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Annette Ziegler
2007 portrait
27th Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court
Incumbent
Assumed office May 1, 2021
Preceded by	Patience D. Roggensack
Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court
Incumbent
Assumed office August 1, 2007
Preceded by	Jon P. Wilcox
Wisconsin Circuit Court Judge for Washington County branch 2
In office 1997–2007
Appointed by	Tommy Thompson
Preceded by	James B. Schwalbach
Succeeded by	James K. Muehlbauer
Personal details
Born	Annette Marie Kingsland (1964-03-06) March 6, 1964 (age 60) Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S.
Spouse	J. J. Ziegler
Children	3
Education	Hope College (BA) Marquette University (JD)

Annette Kingsland Ziegler (born March 6, 1964) is an American jurist serving as chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court since May 2021. She has been a member of the court since 2007, and is generally regarded as part of its conservative wing. Ziegler served as a Wisconsin circuit court judge in Washington County from 1997 to 2007.

Early life and education

Ziegler was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to Joyce and Rex R. Kingsland, and graduated from Grand Rapids's Forest Hills Central High School in 1982. She received a bachelor's degree in business administration and psychology from Hope College in 1986, and a Juris Doctor from Marquette University Law School in 1989. While in law school she was a staff editor of the Marquette Law Review, as well as a recipient of the Dean's Award.

Early career

After graduating from law school, Ziegler was admitted to the State Bar of Wisconsin in 1989. Before serving in the judiciary, she worked as a federal prosecutor, an assistant United States attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. She was also a pro bono special assistant district attorney in the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office. In private practice, she was a civil private practice attorney for several years at the law firm of O'Neil, Cannon, Hollman & DeJong, SC.

Wisconsin circuit court

In 1997, Governor Tommy Thompson appointed Ziegler to the Washington County Circuit Court, in the Branch 2 vacancy created by the death of Judge James B. Schwalbach. She was elected to a full term in April 1998 and reelected in 2004, both times unopposed. She then ran for the Supreme Court seat being vacated by retiring Justice Jon P. Wilcox.

Wisconsin Supreme Court

2007 election

Ziegler faced Madison attorney Linda Clifford in the April 2007 general election, after they were the top two finishers in the February primary. The campaign was contentious. Ziegler asserted that Clifford's lack of judicial experience made her ill-prepared for the Supreme Court; she also raised concerns about two of Clifford's campaign workers misrepresenting themselves to law enforcement officials. Clifford asserted that Ziegler had ruled in cases where she had a clear conflict of interest.

It came to light during the campaign that Ziegler had ruled on roughly a dozen cases affecting a bank of which her husband was a paid board member, and on 22 cases involving companies in which Ziegler personally owned more than $50,000 of stock.

On April 3, 2007, Ziegler defeated Clifford in the election, 58% to 42%. Her campaign and allies outspent Clifford $4.1 million to $1.7 million. The influential business lobbying associations Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce and Wisconsin Club for Growth spent $2.6 million in support of Ziegler.

Following her election, in a 5–1 decision the Wisconsin Supreme Court took the unprecedented step of publicly reprimanding Ziegler for willful violations of the code of judicial conduct by presiding over those cases where she had an apparent conflict of interest.

Tenure

In 2015, Ziegler joined the four-justice majority that ended the John Doe investigation into possibly illegal coordination between the 2010 gubernatorial campaign of Scott Walker and Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce and Wisconsin Club for Growth. The court ruled that such coordination, if it had occurred, would be legal. The sweeping ruling upended Wisconsin campaign finance rules, enabling close coordination between campaigns and political action committees, which do not have to disclose their donors.

In 2017, she joined a 5–2 decision to strike down a rule that would have required judges to recuse from cases where they had received lawful campaign contributions from one of the interested parties.

Ziegler was reelected in 2017 without opposition. Her second term expires on July 31, 2027.

In 2021, Chief Justice Patience Roggensack, then 80 years old, declined to seek another two-year term as chief justice. On April 14, 2021, Ziegler's colleagues elected her as the next chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, effective May 1, 2021. Ziegler is the second chief justice to be elected by her colleagues since the constitution was amended to establish this selection process.

Zeigler is generally regarded as part of the court's conservative wing. Ziegler

Since the swearing-in of Janet Protasiewicz in 2023 and the emergence of a liberal majority on the Court, Ziegler has come into frequent conflict with her more liberal colleagues, whom she accuses of judicial activism and staging a "coup". This criticism was the main focus of her vehement dissent in Clarke v. Wisconsin Elections Commission, in which she wrote that the majority (often referred to in the dissent as the "court of four") "takes a wrecking ball to the law, making no room, nor having any need, for longstanding practices, procedures, traditions, the law, or even their co-equal fellow branches of government. Their activism damages the judiciary as a whole."

