{"id":1314976,"date":"2026-03-09T13:10:04","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T18:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wisconsinwatch.org\/?p=1314976"},"modified":"2026-03-09T13:10:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T18:10:06","slug":"wisconsin-supreme-court-justice-ziegler-reelection-conservative-liberal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wisconsinwatch.org\/2026\/03\/wisconsin-supreme-court-justice-ziegler-reelection-conservative-liberal\/","title":{"rendered":"Conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Annette Ziegler won’t seek reelection","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/b><\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>\n

A conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court justice first elected in 2007 announced Monday that she will not seek a third 10-year term next year, giving liberals another chance to expand their majority as cases affecting redistricting, union rights, school funding and other hot button issues await.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justice Annette Ziegler, 62, becomes the second conservative justice in as many years to decide against seeking reelection after liberals took majority control of Wisconsin’s highest court in 2023. Liberals held onto their majority last year in a race that broke national spending records and saw billionaire Elon Musk<\/a> traveling to the state to hand out $1 million checks to conservative voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s another election on April 7 for the open seat caused by conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley’s decision not to run for reelection. The liberal candidate, Appeals Court Judge Chris Taylor<\/a>, has outraised her conservative opponent<\/a>, fellow Appeals Court Judge Maria Lazar<\/a>, allowing her to spend more on television ads in what so far has been a low-profile race given that the court’s majority is not on the line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liberals are seeking to win their fourth Supreme Court race<\/a> in a row dating back to 2020 and solidify their hold on the court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ziegler’s decision to step down means there will be another open race next year. If liberals win this year, their majority would increase to 5-2, and in 2027 they could grow it to 6-1. If the conservative candidate wins this year, the liberal majority would remain 4-3, and next year the best conservatives could do would be to keep it at 4-3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ziegler consistently sided with fellow conservatives justices, including in 2020 when the court fell one vote short<\/a> of overturning President Donald Trump\u2019s election loss that year. Ziegler was in the minority after a conservative swing justice sided with liberals.<\/p>\n\n\n\t\n\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\trelated stories<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t
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Conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Annette Ziegler won’t seek reelection<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t
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Latest Wisconsin Supreme Court case flips the script on which judges strictly interpret the law<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\n

Cases expected to come before the court in coming years include challenges to congressional district maps<\/a>, the future of a state law that effectively ended collective bargaining<\/a> for most public workers and an effort to increase spending on public schools<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liberals have struck down a state abortion ban law<\/a> and ordered new legislative maps since taking control of the court, fueling Democrats\u2019 hopes of capturing a majority this November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ziegler, who was chief justice between 2021 and 2025, previously served as a circuit court judge in Washington County for 10 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow is the right time for me to step away to spend more time with my husband, kids and grandkids,\u201d she said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am incredibly proud that in all my elections I had support from a broad spectrum of legal, civic, law enforcement and political leaders \u2014 both Democrats and Republicans \u2014 who believed in my commitment to fairness, ethics and the rule of law,” Ziegler said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The election to replace Ziegler is April 6, 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wisconsin Watch<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0is a nonprofit and nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our\u00a0newsletters<\/a>\u00a0to get our investigative stories and Friday news roundup.<\/em> This story is published in partnership with The Associated Press.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Justice Annette Ziegler becomes the second conservative justice in as many years to decide against seeking reelection after liberals took majority control of Wisconsin’s highest court in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"author":770,"featured_media":1314980,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-feature.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"gigafact_has_fact_brief":false,"gigafact_remote_fact_brief_post_id":0,"gigafact_remote_sync_timestamp":"","gigafact_remote_sync_status":"","gigafact_remote_sync_response":"","gigafact_has_been_published":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"large","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[89],"tags":[18587,269,3656,6714,608],"partner":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"type-of-work":[],"coauthors":[6711],"class_list":["post-1314976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-annette-ziegler","tag-elections","tag-news","tag-associated-press","tag-wisconsin-supreme-court","entry"],"fact_brief":null,"apple_news_notices":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/wisconsinwatch.org\/2026\/03\/wisconsin-supreme-court-justice-ziegler-reelection-conservative-liberal\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Annette Ziegler won’t seek reelection","url":"http:\/\/wisconsinwatch.org\/2026\/03\/wisconsin-supreme-court-justice-ziegler-reelection-conservative-liberal\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/wisconsinwatch.org\/2026\/03\/wisconsin-supreme-court-justice-ziegler-reelection-conservative-liberal\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wisconsinwatch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/asse6524220-scaled.jpg?fit=140%2C93&quality=100&ssl=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wisconsinwatch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/asse6524220-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1706&quality=100&ssl=1"},"articleSection":"Government","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Scott Bauer \/ Associated Press"}],"creator":["Scott Bauer \/ Associated Press"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Wisconsin Watch","logo":"https:\/\/wisconsinwatch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/ww-logo-footer-1.png"},"keywords":["annette ziegler","elections","news","the associated press","wisconsin supreme court"],"dateCreated":"2026-03-09T18:10:04Z","datePublished":"2026-03-09T18:10:04Z","dateModified":"2026-03-09T18:10:06Z"},"rendered":"