Former public defender to represent Wisconsin in oral arguments at SCOTUS (UPDATE)

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Two University of Wisconsin Law School graduates will be arguing in front of the U.S. Supreme Court later this month.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice recently chose Assistant Attorney General Hannah Jurss to represent the state of Wisconsin in oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in State v. Gerald Mitchell, an appeal challenging the constitutionality of Wisconsin’s implied-consent statute.

Jurss, who earned her law degree from the UW Law School in 2011, spent seven years as an appellate attorney for the Wisconsin State Public Defender before working for the DOJ. She has appeared six times in oral arguments before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, according to online court records.

Assistant State Public Defender Andy Hinkel, who earned his law degree from UW Law School in 2005, will argue the case on the behalf of Mitchell. He has appeared 10 times in oral arguments before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, according to online court records.

“It is well understood that SCOTUS grants review sparingly, and the grant of cert is a significant accomplishment,” said Jeremy Perri, the SPD’s appellate division director. “Mr. Hinkel is a skilled advocate for his clients, and we are fortunate to have him litigate this important Fourth Amendment issue before the Supreme Court.”

Oral arguments in State v. Mitchell are scheduled for 1 p.m. on April 23 at the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.

Mitchell filed his petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court in October, and the court voted in January to accept it.

The appeal asks the justices to weigh in on whether Wisconsin’s statute authorizing warrantless blood draws from unconscious drivers is an exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement.

The U.S. Supreme Court in 2013 and 2016 appeared to give its blessing to implied-consent laws that impose civil penalties, Wisconsin as well as other states have laws that allow blood draws to be taken from drivers without a warrant, even when exceptions to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement do not apply. Federal courts of appeal are split on whether statutes like Wisconsin’s violate the Fourth Amendment.

The last time a DOJ lawyer at the U.S. Supreme Court was in 2017.

The last time a lawyer from the SPD argued before the U.S. Supreme Court was in 1988. That lawyer was former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler, who is now an attorney at DeWitt. Follow @erikastrebel