The power of Supreme Court incumbency and an argument for change

In the past 98 years, there has been exactly one previously elected State Supreme Court justice who lost a bid for re-election. That happened, according to the State Bar of Wisconsin, back in 1967, when Chief Justice George R. Currie was ousted by the voters.

Currie was in the unfortunate position of facing re-election shortly after joining an opinion ruling that  the state could not use its antitrust law to keep the Milwaukee Braves baseball team from relocating to Atlanta. He also was nearing the mandatory retirement and, if re-elected, would not be able to serve the full 10 years, according to the Wisconsin Court System website.

In addition, according to the State Bar, only four State Supreme Court appointees in the past 107 years have been defeated at the polls when they sought full terms.

The State Bar included the election statistics in a report urging adoption of an amendment to the state constitution that would restrict Supreme Court justices to a single, 16-year term. The State Bar recently stepped up its efforts to push the proposal. Amending the state constitution requires that the proposed language be adopted by two consecutive legislatures and by voters in a referendum.

The report said a 16-year term for justices makes sense for several reasons:

• Elected justices would be able to focus on the law. "Justices will not need to seek support for re-election from individuals and groups with identifiable political perspectives and economic interests," the report said.
  
• The change would eliminate the perception that court decisions are influenced by re-election concerns.
  
• The single, longer term will promote collegiality on the court "by eliminating the potential that justices will publicly or privately oppose a colleague's reelection."
  
• Campaigns are less likely to go negative. "The negative advertising that frequently accompanies a challenger's campaign against an incumbent justice demeans the office as well as the incumbent justice," the report said.
  

A justice appointed by the governor to fill a vacant position would be allowed to run for a full 16-year term.