Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Ziegler bumps Crooks from majority top spot.

• Author: Ziemer, David

Byline: David Ziemer

For the first term in many years, Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice N. Patrick Crooks was not the least likely to dissent.

During the four terms prior to the 2008-09 session, Crooks dissented only nine times, with not a single dissent during 2007-08. In the recently-concluded term, however, he dissented five times.

Instead, Justice Annette Kingsland Ziegler was most often in the majority this term, dissenting only twice, both in cases involving tort and insurance issues. Ziegler was in the majority in 96 percent of cases the court heard.

Most often in dissent was Chief Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson, who dissented 16 times, and was in the majority in only 70 percent of cases. This marks a substantial drop from the previous term, in which Abrahamson was second-most often in the majority, after Crooks, landing in the majority in 87 percent of cases.

Second most likely to dissent was Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, who dissented 15 times, and was in the majority in 74 percent of cases. Bradley was also in the majority 87 percent of the time the previous term.

This term, after Ziegler, Justice Michael J. Gableman was most often in the majority, at 95 percent; and Justice Crooks, David T. Prosser, and Patience Drake Roggensack were all in the majority in 91 percent of cases.

One noteworthy aspect of the term was uniformity in criminal cases. Four justices -- Gableman, Prosser, Roggensack, and Ziegler -- did not dissent in a single criminal case. Dissenting most often in criminal cases was Bradley, but only in four cases, followed by Abrahamson, at three.

Fifteen of the 19 criminal cases the court decided resulted in unanimous opinions, similar to the 2007-08 term, when 18 of 22 were unanimous.

Polarization

A significant change from last term was the lack of polarization, at least in the form of four-three decisions.

In 2007-08, the court decided 14 cases by a four-three vote. In each, Crooks was in the majority; in seven cases, Abrahamson, Bradley, and former Justice Louis B. Butler Jr. were also in the majority; in the other seven cases, Prosser, Roggensack, and Ziegler were.

This past term produced only seven four-three splits. The most common grouping of justices in the majority was Gableman, Prosser, Roggensack, and Ziegler -- four of the seven cases.

Alignment

The justices most likely to concur were Abrahamson and Bradley, concurring in 98 percent of cases, the same as in 2007-08. In only one case did one dissent, but not the...