Wisconsin Court of Appeals

Wisconsin Court of Appeals districts

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals is the state's intermediate appellate court. It was founded in 1978. The court is composed of 16 judges from four districts, headquartered in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Wausau, and Madison. The judges are elected to six-year terms in district-wide, nonpartisan April elections. Vacancies are filled by gubernatorial appointment, and a new appointee is required to stand for election to a full six-year term the following spring.

Functions

The primary function of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals is to correct errors from Circuit Court cases. Court of appeals opinions become binding precedent unless the Wisconsin Supreme Court overrules them.

Judges of the Court of Appeals sit in three-judge panels for most appeals. Some cases are decided by a single judge, however: small claims actions, municipal ordinance violations, traffic regulation violations, mental health, juvenile, contempt, and misdemeanor cases.

The Court of Appeals makes decisions based on circuit court records and the written briefs of the parties, only hearing oral arguments when the judges think it will help their decision. While the Court of Appeals issues a written decision in every case, it has a publication committee to determine which decisions are published. Only published opinions have precedential authority.

Published opinions of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals can be found here.

Districts

District	Seat	Counties served
District I	Milwaukee	Milwaukee County
District II	Waukesha	Calumet, Fond du Lac, Green Lake, Kenosha, Manitowoc, Ozaukee, Racine, Sheboygan, Walworth, Washington, Waukesha and Winnebago counties
District III	Wausau	Ashland, Barron, Bayfield, Brown, Buffalo, Burnett, Chippewa, Door, Douglas, Dunn, Eau Claire, Florence, Forest, Iron, Kewaunee, Langlade, Lincoln, Marathon, Marinette, Menominee, Oconto, Oneida, Outagamie, Pepin, Pierce, Polk, Price, Rusk, Sawyer, Shawano, St. Croix, Taylor, Trempealeau, Vilas and Washburn counties
District IV	Madison	Adams, Clark, Columbia, Crawford, Dane, Dodge, Grant, Green, Iowa, Jackson, Jefferson, Juneau, La Crosse, Lafayette, Marquette, Monroe, Portage, Richland, Rock, Sauk, Vernon, Waupaca, Waushara and Wood counties

Judges

District I

Judge	Tenure	Appointed By
Martin Joseph Donald	September 6, 2019 - Present	Tony Evers
Maxine A. White	February 7, 2020 - Present	Tony Evers
Sara Geenen	August 1, 2023 - Present	Elected
Pedro A. Colón	November 19, 2023 - Present	Tony Evers

District II

Judge	Tenure	Appointed By
Mark Gundrum	November 30, 2011 - Present	Scott Walker
Shelley Grogan	August 1, 2021 - Present	Elected
Maria S. Lazar	August 1, 2022 - Present
Lisa Neubauer	January 7, 2008 - Present	James Doyle

District III

Judge	Tenure	Appointed By
Thomas M. Hruz	August 1, 2014 - Present	Scott Walker
Greg Gill Jr.	August 1, 2021 - Present	Elected
Lisa Kay Stark	April 23, 2013 - Present	Scott Walker

District IV

Judge	Tenure	Appointed By
Jennifer Nashold	August 1, 2019 - Present	Elected
Brian Blanchard	August 1, 2010 - Present	Elected
Rachel Graham	July 4, 2019 - Present	Tony Evers
JoAnne Kloppenburg	August 1, 2012 - Present	Elected
Chris Taylor	August 1, 2023 - Present	Elected

Former judges

• Daniel Anderson
• Rebecca Bradley
• Richard Brown
• Edward Brunner
• Ralph Adam Fine
• Michael Hoover
• Mark Mangerson
• Gregory Peterson
• Paul Reilly
• Gary Sherman

Salary

See also: Wisconsin court salaries and budgets

In 2025, the associate judges of the court received a salary of $184,995, according to the National Center for State Courts.

Judicial selection

See also: Judicial selection in Wisconsin

The 16 judges on the Wisconsin Court of Appeals are elected in nonpartisan elections. Judges serve six-year terms, and to remain on the court, they must run for re-election after their term expires.

Qualifications

To serve on the court of appeals, a judge must be:

• a qualified elector of Wisconsin;
• licensed to practice law in Wisconsin for a minimum of five years immediately prior to election or appointment; and
• under the age of 70.

