Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser will step down from the bench this summer after almost two decades on the state’s high court, according to a statement released Wednesday.
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Justice David Prosser announced this afternoon that he’s retiring on July 31. “It was a pleasure to serve with Justice Prosser in the Assembly and we thank him for his service to the state of Wisconsin and its citizens”.
Tommy Thompson appointed Prosser to the high court in 1998 and he’s one of five conservative-leaning justices. He was elected to a 10-year term in 2001 and re-elected in 2011.
This story will be updated as WPR learns more. With the appointment and subsequent election of Justice Rebecca Bradley, the court has a 5-2 conservative majority.
Prosser grew up in Appleton and was the Outagamie County district attorney.
The state Judicial Commission filed ethics charges against Prosser, but the case stalled when most of the justices said they could not participate in the case because they had witnessed the incident.
“In choosing my successor, Governor, I respectfully request that you select a person who is fully committed to the important mission of the judiciary”, Prosser wrote to Walker.
Esenberg said it’s an incorrect assumption to think the court won’t change in Prosser’s absence, even if the appointee is a conservative.
Prosser, 73, leaves behind a court where controversy has become as common for justices as it is for other elected officials in Wisconsin.
Prosser earned his law degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison law school in 1968.
Chief Justice Patience Roggensack described Prosser as an “exceptionally bright and thoughtful jurist” and a “man of courage”.
Gov. Scott Walker will appoint a replacement to serve on the court until the spring of 2020, the next spring election when there’s no Supreme Court race on the ballot.
He made headlines in 2011 when he placed his hands around liberal-leaning Justice Ann Walsh Bradley’s throat during an argument in chambers over the timing of the release of a divided Supreme Court decision upholding Walker’s signature law restricting public workers’ collective bargaining rights. Prosser also served on various commissions and committees that helped advance the legal profession.
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Walker appointed Gundrum to a seat on the appeals court. The Judicial Commission also reviewed an incident in which Prosser called former chief justice Shirley Abrahamson, a member of the court’s liberal minority, a “total bitch” and threatened to “destroy” her. “David has brought unique perspectives to Court discussions, thereby increasing the Court’s ability to understand hard problems presented to us for resolution”.
