Feb. 8, 2012 – A legislative proposal to amend the Wisconsin constitution that would change how the chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court is selected continues to move forward in the Wisconsin Legislature.
The legislation, 2011 Senate Joint Resolution 36 and Assembly Joint Resolution 49, would amend the state constitution to direct the Supreme Court to elect a chief justice as the first order of business each time a justice is elected or reelected to the court. Under the constitution as currently written, the justice with the longest continuous service on the court serves as chief justice.
Under both the amendment and current law, a justice selected as chief justice may decline to serve as chief justice but still remain a justice of the court.
The State Bar of Wisconsin has not taken a position regarding the proposed amendment. According to registrations with the Government Accountability Board, the Wisconsin Education Association Council has opposed the proposed amendment, and Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce supports it.
Proposed constitutional amendments must be passed by both houses of the legislature in two successive legislative sessions and then must be approved by voters in a statewide referendum.
Legislators introduced the amendment in July 2011, and it received a public hearing in the Assembly in December 2011 and in the Senate on Feb. 1, 2012. On Feb. 2, 2012, the Assembly Committee on Judiciary and Ethics approved the amendment on a 5-3 vote. Legislative leaders have not yet scheduled the legislation for a floor vote.
In a July 2011 memo to legislators, the amendment’s primary sponsors, Rep. Tyler August (R-Lake Geneva) and Sen. Rich Zipperer (R-Pewaukee), stated that the high courts of Illinois and Michigan select their chief justice in a similar manner. According to August and Zipperer, Illinois has had nine chief justices since 1996 and Michigan has had seven.
By
Adam Korbitz, Government Relations Coordinator, State Bar of Wisconsin
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© 2012, State Bar of Wisconsin
