Here & Now

Longest-Serving Justice Retires

Frederica Freyberg:
The usually decorous setting of the Wisconsin Supreme Court burst out in a standing ovation this week in honor of the longest serving justice on the bench. Fellow justices and those assembled in a packed chamber for oral arguments Wednesday gave Justice Shirley Abrahamson a round of applause to mark her retirement from the bench. She started her law career in private practice and as a professor where she was the first woman to receive tenure at the UW Law School. In 1976, she became the first woman on the State Supreme Court, serving as Chief Justice from 1996 to 2015. She retires at the end of her term this year, marking 43 years on the bench. Friend and fellow justice, Ann Walsh Bradley, said a few words in honor of Abrahamson.

Ann Walsh Bradley:
I know that for many years she has said to me that when she sits here, she’s standing up for the people of Wisconsin.