A federal judge on Friday dismissed Shirley Abrahamson’s lawsuit aimed at regaining her position as chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Abrahamson and five people who voted for her at her last election as chief justice sued shortly after voters this spring approved a constitutional amendment that allows the court to elect who serves as its chief. Previously, the job went to the justice with the most seniority. Abrahamson had held the post since 1996.
In his order granting the defendants’ motion to dismiss, U.S. District Judge James Peterson said it was not the federal court’s place to decide Abrahamson’s claim of interpreting the amendment to take effect only at the end of her current term in 2019.
“Constitutional provisions are drawn with broad strokes,” Peterson wrote. “There is no requirement that a state, in restructuring its government or the powers and duties of its officials by means of a constitutional amendment, do so with super-clarity to protect the interests of the officials or voters whose interests might be impaired.
“Unless its actions are plainly unconstitutional, Wisconsin has the authority and autonomy to restructure its government without interference from the federal government.”
The opinion begins:
The Wisconsin Supreme Court, once a sterling example among state supreme courts, has hit a long rough patch, and it has become notorious for the fractiousness of its members. With that history as a backdrop, the state legislature in 2013 started the process of amending the state constitution to change the method of selecting the chief justice, from seniority to Case: 3:15-cv-00211-jdp Document #: 127 Filed: 07/31/15 Page 1 of 35 2 election by a majority of the sitting justices. Ratification of that amendment was completed on April 7, 2015, when it was approved in a state-wide referendum. The day after the referendum, then-Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson, with five citizens who had voted for her re-election in 2009, filed this lawsuit
We will see if Justice Abrahamson appeals. If she does, I don’t expect she will have a better result higher up the food chain.