The recently released agenda for the state’s next Supreme Court justice conference includes a discussion item that has increased tensions on the court.
Tensions have been high ever since conservative justices gained a majority on the court in 2008, leaving the Chief Justice and one other justice in the minority.
Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson issued the agenda for the Jan. 31 conference last Thursday. One item up for discussion concerns monetary requests a justice asked for totaling more than $600 in travel costs.
The justice requested the money to ask “every judge in the state (directly or indirectly)” to compile sentencing reports in every criminal case they have handled. The justice characterized the request as personal.
Justice Patience Roggensack said she made the request. Roggensack researched racial disparities in sentencing by meeting with circuit court judges across the state of Wisconsin sometime before the summer of 2009. She did not meet with every judge in the state, she said.
Her travel expenses, she said, totaled around $400, not $600 and felt the project was appropriate for a justice to undertake.
Abrahamson brought up the claim at a meeting and asked the justices to gauge its appropriateness, according to Roggensack. She said she withdrew the request so the justices would not have to take sides.
“[Abrahamson] shouldn’t do stuff like that,” Roggensack said of putting the item on the agenda. “Yeah it was personal, but it’s personal because I’m a justice.”
After the agenda was released, Roggensack and three other conservative-leaning justices released a statement calling Abrahamson’s agenda an attack. The four justices felt they needed more communication about the court’s budget.
They also questioned Abrahamson about her use of court funds, specifically the decision to hire two executive assistants when the court’s budget only allows one. The Chief Justice’s agenda, however, indicated her assistants split time and receive pay through the same budget allocation.
Another monetary issue the conservative-leaning justices wish to review is Abrahamson’s plans to sponsor the 2011 Summit and Children and Families, which will cost the court $87,000. The justices’ statement said Abrahamson refused to discuss the matter at a private meeting held Jan. 7.
