Pat Roggensack and Ed Fallone Vie for State Supreme Court Seat

Voters will choose between incumbent Pat Roggensack and newcomer Ed Fallone to sit on the Wisconsin Supreme Court in April, and Door County voters had the opportunity to hear from both candidates.

And while the state supreme court justice race is technically nonpartisan, Door County political groups have taken sides. Roggensack spoke at the Door County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day Dinner on March 22 and the Door County Democratic Party invited Fallone to meet voters on March 28.

“[Fallone] said that he is an impartial applier of the law, and by our review of him and discussion with him, we feel that he is much more independent than the incumbent he’s running against,” said Garrett Cohn, Door County Democratic Party chair.

Fallone is a Marquette University law professor who has been a practicing attorney for almost 25 years, but never a judge. He is running to repeal the court’s 2009 rule change, which Roggensack supported, that allows judges to decide on cases after receiving endorsements or campaign contributions from parties involved those cases.

Roggensack has been on the Wisconsin Supreme Court since 2003 and is running for her second term. She’s endorsed by Door County Sheriff Terry Vogel.

“I’ve personally been invited into her office to talk to her in the past,” Vogel said. “She seems like a very genuine person. I’ve looked at some of her decisions in court and I think she really puts her heart and soul into those decisions and makes very sound judgments. I think her goal is to protect the citizens of the community.”

The selected justice will start his or her term on Aug. 1, 2013 and be one of seven justices on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The court has appellate jurisdiction over all other Wisconsin courts, meaning it can take cases that parties appeal after another state court has made a decision. The court can choose which cases it hears, and can take cases that haven’t been brought before lower courts.