At a state Supreme Court candidate debate on Friday, sponsored by the State Bar of Wisconsin, a common theme was experience. Challenger Ed Fallone touted his 25 years of practicing law and his time as a constitutional law professor at Marquette University.
“It’s not something you can read about in a book. It’s something that you read about day after day, decision after decision, “said Justice Patience Roggensack, touting her experience on the bench including her previous time as an appellate judge. Roggensack said she is only justice with experience on the Court of Appeals, the lower court from where the Supreme Court gets most of its reviews.
Fallone often mentioned the “dysfunction” and “factions” within the high court that have been talked about by the press and other justices, and how another ten-year term with Roggensack will result a continuance of this fragmentation. The incumbent said she’d like to be judge on her individual merits. “The court is not up for re-election. One justice is up for re-election, Pat Roggensack.”
Voters in Wisconsin will make their choice on April 2.
AUDIO: Brian Moon reports (1:18)