The 2003 Wisconsin Supreme Court election was held on April 1, 2003, to elect a justice to the Wisconsin Supreme Court for a ten-year term. Patience Roggensack defeated Edward R. Brunner and Paul B. Higginbotham (the latter of whom was eliminated in a nonpartisan primary). Incumbent justice William A. Bablitch did not seek re-election.

Prior to the election, the court's ideological composition had 3 liberal justices, 3 conservative justices, and 1 centrist justice. By replacing the liberal Bablitch with the conservative Roggensack, the election resulted in a short-lived conservative ideological majority on the court (after Louis B. Butler's appointment the next year, this majority would be lost).[1]

Results

2003 Wisconsin Supreme Court election[2]
Party Candidate Votes %
Primary Election, February 19, 2003
Nonpartisan Patience Roggensack 109,501 39.36
Nonpartisan Edward R. Brunner 89,494 32.17
Nonpartisan Paul B. Higginbotham 77,584 27.89
Write-ins 1,604 0.58
Total votes 278,183 100
General Election, April 1, 2003
Nonpartisan Patience Roggensack 409,422 51.13
Nonpartisan Edward R. Brunner 390,215 48.73
Write-ins 1,148 0.14
Total votes 800,785 100

References

  1. ↑ Ball, Alan (April 5, 2025). "A Liberal High-Water Mark?". SCOW Stats. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
  2. ↑ Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau. "Elections in Wisconsin". State of Wisconsin 2003-2004 Blue Book (Report). State of Wisconsin. p. 891. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Wisconsin_Supreme_Court_election