Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser dead at 81
Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser | official portrait
Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice and Assembly Speaker David Prosser died Sunday at 81 after a months-long battle with cancer.
After graduating from law school in 1968, Prosser spent most of his career working in government, in all three branches.
The Appleton native worked as a staff member of then-U.S. Rep. Harold Froehlich, as an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, and as the Outagamie County district attorney for two years before being elected to the Assembly in 1979.
He served in the Assembly for nearly 20 years, serving as Speaker of the chamber and as minority leader. In 1996 he left the Legislature to run for U.S. Congress, losing his race for the state’s 8th Congressional District to Democrat Jay Johnson.
After that loss, Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson appointed Prosser to the Wisconsin Tax Appeals Commission.
In a statement, Thompson said Prosser dedicated his life to public service.
“A man of deep conviction and intense loyalty to our way of life, David knew without citizen service, there was no real democracy and that to avoid the slings and arrows of public life was to surrender one’s convictions,” Thompson said. “He never did.”
Thompson appointed Prosser to the state Supreme Court in 1998.
In 2011, Prosser held onto his seat, winning a tightly contested election against JoAnne Kloppenburg by 0.5% of the vote. Prosser’s victory to coincided with a sharp right turn in the state’s politics, with Republicans controlling all three branches of state government. That period also marked a sharp increase in partisanship among the Court’s justices.
In 2011, as the justices debated the Court’s decision on Republican’s Act 10 bill to limit the collective bargaining rights of public employees, Justice Ann Walsh Bradley accused Prosser of putting his hands around her throat in a “chokehold.” The state’s Judicial Commission filed ethics charges against Prosser, but the case petered out after most of the justices said they couldn’t weigh in on its conclusions because they had witnessed the event.
Shortly before his retirement from the Court in 2016, the Court’s conservative majority renamed the state’s law library after him.
“Justice Prosser was the quintessential public servant who enjoyed a respected career (spanning more than 40 years) in the service of others. His exemplary service in all three branches of government demonstrated his unparalleled versatility and dedication to the public good,” Chief Justice Annette Kingsland Ziegler said in a statement. “On the bench, Justice Prosser brought a keen intellect and deep sense of fairness to every case, leaving an indelible mark on Wisconsin jurisprudence. He was well known for digging into the books and conducting exhaustive research, often ‘burning the midnight oil’ in the law library. Justice Prosser possessed a critical understanding of, and allegiance to, the rule of law.”
The Court’s now-liberal majority renamed the library after Lavinia Goodell, Wisconsin’s first woman lawyer, in June.
Earlier this year, Prosser was one of the retired former justices from whom Assembly Speaker Robin Vos sought advice as Republicans called for the impeachment of Justice Janet Protasiewicz. In a statement, Vos said Prosser was a “mentor” and celebrated his career of public service.
“Dave had a great sense of humor and was always quick to offer advice that was filled with great ideas and common-sense solutions,” Vos said. “He was well-regarded and well-respected by his colleagues on both sides of the aisle. A man of wisdom, Dave listened first, was thoughtful and independent-minded in his decisions. He gained the trust of his colleagues, both Republicans and Democrats. Dave leaves a legacy of service to the state that won’t be matched.”