Electoral history

Wisconsin Circuit Court (1998, 2004)

Wisconsin Supreme Court (2007, 2017)

Notes

1. Ziegler subsequently won election to the seat in both 1998 and 2004

References

1. "Rex R. Kingsland Obituary". The Grand Rapids Press. December 24, 2017. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
2. Callender, David (March 16, 2007). "Clifford Ad Assails Ziegler 'scandal'". The Capital Times. p. C1. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
3. "Poor Judgment Sinks Ziegler". Wisconsin State Journal. April 1, 2007. Archived from the original on April 16, 2019. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
4. Marley, Patrick (2007-04-04). "Ziegler wins court seat; Expensive race ends with decisive victory". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved 2008-11-26.
5. Hall, Dee J. (March 29, 2008). "Supreme Court's newest member reprimanded over conflicts of interest". Wisconsin State Journal. Archived from the original on June 22, 2008. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
6. Marley, Patrick; Spicuzza, Mary (July 16, 2015). "Wisconsin Supreme Court ends John Doe probe into Scott Walker's campaign". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Archived from the original on July 20, 2015. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
7. Marley, Patrick (April 20, 2017). "Wisconsin Supreme Court rejects recusal changes when campaign donors are litigants". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Archived from the original on December 24, 2017.
8. "Annette Ziegler selected as Wisconsin Supreme Court's new chief justice". WTMJ-TV. April 14, 2021. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
9. Vetterkind, Riley (April 15, 2021). "Justice Annette Ziegler elected next Wisconsin Supreme Court chief justice". Wisconsin State Journal. Retrieved May 28, 2021.
10. Johnson, Shawn (April 14, 2021). "Annette Ziegler Elected Chief Justice Of Wisconsin Supreme Court". Wisconsin Public Radio. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
11. "Wisconsin Supreme Court chief justice accuses liberal majority of staging a 'coup'". AP News. August 28, 2023.
12. "2023AP1399-OA" (PDF). Supreme Court of Wisconsin. 2023-12-22.
13. Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau (April 22, 2004). "Elections". State of Wisconsin 1999-2000 Blue Book (Report). State of Wisconsin. p. 855. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
14. Results of Spring General Election - 04/06/2004 (PDF) (Report). Wisconsin State Elections Board. April 22, 2004. p. 13. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
15. Results of Spring Primary Election - 02/20/2007 (PDF) (Report). Wisconsin State Elections Board. March 6, 2007. p. 1. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
16. Results of Spring General Election - 04/03/2007 (PDF) (Report). Wisconsin State Elections Board. April 23, 2007. p. 1. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
17. Canvass Results for 2017 Spring Election (PDF) (Report). Wisconsin Elections Commission. April 4, 2017. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 28, 2021. Retrieved April 15, 2019.

External links

• "Ziegler Faces Conflict Questions", Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, March 5, 2007
• "Judge Takes More Than Half of Votes", Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, February 20, 2007

v t e Statewide political officials of Wisconsin
U.S. senators	Ron Johnson Tammy Baldwin
State government	Tony Evers, Governor Sara Rodriguez, Lieutenant Governor Sarah Godlewski, Secretary of State Josh Kaul, Attorney General John Leiber, Treasurer Jill Underly, Superintendent
Senate	Chris Kapenga, President Patrick Testin, President pro tempore Devin LeMahieu, Majority Leader Dianne Hesselbein, Minority Leader
Assembly	Robin Vos, Speaker Kevin Petersen, Speaker pro tempore Tyler August, Majority Leader Greta Neubauer, Minority Leader
Supreme Court	Annette Ziegler, Chief Justice Ann Walsh Bradley Rebecca Bradley Rebecca Dallet Brian Hagedorn Jill Karofsky Janet Protasiewicz, Justices

v t e Chief justices of Wisconsin
Territory (1836–1848)	Dunn
First state supreme court (1848–1853)	Stow Hubbell Whiton
Formal state supreme court (since 1853)	Whiton Dixon Ryan Cole Lyon Orton Cassoday Winslow Siebecker Vinje Rosenberry Fritz Fairchild Martin Broadfoot Brown Currie Hallows Wilkie Beilfuss Heffernan Day Abrahamson Roggensack Ziegler

• 1964 births
• Politicians from Grand Rapids, Michigan
• People from West Bend, Wisconsin
• Living people
• Hope College alumni
• Marquette University Law School alumni
• Chief justices of the Wisconsin Supreme Court
• Justices of the Wisconsin Supreme Court
• Wisconsin circuit court judges
• Women chief justices of state supreme courts in the United States
• 21st-century American judges
• 21st-century American women judges