Introduction of “Swing State of the Union” Season 2: Wisconsin’s Supreme Court – WUWM

In Season 2 of Swing State of the Union, We go to court – the Supreme Court of Wisconsin.

In a politically divided Wisconsin, the main decisions on issues such as Gerimander, abortions and Union rights are reduced to the seven judges in the Supreme Court of the State.

This April Wisconsin will choose a new justice of the Supreme Court, probably deciding the ideological balance of forces.

But why do we choose the judges of the Supreme Court? And what does he say when guerrilla policy occupies a central place during these supposedly non -party competitions?

We will learn how the Wisconsin judicial system works and the role of the Supreme Court in State Policy.

“The court’s liability is primarily to answer questions of the law that matter throughout the country, to resolve either new or repetitive issues, and to clarify what state legislation means,” says Miriam Septer, Professor of Law at UW-Law School and Codierrector of the State Initiative to Study Democracy.

We will look at how the court has evolved over the last 30 years and the growing role of guerrilla policy.

“You know that you will never escape completely from the influence of things like politics and, I think that law, you know, something like floats in a sea of ​​politics and norms and customs and all these things. You can’t get out of it completely. But I think this does not mean that you have to give it completely, “says Chad Oldfater, a law professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Market and the author of judges, judge and judgment: character, wisdom and humility in the polarized world.

We will investigate how well -funded donors have influenced the court election in recent decades.

“There was real anger in the business community for a number of cases that were resolved in the spring of the year and justice [Louis] Butler was part of these decisions and these groups, these corporate groups appeared with revenge and with their money to try to defeat him, and they were successful, “says Janin Geske, the former justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court and a prominent professor of a law at the Faculty of Law of Market University.

And we will look at the competition this spring and why who is in court.

“What it does has huge effects on the way ordinary people can participate in the political process that shapes their lives in Wisconsin,” says Philip Rocco, a professor of political science at Market University.

Join us for Swing State of the Union Season 2. The episodes drop every Wednesday, starting on February 26th. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.