsin Supreme Court

A lawsuit filed in federal court by a sitting Chief Justice of a state Supreme Court against her colleagues is certainly unusual, if not unprecedented. The reaction to the filing of the complaint in Abrahamson v. Neitzel by the mainstream media has ranged from viewing the lawsuit as comedy (The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Will the Real Chief Justice Please Stand”) to viewing this latest development as part of an ongoing tragedy (The New Yorker: “The Destruction of the Wisconsin Supreme Court”). However, the legal question at the heart of the Chief’s lawsuit is actually quite interesting.

Does the new method for selecting a Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court take effect in the middle of the sitting Chief Justice’s term, or does it take effect upon the conclusion of the term of the current Chief?

Complicating the issue is the fact that an $8,000 salary differential exists between the position of Chief Justice and the other six Justices on the Court. Removing Justice Abrahamson from her current position as Chief would result in the immediate loss of this portion of her salary. Moreover, a mid-term reduction in salary appears to be prohibited by Article IV of the Wisconsin Constitution.

A Rebellion of Giants: Dixon, Ryan, and Taming the Railroads in the Gilded Age

Post author:Joseph A. Ranney
Post published:April 9, 2015
Post category:Legal History Public Wisconsin Law & Legal System Wisconsin Supreme Court

Chief Justice Luther S. Dixon — Chief Justice
Luther S. Dixon

This is the fifth in a series of Schoone Fellowship Field Notes.

Eastern jurists such as John Marshall, James Kent, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Benjamin Cardozo have received the lion’s share of attention from law professors and historians over the years. Two fellow giants from the Midwest, Michigan’s Thomas Cooley and Iowa’s John Dillon, have been relegated to comparative obscurity.

Cooley and Dillon played a central role in shaping the contours of modern American constitutional law. They forged their philosophies in the heat of two critical judicial debates over the role of railroads in American society. Two Wisconsin justices, Luther Dixon and Edward Ryan, were also leaders in those debates, and their contributions to American constitutional law deserve to be better known.

Has Wisconsin Produced Any Great Judges?

Post author:Joseph A. Ranney
Post published:February 10, 2015
Post category:Judges & Judicial Process Legal History Public Wisconsin Supreme Court

As announced this past summer, Joseph A. Ranney is serving as Marquette Law School’s Schoone Visiting Fellow in Wisconsin Law and using the occasion to write a book examining the role states have played in the evolution of American law, with a focus on the contributions made by Wisconsin. In a series of blog posts this semester, Professor Ranney will offer some Schoone Fellowship Field Notes. This is the first.

What makes a great judge? Who are the great state judges? Thousands of judges have helped build the edifice that is American state law. Only a few have received great acclaim. What are the elements of judicial greatness, and has Wisconsin produced any great judges? Let me consider the matter, excluding any current or recent judges.