First black man to serve on Supreme Court a trailblazer

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Lifetime Achievement Award Winner

Although Louis Butler is best known for his time on the Wisconsin Supreme Court in the 2000s, he made his mark on the law well before that.

Shortly after graduating from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1977, he became a public defender in Milwaukee County, working both in the appellate and criminal divisions.

There he managed to amass an impressive record as a litigator.

Well before joining the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2004, he had appeared before the court on 20 different occasions. He was also the first public defender in Wisconsin history to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court. In McCoy v. Wisconsin Court of Appeals, he successfully contended that even though lawyers who think their clients are making frivolous appeals are under an obligation to present that opinion in court, they should not be duty bound to say why they think so.

He continued doing this sort of work until 1992, when he became a municipal court judge for the city of Milwaukee. By 2002, he was on the Milwaukee County Circuit Court.

With his appointment to the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2004, Butler became the first black man to serve on the high court. His time there saw him take part in a number of decisions that continue to guide legal practice in the state of Wisconsin.

Throughout it all, Butler scrupulously avoided talking politics. Many observers of the court, though, believe Butler’s race against Michael Gableman, who eventually won, was marked by a new partisan note that continues to be heard in judicial campaigns.

Butler himself has hardly looked back. Since leaving the Supreme Court, he has taught courses at UW-Madison Law School, practiced law at Gonzalez Saggio & Harlan and DeWitt LLP and worked with groups like the National Judicial College. In recently announcing he would be retiring by the end of July, Butler said he has no intention of giving up law.

“I am still definitely concerned about the future of legal practice in Wisconsin,” he said. “I care greatly about the legal system.”

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