Chief judge

The Wisconsin Supreme Court appoints the chief judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. The chief judge serves a three-year term. Each of the four districts of the court of appeals is managed by a presiding judge, appointed by the chief judge of the court of appeals. The presiding judges serve two-year terms.

Vacancies

In the event of a vacancy on the court, the governor has the power and duty to appoint an individual to the vacancy. The governor screens judicial applicants using an advisory council on judicial selection. The council recommends three to five candidates to the governor, although the governor is not bound by their recommendations. The appointed judge must then stand for election in the first subsequent year in which no other judge's term expires.

Elections

To see results from Wisconsin Court of Appeals elections, visit the individual district pages. For details about Wisconsin's judicial elections, click here.

• Wisconsin intermediate appellate court elections, 2026
• Wisconsin intermediate appellate court elections, 2025
• Wisconsin intermediate appellate court elections, 2024
• Wisconsin intermediate appellate court elections, 2023
• Wisconsin intermediate appellate court elections, 2022
• Wisconsin intermediate appellate court elections, 2021
• Wisconsin intermediate appellate court elections, 2020
• Wisconsin intermediate appellate court elections, 2019
• Wisconsin intermediate appellate court elections, 2018

Ethics

The Wisconsin Code of Judicial Conduct sets forth ethical guidelines and principles for the conduct of judges and judicial candidates in Wisconsin. It consists of seven Supreme Court Rules:

• Rule 60.01: Definitions.
• Rule 60.02: A judge shall uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary.
• Rule 60.03: A judge shall avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all of the judge's activities.
• Rule 60.04: A judge shall perform the duties of judicial office impartially and diligently.
• Rule 60.05: A judge shall so conduct the judge's extra-judicial activities as to minimize the risk of conflict with judicial obligations.
• Rule 60.06: A judge or judicial candidate shall refrain from inappropriate political activity.
• Rule 60.07: Applicability.

The full text of the Wisconsin Code of Judicial Conduct can be found here.

Removal of judges

Court of Appeals judges in Wisconsin may be removed in one of four ways:

• By the Supreme Court, on the recommendation of the Wisconsin Judicial Commission.
• By a two-thirds vote of the Senate, upon impeachment by a majority vote of the Assembly.
• By the governor, upon address of both houses of the legislature with concurrence of two thirds of each house.
• By the voters through a recall election.

State profile

Demographic data for Wisconsin
	Wisconsin	U.S.
Total population:	5,767,891	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	54,158	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	86.5%	73.6%
Black/African American:	6.3%	12.6%
Asian:	2.5%	5.1%
Native American:	0.9%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0%	0.2%
Two or more:	2.1%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	6.3%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	91%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	27.8%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$53,357	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	15%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Wisconsin. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in Wisconsin

Wisconsin voted for the Democratic candidate in five out of the seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

Pivot Counties (2016)

Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, 23 are located in Wisconsin, accounting for 11.17 percent of the total pivot counties.

Pivot Counties (2020)

In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. Wisconsin had 21 Retained Pivot Counties and two Boomerang Pivot Counties, accounting for 11.60 and 8.00 percent of all Retained and Boomerang Pivot Counties, respectively.

More Wisconsin coverage on Ballotpedia

• Elections in Wisconsin
• United States congressional delegations from Wisconsin
• Public policy in Wisconsin
• Endorsers in Wisconsin
• Wisconsin fact checks
• More...

See also

Wisconsin	Judicial Selection	More Courts
Courts in Wisconsin Wisconsin Court of Appeals Wisconsin Supreme Court	Elections: 2026 • 2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 Gubernatorial appointments Judicial selection in Wisconsin	Federal courts State courts Local courts

External links

• Wisconsin Court System, "Court of Appeals"
• Wisconsin Court System, "Court of Appeals: Judges"

Footnotes

Wisconsin courts

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Federal courts:

Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Wisconsin, Western District of Wisconsin • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Wisconsin, Western District of Wisconsin

State courts:

Wisconsin Supreme Court • Wisconsin Court of Appeals • Wisconsin Circuit Courts • Wisconsin Municipal Courts

State resources:

Courts in Wisconsin • Wisconsin judicial elections • Judicial selection in Wisconsin