Wisconsin Justice Annette Ziegler won’t run for a new term in 2027

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MADISON, Wis. — State Supreme Court Justice Annette Ziegler will not seek a third term in 2027, she announced Monday.

Ziegler, 62, is a member of the court’s conservative minority and served for four years as its chief justice.

“After three decades on the bench, now is the right time for me to step away to spend more time with my husband, kids and grandkids,” Ziegler said in a statement.

A native of Grand Rapids, Mich., Ziegler received a bachelor’s degree in psychology and business administration from Hope College in Holland, Mich., in 1986. She earned her law degree from Marquette University in Milwaukee in 1989.

She served in private practice and as a prosecutor until 1997, when Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson appointed her to the Washington County Circuit Court.

Ziegler in 2007 beat attorney Linda Clifford for her seat on the Supreme Court in a race that cost about $6 million — a record at the time for a court race.

“It has been the honor of my lifetime to serve as judge and justice for the past 30 years. I will be forever grateful to the voters who elected me twice in Washington County and then twice to serve on our state’s highest court,” Ziegler said in her announcement.

In 2008, shortly after Ziegler joined the high court, her colleagues reprimanded her for handling cases as a circuit court judge involving West Bend Savings Bank, where her husband was a director. She is the only justice in state history to be disciplined by her peers.

She won a second 10-year term in 2017. She was unopposed, and after her election she sent her donors a letter offering to return 70% of what they gave her because she had spent only about 30% of what she raised on her campaign.

“I am incredibly proud that in all my elections I had support from a broad spectrum of legal, civic, law enforcement and political leaders – both Democrats and Republicans – who believed in my commitment to fairness, ethics and the rule of law,” Ziegler said. “I am also grateful to my colleagues on the Supreme Court, both past and present, for their faith in me by choosing me to serve as chief justice for two terms.”

Ziegler was elected by her peers to serve as chief justice in April 2021 – the second chief justice to be chosen in that manner, after it had automatically gone to the longest-serving justice for 126 years. That changed in 2015, when voters amended the state constitution to allow the justices to choose who would lead them.

Liberals now hold a 4-3 majority on the state’s high court.

The two wings of the court clashed openly after the majority shift.  Three days after securing their new majority in 2023, the court’s four liberal justices voted to limit Ziegler’s power as chief justice – a move she called at the time “an attempt to gut” her constitutional authority by “rogue justices.”

Liberal Appeals Court Judge Chris Taylor and conservative Appeals Court Judge Maria Lazar will face each other in the April 7 election for an open seat on the court, after conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley decided not to run for another 10-year term. If Taylor wins, it would be liberals’ fourth Supreme Court victory in a row dating to 2020, and would expand their majority on the court to 5-2. A Lazar win would hold the liberal majority at 4-3.

Ziegler’s retirement sets up another wide-open race next year.

“While I will not be a candidate next year, my appreciation for the people of Wisconsin and the judicial system I have been privileged to serve in remains as strong as ever.,” Ziegler said. “I look forward to finishing out the rest of my term on the court and handing the baton to a new justice in 2027.”