Wisconsin Justice Initiative Blog

Subscribe via RSS
Visit Blog
By: Wisconsin Justice Initiative

Blog Authors

State Bar of Wisconsin

Latest from Wisconsin Justice Initiative Blog

There’s some consensus among lawyers that ethics rules already cover the responsible use of generative artificial intelligence in court submissions, but a recent petition to the Wisconsin Supreme Court is asking for more.

The rule change petition seeks to mandate explicit disclosure to the court and disclosure by the court when generative AI is used in the preparation of everything from court filings to opinions.

The petition was filed by frequent pro se (self-represented) litigant Jay Stone.

Stone’s

…
Continue Reading Generative AI Disclosure for Court Documents – Necessary or Redundant?

​”Evers’ judges” is our effort to present information about Gov. Tony Evers’ appointees to the bench. The information is taken from the appointees’ own judgeship applications.

Italics indicate direct quotes from the application.​ Typos, including punctuation errors, come from the original application even though we have not inserted “(sic)” after each one. WJI has left them as is.

Picture

Name: Owen Piotrowski

Appointed to: Milwaukee County Circuit Court

Appointment date: Jan. 7, 2026, (effective Feb. 1, 2026) to term ending

…
Continue Reading Evers’ judges: Owen Piotrowski

Just seven judicial races across Wisconsin were contested in yesterday’s elections. You’ve likely already heard about Judge Chris Taylor winning the open Supreme Court seat over Judge Maria Lazar.

No Wisconsin Court of Appeals races were contested, so Judges Joe Donald and Rachel Graham were reelected to Districts 1 and 4 respectively, and newcomer Anthony LoCoco will join the appeals court in District 2.

What happened in the six contested circuit court races? Here are results from the unofficial

…
Continue Reading Judicial Elections Roundup: Results from Around the State

In last week’s Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate debate, Wisconsin Justice Initiative’s legal challenge to the spring 2020 ballot question underlay one of the final questions.

WISN 12 in Milwaukee held and broadcast the debate between Wisconsin Court of Appeals Judges Chris Taylor and Maria Lazar on Thursday, Apr. 2.

About 10 minutes before the end, WISN moderator Matt Smith asked Taylor why she had voted against the constitutional amendment known as Marsy’s Law when she was a state legislator.

…
Continue Reading Supreme Court debate includes reference to WJI’s lawsuit challenging the 2020 Marsy’s Law constitutional amendment

A Milwaukee County ordinance makes discrimination against housing voucher holders illegal, but enforcement is essentially nonexistent. A City of Milwaukee agency is now looking at the issue.

In 2018, then-Milwaukee County Supervisor Marina Dimitrijevec sponsored and helped pass the county ordinance that made discrimination against housing voucher holders illegal.

But the county failed to develop a serious enforcement mechanism and has never litigated a complaint, says Stefanie Ebbens, senior administrator of the Inclusive Communities Program at Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair

…
Continue Reading City of Milwaukee commission to study lack of enforcement of housing voucher antidiscrimination laws

https-www-wisbar-org-newspublications-insidetrack-publishingimages-article%20images-police-officers-doorway-knocking-house-search-evidence-1200x630-jpg

A Brown County man recently won the right to withdraw his guilty plea after the Court of Appeals held that drug task force investigators used impermissible coercion to gain entry to his home.

“This case is a classic example of law enforcement tactics that deeply undermine individual rights and ultimately undercut the state’s interest in investigating and prosecuting crimes,” said defense attorney and Wisconsin Justice Initiative President Craig Johnson.

The District 3 per curiam (nonprecedential) opinion issued from the

…
Continue Reading Officers’ Coercive Tactics Rendered Search of Residence Invalid

District 4 of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals ruled ruled that in a preliminary hearing in a criminal case there is no requirement that any witness have firsthand knowledge of facts of the alleged crime; instead, a mere reading of the criminal complaint may suffice to bind a defendant over for trial if the complaint is thorough and detailed enough.

While the court said it would be “difficult to establish generally applicable rules,” it rubber-stamped a prosecution in Rock

…
Continue Reading Court of Appeals Reduces Preliminary Hearing to Mere Reading of Criminal Complaint

Candidates Aaron Marcoux and Angeline Winton-Roe vie for the seat on the Washburn County Circuit Court currently held by Winton-Roe. The election is April 7.

