MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Jill Karofsky has taken on the role of chief justice, elected by the court's liberal majority to lead an institution increasingly tasked with refereeing high-profile political cases.
Karofsky, known for completing ultra marathons and an Ironman, is currently recovering from an unexpected leg injury courtesy of her Golden Retriever, Lucky.
"She has the energy of a puppy and, uh, she ran headfirst and headlong into my shin," Karofsky said. "We're now finally back on talking terms."
The injury hasn't slowed her focus on leading the court with what she calls fairness, transparency and respect.
"I think as far as treating people respectfully, that's something I've tried to do my entire career," Karofsky said.
When asked about her leadership approach, Karofsky drew a stark contrast with current political leadership.
"I want to lead with empathy first, I want to lead with kindness first, which is a different way than say the president is leading," Karofsky said. "I would argue that he is leading based on hate and based on divisiveness, and I'm not going to do that."
Watch: 'I want to lead with empathy': Wisconsin's chief justice talks about her new role
Asked whether such comments make her role political, Karofsky maintained her judicial focus.
"I don't. I see my role as doing the role of a justice of the Supreme Court, which is to give my attention to the cases that come before us, to look at the facts, and to apply the law faithfully to follow the rule of law," Karofsky said.
Karofsky's rise to chief justice was pretty quick - she's only been on the Supreme Court five years, halfway through her ten-year term.
Major decisions:
She was also part of the court's 4-3 liberal majority in the highly anticipated decision to strike down the state's 1849 abortion ban law, concluding the state legislature had effectively replaced the ban decades earlier.
In Karofsky's concurring opinion, she highlighted the history of four women who died as a result of states that restrict abortion care, including her own great-grandmother, writing that she took matters into her own hands and ultimately bled to death in a Boston hospital.
"I wrote about my own grandmother who died because of very restrictive abortion laws over 100 years ago," Karofsky said. "So I think keeping in mind that real people are impacted by the work that we do."
Court unity amid division:
Despite perceptions of increased division, more than a third of the court's decisions last session were unanimous, closely mirroring the average over the past 10 years under both conservative and liberal-leaning courts. However, the percentage of unanimous decisions was higher from 1995-2005 at 65%, according to a Marquette professor's SCOWstats blog.
"I see a lot of 7-0 decisions and I see a couple of 7-0 decisions from this Court that came down at the end of last term on issues that were of great statewide importance as far as how the government and the state was going to work," Karofsky said.
Personal motivation:
The Wisconsin native and single mother draws inspiration from her family.
"My north stars really are my two kids, Daphne and Danny, who have just been absolute warriors in so many ways," Karofsky said. "If I'm ever not sure which direction I should go, I think about what would be best for them."
When TMJ4 asked about Karofsky's criticism of the president, the White House responded: "Wisconsinites voted to return President Trump to Washington to restore strength and leadership to the Presidency. Since then, President Trump has delivered on the voters' mandate– protecting women's sports, securing our southern border, lowering inflation, and delivering the largest middle-class tax cut," said White House Spokeswoman Victoria LaCivita.
This story was reported on-air by Charles Benson and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
