Kloppenburg was born JoAnne Fishman to Dr. Elihu Fishman and his wife.[2] She attended high school in Connecticut,and attended Yale University with a scholarship,a year after it began accepting women for study in 1969.[citation needed] She received her B.A. in Russian studies from there,and went to the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University afterwards,originally intending to eventually become an ambassador. Instead,she shifted her focus to third world development,and received her Master of Public Affairs degree in 1976.[3]
Public service and career
After graduation,Kloppenburg joined the Peace Corps and became a rural development planner in Botswana from 1976 to 1979. She intended to be there for two years,but the government of Botswana asked her to stay for another year afterwards to direct rural development for the entire country.
Both candidates stated their unhappiness regarding the increased partisan aspect of the race.[6][7] Despite that, the race was generally seen as a referendum on the administration of Governor Scott Walker.[3][8] As a result, national groups spent heavily on the race, with about $1.4 million spent by pro-union/Democratic groups and $2.1 million spent by conservative groups.[9]
Kloppenburg described the central themes of her campaign as her independence and impartiality, citing as an example her refusal of special-interest money.[10] She stated, "I have not wavered in my beliefs and will not start if I am elected as a justice. My focus will be on the court without any political bias."[11] This theme was praised by local newspapers, such as the Green Bay Press-Gazette, which agreed that independence is a quality "critical for justices to rule fairly."[12]
By contrast, Prosser described her as an 'unbending ideologue' with 'extreme political and social views' which he did not specify, pointing to her past internship with liberal Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson, whom he called an 'activist' and 'total bitch.'[13] In response, Kloppenburg replied, "It's ludicrous to say someone will be the clone of someone they interned for many years ago."[14] Prosser later specified his comments by calling Kloppenburg "way out on the fringe", "a very liberal Democrat who has wandered into supporting Green Party candidates." Kloppenburg's husband had previously supported Ben Manski, a former student of his who was a Green Party candidate for Wisconsin State Assembly.[15] Manski placed second in the election with 31% of the vote, 11% more than the Republican candidate.[16]
At a candidate forum, Prosser asked Kloppenburg to take down a controversial third-party ad attacking Prosser on his decision not to prosecute a sexual abuse case involving a priest and young boys. Kloppenburg responded by stating that the ad wasn't hers, and "Like it or not, third parties have a First Amendment right to run ads of their own choosing."[14][17]
On March 28, anonymous Republican sources said that the race was close to even.[18][19] State officials expected a turnout of around 20%, a typical level of turnout for an April election.[20]
On March 31, Prosser's campaign co-chairman, former governor Patrick Lucey, a Democrat, resigned from Prosser's campaign and endorsed Kloppenburg, attributing his decision to Prosser's "disturbing distemper and lack of civility", while praising Kloppenburg for showing "promising judicial temperament and good grace, even in the heat of a fierce campaign."[21]
On April 6, after a preliminary count was released stating Kloppenburg held a 204-vote lead over Justice David Prosser,[22] she issued a statement declaring victory and thanking Justice Prosser for his decades of public service.[23] A recount of the votes was described by the Los Angeles Times as "inevitable."[citation needed]
On April 7, re-canvassing began to verify to election results, and errors were found in counties favoring both candidates; Prosser gained votes from Winnebago and Waukesha, while Kloppenburg regained ground from a scattering of other counties including Grant, Portage, Door, Iowa, Rusk, Vernon, and Shawano.[24] However, an April 7 news conference by the Waukesha County Clerk announced that an estimated 14,000 votes had not been counted in Brookfield, Wisconsin, because she had made an error while saving data on her personal computer. The addition of the missing votes gave Prosser a commanding lead of more than 7,000 votes.[25]
On April 15, the canvass was completed, showing that Prosser had a lead of 7,316 votes, a margin of 0.488%. Because the margin of victory was less than 0.5%, Kloppenburg was legally entitled to a recount. Following the recount, the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, which oversees elections, certified Prosser as the winner by a margin of 7,004. On May 31, 2011, Kloppenburg conceded the election.[26]
2016 election
Wisconsin Supreme Court justice N. Patrick Crooks announced on September 16, 2015, that he would not seek re-election to the court in 2016. He died five days later.[27] Governor Walker appointed judge Rebecca Bradley to fill the remainder of his term. Kloppenburg, Bradley and Joe Donald each announced their candidacy for the seat in the 2016 election, with Bradley as the sole Republican and Kloppenburg and Donald as Democrats.
In the February 16 primary, Bradley edged Kloppenburg 44.7%-43.2%, moving the two of them on to the general election. In a repeat of 2011, the race became extremely partisan after the primary, with major focus given to articles Bradley had written in the Marquette University student newspaper in 1992, when she was 21, attacking AIDS patients, drug users, and supporters of abortion on demand.[28] Kloppenburg attacked Bradley's student writings, stating: "There is no statute of limitations on hate. Rebecca Bradley's comments are as abhorrent and disturbing today as they were in 1992 as people were dying in huge numbers from AIDS."[29]
In the April 5 election, Kloppenburg lost to Bradley by approximately 53%-47%.[30]
JoAnne Kloppenburg is married to Jack Kloppenburg, a fellow graduate of Yale. They joined the Peace Corps together after their marriage.[2] Jack is now a professor at the University of Wisconsin.
Patrick Joseph Lucey was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 38th Governor of Wisconsin from 1971 to 1977. He was also independent presidential candidate John B. Anderson's running mate in the 1980 presidential election.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court is the highest appellate court in Wisconsin. The Supreme Court has jurisdiction over original actions, appeals from lower courts, and regulation or administration of the practice of law in Wisconsin.
