Wisconsin Court System / Wisconsin Supreme Court

About Wisconsin Court System / Wisconsin Supreme Court

The Wisconsin Court System includes municipal courts, circuit courts, the Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court. Municipal courts consist of 237 courts with 240 judges. Milwaukee has the largest municipal court and three full-time judges, and Madison has the only other full-time municipal court. Circuit courts, established as a single-level trial court in 1978, have 249 judges in 72 counties. Judges are elected countywide to six-year terms in non-partisan elections. Milwaukee County is the largest jurisdiction with 47 judges. Thirty counties have one judge each, while smaller counties share a judge. The Court of Appeals, created in 1978, was originally designed to handle 1,200 cases per year. It has mostly mandatory jurisdiction, meaning litigants have the right to appeal their cases from the circuit court to the Court of Appeals. There are 16 judges in four districts, elected district-wide to six-year terms. The Supreme Court has seven justices elected statewide to 10-year terms. As the court of last resort, it reviews approximately 1,000 petitions per year and accepts between 100 and 120.