MADISON, Wis. Shirley Abrahamson, the longest-serving Wisconsin Supreme Court justice in state history and the first woman to serve on the high court, has died. She was 87.
Abrahamson, who also served as chief justice for a record 19 years, died Saturday after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, her son Dan Abrahamson told The Associated Press on Sunday.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said in a statement that Abrahamson had a “larger-than-life impact” on the state’s legal profession and her legacy is defined “not just by being a first, but her life’s work of ensuring she would not be the last, paving and lighting the way for the many women and others who would come after her.”
Then-Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson questions an attorney in 2013. (M.P. King /Wisconsin State Journal via AP, Pool, File)
MILWAUKEE (CN) Shirley Abrahamson, the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s longest-serving justice and the first woman on the high court, died late Saturday. She was 87.
A trailblazer who broke the gender barrier on Wisconsin’s highest court via appointment by former Governor Patrick Lucey in 1976, Abrahamson served on the court for nearly 43 years, including a record 19 years as chief justice, before stepping down in July 2019 not long after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
Abrahamson received praise from many during her career as a leading liberal judicial figure, not the least of which from former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who herself died in September, also at the age of 87.
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Supreme Court chief justice Shirley Abrahamson questions state attorney general J.B. Van Hollen, during arguments in Madison Teachers Inc. vs. Scott Walker, in the Wisconsin Supreme Court at the state capitol in Madison, Wisconsin, November 11, 2013. (M.P. King /Wisconsin State Journal via AP, Pool, File)
MADISON, Wisconsin (AP) Shirley Abrahamson, the longest-serving Wisconsin Supreme Court justice in state history and the first woman to serve on the high court, has died. She was 87.
Abrahamson, who also served as chief justice for a record 19 years, died Saturday, after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, her son Dan Abrahamson told the Journal Sentinel newspaper in Milwaukee.
MADISON, Wis. Shirley Abrahamson, the longest-serving Wisconsin Supreme Court justice in state history and the first woman to serve on the high court, has died. She was 87. Abrahamson, who also served as chief justice for a record 19 years, died Saturday after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, her son Dan Abrahamson told the […]