{{Short description|American judge (born 1964)}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Annette Ziegler | image = Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Annette Ziegler in 2007.jpg | caption = 2007 portrait | office = 27th Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court | term_start = May 1, 2021 | term_end = April 30, 2025 | predecessor = Patience D. Roggensack | successor = Ann Walsh Bradley | office1 = Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court | term_start1 = August 1, 2007 | term_end1 = | predecessor1 = Jon P. Wilcox | successor1 = | office2 = Judge of the Washington County Circuit Court<br>Branch 2 | appointer2 = Tommy Thompson | term_start2 = August 1, 1997 | term_end2 = July 31, 2007 | predecessor2 = James Schwalbach | successor2 = James Muehlbauer | birth_name = Annette Marie Kingsland | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1964|3|6}} | birth_place = Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | spouse = J. J. Ziegler | children = 3 | education = Hope College (BA)<br />Marquette University (JD) }} '''Annette Kingsland Ziegler''' (born March 6, 1964) is an American lawyer and jurist serving since 2007 as a justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. From 2021 to 2025 she served as the Court's 27th chief justice. Regarded as a member of the court's conservative wing, Ziegler has announced that she will retire on July 31, 2027, at the end of her current term. Before her election to the Court, she served ten years as a Wisconsin circuit court judge in Washington County. Earlier in her career, she served as an Assistant United States attorney in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
== Early life and education == Ziegler was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to Joyce and Rex R. Kingsland,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://obits.mlive.com/obituaries/grandrapids/obituary.aspx?n=rex-r-kingsland&pid=187598694&fhid=5484 |title = Rex R. Kingsland Obituary |publisher= The Grand Rapids Press |date=December 24, 2017 |accessdate= April 15, 2019 }}</ref> and graduated from Grand Rapids's Forest Hills Central High School in 1982. She received a bachelor's degree in business administration and psychology from Hope College in 1986, and a Juris Doctor from Marquette University Law School in 1989. While in law school she was a staff editor of the Marquette Law Review, as well as a recipient of the Dean's Award.
==Early career== After graduating from law school, Ziegler was admitted to the State Bar of Wisconsin in 1989. Before serving in the judiciary, she worked as a federal prosecutor, an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. She was also a pro bono special assistant district attorney in the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office. In private practice, she was a civil private practice attorney for several years at the law firm of O'Neil, Cannon, Hollman & DeJong, SC.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}
==Wisconsin circuit court== In 1997, Governor Tommy Thompson appointed Ziegler to the Washington County Circuit Court, in the Branch 2 vacancy created by the death of Judge James B. Schwalbach. She was elected to a full term in April 1998 and reelected in 2004, both times unopposed. She then ran for the Supreme Court seat being vacated by retiring Justice Jon P. Wilcox.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}
==Wisconsin Supreme Court== ===2007 election=== Ziegler faced Madison attorney Linda Clifford in the April 2007 general election, after they were the top two finishers in the February primary. The campaign was contentious. Ziegler asserted that Clifford's lack of judicial experience made her ill-prepared for the Supreme Court; she also raised concerns about two of Clifford's campaign workers misrepresenting themselves to law enforcement officials. Clifford asserted that Ziegler had ruled in cases where she had a clear conflict of interest.<ref name="TCTscandal">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/522550113/|title=Clifford Ad Assails Ziegler 'scandal'|last=Callender |first=David|date=March 16, 2007|work=The Capital Times|accessdate=August 3, 2023|page=C1|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
It came to light during the campaign that Ziegler had ruled on roughly a dozen cases affecting a bank of which her husband was a paid board member, and on 22 cases involving companies in which Ziegler personally owned more than $50,000 of stock.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://madison.com/news/opinion/poor-judgment-sinks-ziegler-linda-clifford-is-the-better-choice/article_0ec2af4a-26c7-5e5f-8413-a44298b8f805.html |title= Poor Judgment Sinks Ziegler |publisher= Wisconsin State Journal |date= April 1, 2007 |accessdate= August 3, 2023|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190416045158/https://madison.com/news/opinion/poor-judgment-sinks-ziegler-linda-clifford-is-the-better-choice/article_0ec2af4a-26c7-5e5f-8413-a44298b8f805.html|archivedate=April 16, 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref>
On April 3, 2007, Ziegler defeated Clifford in the election, 58% to 42%.<ref name="MSJwin">{{cite news|url=http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/29263439.html|title=Ziegler wins court seat; Expensive race ends with decisive victory|last=Marley|first=Patrick|date=2007-04-04|publisher=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel|accessdate=2008-11-26}}</ref> Her campaign and allies outspent Clifford $4.1 million to $1.7 million. The influential business lobbying associations Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce and Wisconsin Club for Growth spent $2.6 million in support of Ziegler.
