UNDATED (WSAU-Wheeler News) The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s conservative majority replaced Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson with one of their own yesterday. Pat Roggensack received four votes in an e-mail ballot, on the same day that election officials certified results of the statewide referendum which gave the justices the constitutional authority to elect their own chief. The result was expected, as critics called it the real reason that legislative Republicans approved the amendment before sending it to the voters — 53-percent of whom ratified it on April 7th.
The court’s vote removed the 81-year-old Abrahamson after 19 years as chief justice, a post she earned by being the member with the most seniority.
Abrahamson has a federal lawsuit pending, which challenges the constitutional amendment. Her attorney, Robert Peck, filed a letter in federal court yesterday in which Abrahamson objected to the e-mail vote. Peck said Abrahamson believes she still holds the title. Her fellow minority liberal on the court, Ann Walsh Bradley, called the justices’ vote premature because the lawsuit’s still in play.
Last week Federal Judge James Peterson rejected a request to put the amendment on hold, pending a review of Abrahamson’s lawsuit — but he still urged the justices not to be hasty in making a change. Conservative Justice Michael Gableman said he and his colleagues acted legally, because the judge noted that the timing of the chief justice election was a matter of state law and not federal law. The e-mail voting remains open until tomorrow. The next hearing in Abrahamson’s lawsuit is set for May 15th.