Ann Walsh Bradley is an American lawyer and jurist, and the longest currently-serving justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. She was elected to the Supreme Court in 1995 and was re-elected in 2005 and 2015. She has announced she will not run for re-election again; her term expires July 31, 2025. She previously served ten years as a Wisconsin circuit court judge in Marathon County, Wisconsin.
Neil Patrick Crooks was an American lawyer. He was a justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court from 1996 until his death in 2015. He was appointed as a county judge by a Democratic governor, later professing conservatism as a Supreme Court candidate in 1995 and 1996. In his later years, Crooks gained notice as a perceived judicial moderate and swing vote on a court otherwise divided into two ideological blocs.
David Thomas Prosser Jr. is an American jurist and politician who served as Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly from 1995 to 1996, and as a justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court from 1998 to 2016. He was an advisor to Wisconsin Assembly speaker Robin Vos as Vos sought a rationale for impeaching current Wisconsin Supreme Court justice Janet Protasiewicz.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court election of 2011 took place on Tuesday, April 5, 2011. The incumbent justice, David Prosser, Jr., was re-elected to another ten-year term, defeating assistant Wisconsin Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg. Unlike past elections for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the race gained significant nationwide publicity as it was widely seen as the first referendum on Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's proposed anti-union legislation and the resulting protests.
Lisa Neubauer is an American lawyer and judge, currently serving as a judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals in the Waukesha-based District II. Judge Neubauer has served on the Court of Appeals since 2007 and was chief judge from 2015 through 2021.
Rebecca Lynn Grassl Bradley is an American lawyer, and justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, serving since 2015. She has been a state judge in Wisconsin since 2012. She was appointed to the Supreme Court by Governor Scott Walker in 2015, and won election to a 10-year term in 2016.
The 2016 Wisconsin Democratic presidential primary was held on April 5 in the U.S. state of Wisconsin as one of the Democratic Party's primaries ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Vermont senator Bernie Sanders won the contest with 56.5%, distancing nationwide frontrunner Hillary Clinton by 13 percentage points.
The 2016 Wisconsin Republican presidential primary was held on April 5 in the U.S. state of Wisconsin as one of the Republican Party's primaries ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Texas senator Ted Cruz won the contest with 48%, ahead of nationwide frontrunner Donald Trump by 13 percentage points. Taking advantage of the state's two-level "winner takes all" provision, Cruz took 36 out of the 42 available delegates.
The 2016 Wisconsin Fall General Election was held in the U.S. state of Wisconsin on November 8, 2016. One of Wisconsin's U.S. Senate seats and all eight seats in the United States House of Representatives were up for election, as well as half of the Wisconsin Senate seats and all 99 Wisconsin State Assembly seats. Voters also chose ten electors to represent them in the Electoral College, which then participated in selecting the 45th president of the United States. The 2016 Fall Partisan Primary was held on August 9, 2016.
Rebecca Frank Dallet is an American lawyer and a justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Prior to her 2018 election, she served ten years as a Wisconsin Circuit Court Judge in Milwaukee County. Earlier in her career she worked as a prosecutor and appointed court official.
Jennifer Elise Nashold is an American attorney, currently serving as a judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. She was elected in 2019.
Martin Joseph Donald is an American lawyer and a judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals in the Milwaukee-based District I. Donald was appointed to the court in September 2019 by Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers. Prior to his appointment to the Court of Appeals, Donald served 13 years as a Wisconsin Circuit Court judge in Milwaukee County.
Jill Judith Karofsky is an American attorney who has served as a justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court since 2020. Karofsky served as a Wisconsin Circuit Court judge in Dane County from 2017 until her 2020 election to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Rachel Anne Graham is an American lawyer, currently serving as judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals in the Madison-based District IV court. She was appointed in 2019 by Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers.
The 2015 Wisconsin Spring Election was held in the U.S. state of Wisconsin on April 7, 2015. There was a contested election for justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, as well as several other nonpartisan local and judicial elections and an amendment to the Constitution of Wisconsin to change the process for selection of the chief justice of the State Supreme Court. In addition, the ballot contained a special election to fill a vacancy in the 20th State Senate district. The 2015 Wisconsin Spring Primary was held February 17, 2015.
Janet Claire Protasiewicz is an American attorney and jurist from Wisconsin who has served as a justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court since August 2023. Protasiewicz was elected to the court in the 2023 election, after previously serving as a Milwaukee County circuit court judge in from 2014 to 2023 and as an assistant district attorney in Milwaukee for 26 years.
The 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court election will be held on Tuesday, April 1, 2025, to elect a justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court for a ten-year term. The incumbent justice, Ann Walsh Bradley, is retiring after 30 years on the court. Although the Wisconsin Supreme Court justices are considered nonpartisan, Bradley has identified as a liberal and has voted with the liberal 4–3 majority on the court, meaning the outcome of this election will decide the ideological majority of the court for at least the next year.
The 2011 Wisconsin Spring Election was held in the U.S. state of Wisconsin on April 5, 2011. The featured race at the top of the ticket was a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which was seen as an early referendum on the policies of the newly inaugurated governor, Scott Walker. Several other nonpartisan local and judicial offices were also decided on the April ballot, including mayoral elections in some of Wisconsin's larger cities—Green Bay, Madison, and Racine. Republicans' preferred candidate, incumbent justice David Prosser Jr., won the Supreme Court election by a narrow margin that resulted in a contentious recount. The 2011 Wisconsin Spring Primary was held February 15, 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
