Timeline Stories
All timeline stories.
Peg Lautenschlager becomes first female attorney general
Lautenschlager becomes the first female attorney general in Wisconsin history. State Bar of Wisconsin President Patricia Ballman says: “I think it shows us times have changed. It’s not just window dressing anymore. There really are more equal opportunities.”
Shirley Abrahamson wins third term in a landslide
Abrahamson wins a third 10-year term on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, defeating challenger Sharren Rose by a landslide, carrying all 72 counties with 63.5% of the vote.
Shirley Abrahamson becomes Wisconsin’s first woman chief justice
Abrahamson becomes the first woman chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. At the time, there are only six other female chief justices of state courts of last resort in the United States
Shirley Abrahamson wins second term on the supreme court
Abrahamson is reelected to a second 10-year term on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. She soundly defeats her challenger, court of appeals judge Ralph Adam Fine, by winning 55% of the vote
Shirley Abrahamson is the first woman elected to a full term on the supreme court
Abrahamson becomes the first woman in Wisconsin’s 131-year history to be elected to a full 10-year term on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. She defeats challenger Howard Boyle by a landslide, carrying 66% of the vote.
Martha Bablitch is elected the first woman judge on the new court of appeals
Bablitch is elected the first woman judge on the newly-created Wisconsin Court of Appeals. She is the top vote-getter in the primary election, and the youngest candidate. She handily defeats her opponent, family court commissioner William Giese.
Shirley Abrahamson becomes the first woman justice on the supreme court
Gov. Patrick Lucey appoints Abrahamson the first woman justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. She is the only woman judge in Wisconsin at that time. At her investiture, her law partner wonders if by 2076 a majority or even all the justices could be women.