“Patience Roggensack to stay chief justice for now, after judge rules”

Patrick Marley for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

A federal judge on Friday declined to issue an order allowing Shirley Abrahamson to serve as chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court while she pursues litigation to allow her to hold that job until 2019.

It was the third time U.S. District Judge James Peterson declined to block the Supreme Court from putting another justice in charge of Wisconsin’s high court, and he hinted Abrahamson would have difficulty ultimately winning the lawsuit. He told her lawyer he had the “tougher argument” in the case and was “breaking new ground” with his arguments.

The Supreme Court has been marked by infighting and controversy in recent years, and Peterson said it was important to restore its reputation. But he isn’t the one who can do that, he said.

“If there is to be a restoration of the confidence the public feels in the Supreme Court, it has to come from the court itself,” he said.

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