BERKELEY, CA (WSAU) — A long-time Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice has passed away.
Shirley Abrahamson died at her home in Berkeley, California Sunday at the age of 87.
Abrahamson was the first woman appointed to the state’s highest court in 1976 by then-Governor Patrick Lucey. She retired from the court in July of 2019 after 43 years, serving as Chief Justice for 19 of those years. She participated in over 3,000 written opinions including 450 majority opinions.
Nationally she was viewed as one of the top state justices in the country, even drawing praise from the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg whom she counted as a friend. Former President Bill Clinton reportedly considered her for a position on the US Supreme Court.
Governor Tony Evers released a statement about her passing on Sunday, saying “Kathy and I were devastated this morning to learn of Chief Justice Abrahamson’s passing. Chief Justice Abrahamson was a first—the first woman to serve on the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the first woman to serve as chief justice. Yet, 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.
Serving more than 40 years on the Wisconsin Supreme Court and writing more than 1,300 opinions, few others have given so much of themselves to the cause of public service in Wisconsin. Chief Justice Abrahamson was a meticulous jurist and a profound writer who believed in an independent judiciary. But she was also a champion for a more fair, more equitable state and country, and to that end, worked to hold our laws to account,” he added.
An official statement on Abrahamson’s death has not been released by the state Supreme Court. According to her son Dan, her cause of death was pancreatic cancer. She was preceded in death by her husband Seymour, who worked as a geneticist at UW-Madison, in 2016.
