MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin Supreme Court is expected to issue more than a dozen rulings in the coming weeks, including on the validity of the state’s 1849 abortion law and cases that could shake up the power dynamic between Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Republicans who control the state Legislature.
Justices have yet to publish their rulings on 14 cases they heard over the past year. That’s not an unusual number of pending decisions for this point in the term, according to Marquette University history professor Alan Ball, who tracks Wisconsin Supreme Court statistics on the SCOWstats blog.
“What is unusual is that it’s such a small number total,” Ball said. “This year, I’m predicting maybe 22, 23 [decisions] total, which is a little bit more than a 50% increase over last year but still far below what they were doing just a couple years before.”
Last year, the court issued just 14 decisions – fewer than any term in the last 50 years, according to Ball. That number ranged from 40 to 61 in the decade prior.
Watch: Wisconsin Supreme Court expected to rule on abortion, 13 other cases this summer
The lighter caseload doesn’t mean the court has stopped making big decisions. Last term, the court’s new liberal majority overturned legislative maps that favored Republicans. This term, it heard arguments in November over the state’s 1849 abortion law.
“I think, in the public’s view, abortion is the biggest case yet to be decided,” said Bryna Godar, a staff attorney at UW-Madison’s State Democracy Research Initiative. “We’re likely going to see several separate opinions for that, and so that might be part of why that one’s been taking longer.”
Several other cases awaiting rulings deal with the separation of powers between the governor and the Legislature. They could affect ongoing negotiations between Evers and Republicans over the next state budget.
Complex cases and disagreement on the court, Godar said, can translate to longer waits for decisions.
“The writing process can take a very long time,” she said. “If you have justices all agreeing on an issue and doing a single, majority opinion, sometimes those cases can go a little bit quicker because you only have one opinion coming out. Whereas if you have justices who are disagreeing or agreeing with a concurrence and writing separately, that can take longer for that whole opinion process to play out.”
The court’s 2024-25 term officially ends on June 30, but it’s not uncommon for the court to take a few extra weeks to finish publishing its decisions.
To learn more about some of the cases awaiting decisions, see our previous coverage below:
Wisconsin's high court hears oral arguments on whether an 1849 abortion ban remains valid
Wisconsin Supreme Court hears fight over literacy funding
Wisconsin Supreme Court hears arguments over conversion therapy ban
DNR's authority to force pollution cleanup at stake in state Supreme Court case
Wisconsin Supreme Court hears lawsuit from UW Health nurses seeking to unionize
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