Compare the Candidates for
Wisconsin Supreme Court
 
Justice Louis Butler has been serving on the Wisconsin Supreme Court since 2004 when he was appointed by pro-choice Governor Jim Doyle. Judge Michael Gableman is endorsed by vocally anti-choice organizations and individuals, including Wisconsin Right to Life, an organization working to criminalize abortion.

Your Health is at Stake

Both anti and pro-choice forces agree that Roe v. Wade is in greater danger now than at anytime since this 1973 decision legalized abortion throughout the country.  Bush has stacked the U.S. Supreme Court with two vocal anti-choice justices, shifting the anti-choice balance of the court to a majority.  Just last year, for the first time in decades, this court ruled that abortion bans don't have to include an exception for a woman's health.

And that is why our state Supreme Court is so important.  Since 1849, Wisconsin has a criminal abortion statute on the books that could send women to prison.  If Roe falls, Wisconsin could become one of the first states in the nation to criminalize abortion.  We may have to turn to the state Supreme Court to stop this criminal abortion statute from going into effect and to protect women and physicians from being sent to prison.  We need to make sure that the Wisconsin Supreme Court respects a woman's autonomy and right to make personal, private health care decisions.

Justice Louis Butler
Justice Louis Butler has been serving on the Wisconsin Supreme Court since 2004 when he was appointed by pro-choice Governor Jim Doyle.  He is the first African American Supreme Court Justice in Wisconsin.  Prior to his appointment, Justice Butler served as a Milwaukee Municipal Court judge for 10 years and a Milwaukee County Circuit Judge for two years.

Justice Butler is supported by the entire Wisconsin Democratic Congressional delegation, including long-time progressives Senator Russ Feingold, and Representatives Gwen Moore & Tammy Baldwin.  During his long judicial career he earned the wide respect of his judicial colleagues and has been endorsed by more than 220 judges statewide.  Justice Butler has received many top accolades as a justice, including being named "Top Judge" in municipal court by Milwaukee Magazine and serving as the President of the Wisconsin Municipal Judges Association.  Justice Butler is a faculty member of the National Judicial College were he provides instruction to judges.  He has won numerous humanitarian awards and has received many accolades for his years of service to Wisconsin.
Judge Michael Gableman
Judge Michael Gableman is endorsed by vocally anti-choice organizations and individuals.  He is supported by Wisconsin Right to Life, an organization that has worked for decades to criminalize abortion.  Wisconsin Right to Life has stated that Judge Gableman views the role of the judiciary as interpreting laws, not making them.  This type of judicial philosophy, called "strict constructionism" is embraced by other well known anti-choice jurists such as Antonin Scalia.  These jurists adhere to a strict interpretation of the constitution.  This type of judicial philosophy does not view the constitution as an organic, living instrument to protect the rights and privileges that continue to result in a changing world, but as only a set, static set of rights contemplated by the founding fathers which did not include the reproductive rights of women. 

In 2002, Judge Gableman was appointed by anti-choice Governor Scot McCallum to his current position on the Burnett County Circuit Court after he hosted a fundraiser for McCallum and after an independent panel had recommended two other candidates for the judicial appointment.  According to data from the Wisconsin Law Journal, Judge Gableman's high reversal rate (the rate of cases Judge Gableman ruled on that have been overturned by a higher court) puts him in the bottom 30% of judges in Wisconsin.

Vote on April 1 for Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice. 
Our rights to make the most personal, private health care decisions are at stake.

Because Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin could be a party in a case before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, we have not endorsed a candidate in this race.
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