Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Roland Day, who has died at age 89, will be remembered not just for his legal acumen but for the political skills that proved essential in the early days of a 22-year career on the state’s highest court. And rightly so.
In 1976, the good-humored Madison lawyer won one of the most intense court contests in the state’s history.
Appointed in 1974 by former Gov. Pat Lucey as “a liberal who can win,” Day was chosen over state Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, and a young University of Wisconsin law professor who was favored by feminists to be the first woman of the Supreme Court, Shirley Abrahamson.
(Both Day and Abrahamson received degrees from the UW Law School.)