Patience D. Roggensack

Patience Drake Roggensack
Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court
Incumbent
Assumed office April 29, 2015
Preceded by	Shirley Abrahamson
Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court
Incumbent
Assumed office August 1, 2003
Preceded by	William A. Bablitch
Personal details
Born	(1940-07-07) July 7, 1940 Joliet, Illinois
Alma mater	Drake University (B.A.), University of Wisconsin Law School (J.D.)

Patience Drake Roggensack (born July 7, 1940) is currently a Justice and the Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. She was elected to the Supreme Court in 2003 and was re-elected in 2013. Her current term expires July 31, 2023.

Early life and career

Roggensack was born in Joliet, Illinois. She graduated from Lockport Township High School in Lockport, Illinois; she then received her bachelor’s degree from Drake University in 1962, and her law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1980. Roggensack then practiced law in Madison, Wisconsin.

Judge, Justice, and Chief Justice

Before joining the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Roggensack was elected to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals in 1996 and re-elected in 2002. Prior to serving on the Court of Appeals, she practiced law for 16 years, including at the DeWitt Ross & Stevens S.C. firm in Madison, Wisconsin.

Roggensack was elected to the position of Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court by her peers on April 29, 2015 following the certification of votes from the April 2015 election. Voters approved an amendment to the state constitution that changed the way that the chief justice of the Supreme Court was selected. Previously the justice with the most seniority held the position, but the amendment allowed court members to choose the chief justice.

Following the justices' election of Justice Roggensack as the new chief justice, former Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson filed a federal lawsuit challenging the implementation of the constitutional amendment, which was heard on May 15, 2015. Five of the seven justices asked the federal judge to dismiss Abrahamson’s lawsuit. On May 15, 2015 the federal court denied Abrahamson's request for immediate reinstatement as Chief Justice. U.S. District Judge James Peterson determined there was no harm in Roggensack serving as chief justice while Abrahamson's lawsuit continues.