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.