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Appeals judge moves to Supreme Court bench

By: dmc-admin//April 9, 2003//

Appeals judge moves to Supreme Court bench

By: dmc-admin//April 9, 2003//

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Roggensack
Hon. Patience Roggensack

Having served on the District IV Court of Appeals, Pat Roggensack is no stranger to the Supreme Court courtroom. That’s where her Madison-based appellate court hears its oral arguments.

Come August, Roggensack will have a new perspective from that bench as she joins six other Supreme Court justices.

Roggensack garnered 51 percent of the votes in the April 1 election to defeat opponent Barron County Circuit Court Judge Ed Brunner, who received 49 percent of the votes. Roggensack will become the first court of appeals judge to serve on the Supreme Court, since the lower appellate court was created 25 years ago.

“I am really looking forward to the challenge and I’m absolutely thrilled by the opportunity that this election presents,” Roggensack said during an April 2 interview.

Roggensack noted that she was not too surprised by the 2 percent margin between the candidates. She cited her broad-based support from many communities throughout the state among the factors that contributed to her victory.

“We thought it would be close,” She said. “We didn’t think it would be a runaway, so it was about what we expected.”

Brunner congratulated his opponent last week, telling the Wisconsin Law Journal, “I wish Pat Roggensack the best.”

As for what the future holds following the campaign, Brunner said he plans, “To stay here and do a good job, just like I’ve always done. I don’t have any other plans than to continue my work in Barron County.”

Throughout her campaign, Roggensack pointed to the need for a justice with court of appeals experience. She noted that the majority of seated justices came from the trial bench and none of them had come from the court of appeals. That experience, she said, provided her with some insight into how the two appellate courts could work more efficiently as a team.

After her election, Roggensack said, “I want to try to get the Supreme Court to look at this idea that I talked so much about, running the Supreme Court and the court of appeals as an appellate team.”

She plans to begin talking with the other justices about that before she gets to the court in August. The newly elected justice envisions the two appellate courts determining areas where court of appeals decisions make it difficult to tell what the law requires. She would like to see the court of appeals working with the Supreme Court, so cases in those areas would go directly to the high court for clarification.

Regarding the outcome of the April 1 election, Chief Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson said, “We always welcome a justice selected by the governor or elected by the people of the state of Wisconsin and we look forward to working with Pat Roggensack.”

Abrahamson was cautious in her response regarding Roggensack’s plan for a team approach to the two levels of courts. She noted the limitations the two courts face regarding the discussion of pending cases.

“I’m always willing to look at what she means by ‘team,’ ” the chief justice said.

Marquette University Law School Prof. Peter K. Rofes teaches constitutional law and has followed the state Supreme Court race.

“The phrase ‘team approach’ always sounds good, but it’s not clear what it means in practice to me,” Rofes observed.

He noted that the main themes he saw coming out of Roggensack’s campaign dealt with the court deciding more cases and increasing its workload and diligence. He characterized that as “very safe,” and “hard to argue with.” The issue goes beyond simply handling more cases.

“Merely taking more cases is not the answer if more cases are going to be taken and be decided haphazardly, or poorly,” Rofes said. “If more cases will be taken and the justices will roll up their sleeves and give their full attention, that could be a good thing.”

Rofes also expressed some disappointment in the general media’s attempts to define the judicial candidates in terms of “liberal” or “conservative.” Several publications had classified Roggensack as conservative due to her strong base of support from Republican federal and state legislators, such as Congressme
n Mark Green (R-Green Bay), Paul Ryan (R-Janesville) and Thomas Petri (R-Fond du Lac); state Senate Majority Leader Mary Panzer (R-West Bend); and state Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills).

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“Those qualities and characteristics and terms don’t work real well and yet they are the only adjectives that the media tends to rely on,” Rofes explained.

“The overwhelming majority of cases that the Supreme Court of this state handles have little to do with the liberal-conservative spectrum that commentators ultimately invoke when they talk about politicians.”

Roggensack was slated to fill her spot on the District IV Court of Appeals until 2008. Elections Board Executive Director Kevin J. Kennedy explained that Gov. Jim Doyle will be responsible for filling that bench seat until an election can be held. Judge Charles P. Dykman is up for reelection in April 2004, so the next time there is an opening to hold an election would be in April 2005.

Tony Anderson can be reached by email.

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