Marcoux is the Washburn County district attorney, having been appointed by Gov. Tony Evers in 2019 and elected to four-year terms in 2020 and 2024. Before then he was an assistant district attorney, and before that an assistant state public defender. He graduated from the University of Wyoming College of Law in 2010. A

…
Continue Reading Meet the Candidates for Washburn County Circuit Court

If you’re reading this blog, you are very likely concerned about justice in Wisconsin, the country, and across the world. But you’re probably also pretty busy. How do you choose which books about the justice system to read during your limited free time?

In a new series of posts, Wisconsin Justice Initiative founder and former executive director, Gretchen Schuldt, will help you out. An avid reader, she returns to the blog with book reviews so you can decide what’s

…
Continue Reading Book review: "Shielded" is an "engaging and enraging" examination of police immunity from suit

As Wisconsin prepares for a Supreme Court election between two appellate judges, examining judicial track records is helpful for understanding a candidate’s potential impact on the high-court bench.

Past rulings can provide insight on how the candidates approach the cases before them, reason and interpret law to get to their decisions, and explain those decisions to lower courts and the public.

Court of Appeals Judges Maria Lazar and Chris Taylor vie for an open seat on the Supreme Court.

…
Continue Reading Sample Opinions from this Year’s Wisconsin Supreme Court Candidates

Candidates Huma Ahsan and Ben Jones vie for the Branch 1 seat on the Dane County Circuit Court. The election is April 7.

Ahsan is an immigration law attorney and owner of Madison Immigration Law. She graduated from Stetson College of Law (Florida) in 1999. A copy of her resume/CV is here.

Jones is the incumbent, having been appointed to the seat by Gov. Tony Evers in 2025. WJI’s “Evers’ judges” post about him is here. He

…
Continue Reading Meet the Candidates for Dane County Circuit Court

Picture
The Wisconsin State Capitol. Photograph by Margo Kirchner.
By Alexandria StaubachWe continue our summary of justice-related bills and those with significant potential to impact the rights of marginalized populations in Wisconsin. Consistent with part 1 of this post, these are bills passed in the final weeks of the last substantive legislative of this term. Limited legislation will be produced until January 2027. At the end you’ll find bills that have passed in the Assembly and could still be taken up by

…
Continue Reading It's a wrap, part 2

Candidates Elizabeth Gebert and Emily Nolan-Plutchak vie for the Branch 3 seat on the Wood County Circuit Court. The election is April 7.Gebert is an assistant district attorney for Monroe County and Marathon County. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 2009. A copy of her resume/CV is here.Nolan-Plutchak is the incumbent, having been appointed to the seat by Gov. Tony Evers in 2025. WJI’s “Evers’ judges” post about her is here. She previously

…
Continue Reading Meet the candidates for Wood County Circuit Court

Picture of Marquette Law School's Derek Mosley and Charles Franklin
Marquette University Law School’s Lubar Center Director Derek Mosley (left) and Marquette University Law School Poll Director Charles Franklin (right) at the recent poll results announcement on Feb. 25, 2026, at the law school. Photograph by Margo Kirchner.
By Margo KirchnerThe “punchline” of the latest Marquette University Law School Poll is that Wisconsin voters just have not “tuned into the races” this year, said poll director Dr. Charles Franklin at a lunch-time event at the law school today.Two-thirds of

…
Continue Reading Marquette University Law School poll shows that most voters not "tuned in" to Supreme Court race

The Wisconsin Senate chamber (left) and Assembly chamber (right). Photographs by Margo Kirchner.
By Alexandria Staubach Even though 2026 recently started, the Legislature’s 2025-2026 session has for the most part come to an end. While a “limited-business” floor period is scheduled for April, and special sessions may be called, most of the work on legislation has finished and won’t pick back up in earnest until January 2027. A mixed bag of bills is headed to Gov. Tony Evers for signature, with

…
Continue Reading It's a wrap—the legislative session (mostly) comes to a close

Candidates Douglas Bauman and Michael D. Hughes vie for the open Branch 3 seat on the Marathon County Circuit Court created by Judge LaMont Jacobson’s decision not to run for reelection. The election is April 7.Bauman is a court commissioner and staff attorney in the Marathon County Circuit Court. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1998. A copy of his resume/CV is here.Hughes is a partner at a Wauwau law firm. He graduated from the

…
Continue Reading Meet the candidates for Marathon County Circuit Court