Following her election, in a 5–1 decision the Wisconsin Supreme Court took the unprecedented step of publicly reprimanding Ziegler for willful violations of the code of judicial conduct by presiding over those cases where she had an apparent conflict of interest.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://madison.com/news/ziegler-is-given-a-public-reprimand/article_07a048a5-6e12-533a-b78c-6059e7d6c120.html |title= Supreme Court's newest member reprimanded over conflicts of interest |work= Wisconsin State Journal|last=Hall |first= Dee J. |date=March 29, 2008 |accessdate=August 3, 2023|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080622234306/http://www.madison.com:80/wsj/topstories/288600|archivedate=June 22, 2008|url-status=dead }}</ref>
===Tenure=== In 2015, Ziegler joined the four-justice majority that ended the John Doe investigation into possibly illegal coordination between the 2010 gubernatorial campaign of Scott Walker and Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce and Wisconsin Club for Growth. The court ruled that such coordination, if it had occurred, would be legal. The sweeping ruling upended Wisconsin campaign finance rules, enabling close coordination between campaigns and political action committees, which do not have to disclose their donors.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/wisconsin-supreme-court-ends-john-doe-probe-into-scott-walkers-campaign-b99535414z1-315784501.html/ |title= Wisconsin Supreme Court ends John Doe probe into Scott Walker's campaign |work= Milwaukee Journal Sentinel |last1= Marley|first1= Patrick |last2= Spicuzza |first2=Mary|date= July 16, 2015 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150720215414/http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/wisconsin-supreme-court-ends-john-doe-probe-into-scott-walkers-campaign-b99535414z1-315784501.html|archivedate=July 20, 2015|url-status=dead|accessdate=August 3, 2023}}</ref>
In 2017, she joined a 5–2 decision to strike down a rule that would have required judges to recuse from cases where they had received lawful campaign contributions from one of the interested parties.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2017/04/20/wisconsin-supreme-court-weighs-recusal-rules-when-campaign-donors-litigants/100644698/ |title= Wisconsin Supreme Court rejects recusal changes when campaign donors are litigants |publisher= Milwaukee Journal Sentinel|last=Marley |first= Patrick |date=April 20, 2017 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20171224191524/https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2017/04/20/wisconsin-supreme-court-weighs-recusal-rules-when-campaign-donors-litigants/100644698/?from=new-cookie|archivedate=December 24, 2017|url-status=live }}</ref>
Ziegler was reelected in 2017 without opposition. Her second term expires on July 31, 2027.
