Just two days after the April 1 defeat of Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler by Burnett County Circuit Judge Michael Gableman, Shirley Abrahamson announced that she will run for re-election when her term expires next year.
The 74-year old chief justice will seek her fourth 10-year term on the bench, where she has sat since her appointment by Governor Patrick Lucey in 1976. She became chief justice in 1996.
Abrahamson recently spoke with The Chronicle by telephone from her office in Madison.
“I am committed to keeping Wisconsin one of the leading courts in this country,” Abrahamson said of her decision to run again. “I am also committed, as I have been in other campaigns, to persuade more people to participate in judicial elections.”
Abrahamson weighed in on several issues raised during the Butler-Gableman Supreme Court election. She expressed dissatisfaction in the fact that fewer than 20 percent of the electorate voted in the 2008 Butler-Gableman contest.
“We want every voter to participate because elections to the court system are important and they should be part of the election system. What happens in courts across this state affects the quality of life in this state,” she stated.
In response to the post-election debate about whether judges should be elected by the people or appointed by the government, Abrahamson remains committed to elections.
“There is no perfect method for selecting judges,” she said. Elections have worked in Wisconsin and can continue to work. What we need is greater participation by the voters…. Polls show that the people think that judges are beholden to contributors. Well justice is not for sale in Wisconsin.
“The perception is the problem…. Just because you have an appointive system does not mean that there is no money involved, or no politics involved. No system is perfect…. When I balance the flaws and advantages, I think the people of Wisconsin want to retain their right to vote for justices and judges.”
Not everyone agrees. A letter to the editor published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel after the 2008 election said that judges should not be elected because 99 percent of the voters have never read a Supreme Court opinion.
But, Abrahamson countered, “You can read every decision we’ve ever published, they’re all on the Internet.
“A good decision should be able to be read by everyone. You might not understand all the details, but you’ll understand the basics. And you ought to look at the experience and qualifications of the judges.”
Abrahamson was asked to define judicial activism, which is an accusation that was applied to Butler during the campaign, and is a phrase often heard when the merits of judges are debated. Abrahamson dismissed the term outright.
“Polls have shown that people do not understand that term. Activist judge is shorthand for I don’t like the decision. Period.”
Last year, Abrahamson embarked on a tour of all 72 counties in Wisconsin. She reported that she has visited about 50 so far, and hopes to complete the tour in August.
“The point of this tour is to, within a short time, see what the concerns in the counties were and also bring information from other counties to the county I was visiting, and bring information from the state.”
The judges in each county organize her visits, which are open to the public. These visits can be extremely productive, she said, describing how she learned that one county was not able to provide video conferencing equipment in mental institutions, “which is used to save time and expense and to give people a fair hearing,” she said.
When she got back to Madison, Abrahamson “communicated with all the institutions” and resolved the issue. A lesson that can be learned from that example, said Abrahamson, is that judges don’t exclusively adjudicate cases.
“People have to remember that the court system is only one part of the justice system,” she said, adding that with criminal cases the process starts with the police, and some cases may start with the legislature, or another state institution.
“On administrative matters, there are numerous ways [the state’s agencies] can cooperate, all for the good of the public, which we all deserve,” she said.
High aspirations may be a natural result of Abrahamson’s upbringing.
“[My mother] was a good Jewish mother. She told me how wise she was that she got to the United States in time for me to be born here, so that I would be eligible to be president of the United States.”
But Abrahamson isn’t planning a run for the nation’s highest office. Her focus is Wisconsin.
“What motivates me is that I want Wisconsin to remain one of the leading courts in the country,” she said. “The New York Times recently reported that in a study of all the state courts, we were eighth in being looked at by other states for our opinions.
“In the administration of the court system, this court has been and will continue to be a leader in providing efficient, effective service to all the people.”
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