A day after voters approved changing the state constitution to allow members of the Wisconsin Supreme Court to elect their leader, Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson on Wednesday sued the six other members of the court to hold onto her job. Supporters of the measure — which passed 53% to 47% — had said it would help heal relations on a court that has been marked by personal and ideological clashes in recent years. Abrahamson, the longest-serving justice in Wisconsin history, filed her lawsuit in federal court in Madison. In it, she contends she should be able to remain chief justice until her term on the court ends in July 2019. If Abrahamson is demoted, “the term of the current, elected chief justice will be disrupted, her constitutionally protected interest in the office of chief justice will be impaired, the votes of her supporters will be diluted and the results of the 2009 election undone long after-the-fact, while the Wisconsin court system’s leadership will become unsettled,” her attorney wrote in the federal lawsuit.
In her last race, Abrahamson campaigned as “Wisconsin’s chief” and won a new 10-year stint on the court. Her lawsuit said she would not have sought re-election in 2009 if there had been a question about whether she could remain chief justice.
For 126 years, the job of chief justice has gone to the longest-serving member of the court. Voters approved a constitutional amendment Tuesday that would change that system to allow the members of the court to select their leader every two years.
Full Article: Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson sues to keep her job for four more years.