In 2021, Chief Justice Patience Roggensack, then 80 years old, declined to seek another two-year term as chief justice. On April 14, 2021, Ziegler's colleagues elected her as the next chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, effective May 1, 2021.<ref>{{Cite news|url= https://www.tmj4.com/decision2020/annette-ziegler-selected-as-wisconsin-supreme-courts-new-chief-justice |title= Annette Ziegler selected as Wisconsin Supreme Court's new chief justice |work= WTMJ-TV |date= April 14, 2021 |access-date=May 4, 2021 |language=en }}</ref> Ziegler is the second chief justice to be elected by her colleagues since the constitution was amended to establish this selection process.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/justice-annette-ziegler-elected-next-wisconsin-supreme-court-chief-justice/article_5a2ae7dc-42b8-5833-9f6a-a4ce2aab80c3.html |title= Justice Annette Ziegler elected next Wisconsin Supreme Court chief justice |newspaper= Wisconsin State Journal |date= April 15, 2021 |first= Riley |last= Vetterkind |accessdate= May 28, 2021 |language=en }}</ref>
Zeigler is generally regarded as part of the court's conservative wing.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Johnson |first1=Shawn |title=Annette Ziegler Elected Chief Justice Of Wisconsin Supreme Court |url=https://www.wpr.org/annette-ziegler-elected-chief-justice-wisconsin-supreme-court |access-date=July 8, 2022 |work=Wisconsin Public Radio |date=April 14, 2021}}</ref>
Since the swearing-in of Janet Protasiewicz in 2023 and the emergence of a liberal majority on the Court, Ziegler has come into frequent conflict with her more liberal colleagues, whom she accuses of judicial activism and staging a "coup".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://apnews.com/article/wisconsin-supreme-court-liberals-conservative-chief-justice-81d040f7a59c210c8ba2a4c8007834b5|title=Wisconsin Supreme Court chief justice accuses liberal majority of staging a 'coup'|date=August 28, 2023|website=AP News}}</ref> This criticism was the main focus of her vehement dissent in ''Clarke v. Wisconsin Elections Commission'', in which she wrote that the majority (often referred to in the dissent as the "court of four") "takes a wrecking ball to the law, making no room, nor having any need, for longstanding practices, procedures, traditions, the law, or even their co-equal fellow branches of government. Their activism damages the judiciary as a whole."<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.wicourts.gov/sc/opinion/DisplayDocument.pdf?content=pdf&seqNo=745249 | title=2023AP1399-OA | publisher=Supreme Court of Wisconsin | date=2023-12-22}}</ref>
===Retirement=== On March 9, 2026, Ziegler announced that she would not run for reelection in 2027 and would leave office at the end of her present term.<ref name="zieg">{{cite news|url= https://www.wpr.org/news/annette-ziegler-conservative-wisconsin-supreme-court-chief-justice-retire |title= Conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Annette Ziegler to retire |work= Wisconsin Public Radio |first= Anya |last= van Wagtendonk |date= March 9, 2026 |accessdate= March 9, 2026 }}</ref>
==Electoral history==
===Wisconsin Circuit Court (1998, 2004)===
{{Election box begin | title=Wisconsin Circuit Court, Washington Circuit, Branch 2 Election, 1998<ref>{{cite report|chapter-url=http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.WIBlueBk1999 |title=State of Wisconsin 1999-2000 Blue Book |publisher= State of Wisconsin|author= Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau|chapter= Elections|date= April 22, 2004|accessdate= April 15, 2019| page=855}}</ref>}} {{Election box winning candidate with party link| |party = Nonpartisan politician |candidate = Annette K. Ziegler (incumbent) |votes = 6,364 |percentage = 100.0% |change = }} {{Election box total |votes = 6,364 |percentage = 100.0% |change = }} {{Election box end}} {{Election box begin | title=Wisconsin Circuit Court, Washington Circuit, Branch 2 Election, 2004<ref>{{cite report|url=https://elections.wi.gov/sites/electionsuat.wi.gov/files/percent%20results%204_06_04.pdf |title= Results of Spring General Election - 04/06/2004 |publisher= Wisconsin State Elections Board|date= April 22, 2004|accessdate= April 15, 2019| page=13}}</ref>}} {{Election box winning candidate with party link| |party = Nonpartisan politician |candidate = Annette K. Ziegler (incumbent) |votes = 12,067 |percentage = 99.82% |change = }} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = |candidate = Write-ins |votes = 22 |percentage = 0.18% |change = }} {{Election box total |votes = 12,089 |percentage = 100.0% |change = }} {{Election box end}}
