Wisconsin’s Assembly Committee on Judiciary and Ethics is set to vote on Thursday on a constitutional amendment that would end the state’s practice of having the most senior justice of the state’s supreme court serve as Chief Justice.

Under AJR 49 and SJR 36 the court’s justices would chose among themselves after every election to determine who would serve as chief. At a December 15 hearing, the lead proponent of the bill admitted that he had not spoken with anyone on the court, court staff, or the state court administrator about whether or not they wanted the change and did not indicate if he intended on speaking to the justices or court staff prior to the vote (see video from 1:35:00-1:37:30).

Video of the hearing, if available, will be found here.

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