County board to vote on smaller judicial districts in Milwaukee

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A proposal to divide Milwaukee County into smaller judicial districts in an effort to promote diversity on the bench will be reviewed by the County Board on July 23.

Supervisor Elizabeth Coggs is sponsoring the resolution, which asks the state to “explore alternatives to the current circuit court judicial electoral boundary process so that more people of color can be elected judges.”

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than half of the state’s minority population resides in Milwaukee County, while about 18 percent of the 47 circuit court judges are “people of color.”

Even if the proposal approved by the board, its implementation would require an amendment to the state constitution, which dictates how judges are elected.

“I think that it’s a question of whether the method in which that redistricting would be done is constitutional,” said Milwaukee County Clerk of Court John W. Barrett.

Attorney Thomas L. Shriner represented the Wisconsin Trial Judges Association in a 1996 case (Milwaukee Branch of NAACP v. Thompson) in which the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the state’s current “at-large” election of circuit court judges.

Shriner said the decision concluded that county-wide races do not deny minority voters an equal opportunity to participate in the process.

On July 9, the board’s Judiciary, Safety and General Services Committee deadlocked 3-3 on the issue, which means it will go to the full board without recommendation.