===Wisconsin Supreme Court (2007, 2017)=== {{Election box begin | title=2007 Wisconsin Supreme Court election}} | colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| '''Primary Election, February 20, 2007'''<ref>{{cite report|url=https://elections.wi.gov/sites/electionsuat.wi.gov/files/2007_SpringElection_Primary_Results_Summary.pdf |title= Results of Spring Primary Election - 02/20/2007 |publisher= Wisconsin State Elections Board |date= March 6, 2007|accessdate= April 15, 2019| page=1}}</ref> {{Election box winning candidate with party link| |party = Nonpartisan politician |candidate = Annette K. Ziegler |votes = 164,916 |percentage = 57.04% |change = }} {{Election box winning candidate with party link| |party = Nonpartisan politician |candidate = Linda M. Clifford |votes = 78,501 |percentage = 27.15% |change = }} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = Nonpartisan politician |candidate = Joseph Sommers |votes = 44,835 |percentage = 15.51% |change = }} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = |candidate = ''Scattering'' |votes = 860 |percentage = 0.30% |change = }} {{Election box total |votes = 506,517 |percentage = 100.0% |change = }} | colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| '''General Election, April 3, 2007'''<ref>{{cite report|url=https://elections.wi.gov/sites/electionsuat.wi.gov/files/2007_SpringEelction_Results_Summary.pdf |title= Results of Spring General Election - 04/03/2007 |publisher= Wisconsin State Elections Board |date= April 23, 2007|accessdate= April 15, 2019| page=1}}</ref> {{Election box winning candidate with party link| |party = Nonpartisan politician |candidate = Annette K. Ziegler |votes = 487,422 |percentage = 58.61% |change = }} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = Nonpartisan politician |candidate = Linda M. Clifford |votes = 342,371 |percentage = 41.17% |change = }} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = |candidate = ''Scattering'' |votes = 1,864 |percentage = 0.22% |change = }} {{Election box total |votes = 831,657 |percentage = 100.0% |change = }} {{Election box end}} {{Election box begin | title=2017 Wisconsin Supreme Court election<ref>{{cite report |url= https://elections.wi.gov/sites/electionsuat.wi.gov/files/2017%20Spring%20Election-Summary%20Report-All%20Offices.pdf |title= Canvass Results for 2017 Spring Election |publisher= Wisconsin Elections Commission |date= April 4, 2017 |accessdate= April 15, 2019 |page= 1 |archive-date= August 28, 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210828233509/https://elections.wi.gov/sites/electionsuat.wi.gov/files/2017%20Spring%20Election-Summary%20Report-All%20Offices.pdf |url-status= dead }}</ref>}} | colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| '''General Election, April 4, 2017''' {{Election box winning candidate with party link| |party = Nonpartisan politician |candidate = Annette K. Ziegler (incumbent) |votes = 492,352 |percentage = 97.20% |change = }} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = |candidate = ''Scattering'' |votes = 14,165 |percentage = 2.80% |change = }} {{Election box total |votes = 506,517 |percentage = 100.0% |change = }} {{Election box end}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Portal|Biography}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070929140835/http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=573250 "Ziegler Faces Conflict Questions"], ''Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel'', March 5, 2007 *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070929102936/http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=568620 "Judge Takes More Than Half of Votes"], ''Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel'', February 20, 2007
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ziegler, Annette}} Category:1964 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century American judges Category:21st-century American women judges Category:Chief justices of the Wisconsin Supreme Court Category:Hope College alumni Category:Justices of the Wisconsin Supreme Court Category:Marquette University Law School alumni Category:People from West Bend, Wisconsin Category:Politicians from Grand Rapids, Michigan Category:Wisconsin circuit court judges Category:Women chief justices of state supreme courts in the United States