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

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

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

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

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

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

Current Wisconsin Court of Appeals Judges Maria Lazar and Chris Taylor vie for the open seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court created by Justice Rebecca Grassl Bradley’s retirement. The election is April 7.Lazar is an appellate judge in District 2 (centered in Waukesha and composed of southeastern Wisconsin counties excluding Milwaukee County) and previously was a Waukesha County Circuit Court judge. She graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in 1989. A copy of her resume/CV is here.Taylor is

By Alexandria Staubach A hot bench of Wisconsin Supreme Court justices challenged a lawyer for the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty during oral arguments last week about his challenge to a state technical college grant program.At issue is whether the program is a permissible targeted solution to address racial inequities or impermissible race-based discrimination.WILL attorney Luke Berg argued that all race-based state action

By Alexandria Staubach A popular bill that would expand judicial, public defender, and assistant district attorney positions is making its way through the Legislature but includes no positions for Milwaukee. Milwaukee was excluded from the bill, AB 514, because “politics sometimes gets involved,” said one of the bill’s lead sponsors, Sen. David Steffen (R-Howard), at a public hearing last week. The Assembly’s Committee on Judiciary was first presented with

The three contestants for Dane County Circuit Court Branch 1 participated in Wisconsin Justice Initiative’s candidate forum last week, providing voters with important information ahead of the Feb. 17 primary.Huma Ahsan, Nathan Wagner, and Ben Jones (L to R in the photo below) vie for the seat. Judge Jones is the incumbent, appointed by Gov. Tony Evers in May 2025. Ahsan and Wagner are attorneys in Dane County.Unsure how you will vote? Want to get to know the candidates better?