MADISON, WI (WTAQ) – Shirley Abrahamson does not plan to seek legal action this week to try and nullify a vote by her State Supreme Court colleagues to replace her as chief justice.
Her attorney, Robert Peck, tells the AP he won’t ask a federal court for an emergency action.
Peck told the U.S. District Court in Madison Wednesday that Abrahamson still believes she’s the chief. That’s despite an e-mail vote in which the court’s four-member conservative majority elected one of their own — Pat Roggensack — as the new chief.
Abrahamson has a lawsuit pending in federal court, in which she argues that a constitutional amendment allowing the justices to pick the chief should not take effect until after her term expires in 2019.
Last week, Federal Judge James Peterson refused to put the amendment on hold while the lawsuit is being heard. 53 percent of those who voted April 7th approved the change in the way the chief justice is chosen.
Less than 20 percent of the state’s eligible voters chose to have their say on the subject. Their votes were certified Wednesday, and Roggensack was elected the new chief just hours after that.
(Story courtesy of Wheeler News Service)
