Abrahamson sues over amendment

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Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson has filed a federal lawsuit contending that she should not be removed from her position.

Abrahamson filed the suit Wednesday, after voters approved Tuesday a constitutional amendment to change the 126-year-old law so that the chief justice is elected every two years by the court.

When the justices will elect a new chief justice is not clear. The election’s results will not be certified by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Board until the board’s April 29 meeting.

The text of the constitutional amendment does not indicate when the election of the chief justice will take place.

When Virginia went through a similar change about 20 years ago, shifting from automatically selecting the member with the most seniority to letting the justices choose, the chief justice at the time did not have to step down. Rather, the court’s first order of business was to elect him chief justice.

Based on the conservative-leaning positions of the majority of Wisconsin’s Supreme Court, that may not happen for Abrahamson, 81, who has been chief justice for 19 years and is the longest-serving chief justice in state history.

Abrahamson argues in the lawsuit that the change should not be applied until after her term ends in 2019. If it is applied, she argues it would be a violation of her constitutional due process rights.

Wisconsin joins 22 other states that have a similar system letting justices decide who will be chief justice.

The Associated Press also contributed to this report.