David Prosser Jr.

David Thomas Prosser Jr. (December 24, 1942 – December 1, 2024) was an American lawyer, jurist, and Republican politician from Appleton, Wisconsin. He was a justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court from 1998 until his retirement in 2016. Prior to joining the court, he served as the 72nd speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly, during the 1995–1996 term, after serving in the Assembly since 1979. Prior to becoming speaker, he led the Republican Assembly caucus for three terms as minority leader.

Earlier in his career, he worked as a congressional aide to U.S. Representative Harold V. Froehlich (R–WI), and served two years as district attorney of Outagamie County, Wisconsin, before his election to the Assembly.

After an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. House in 1996, Prosser was appointed by Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson to a vacant seat on the state tax appeals board, then in 1998 to a vacant seat on Wisconsin Supreme Court. He was elected to his first 10-year term without opposition in 2001. His re-election in 2011 came at a time of intense partisan attention on the Court, following the election of Republican Governor Scott Walker and litigation around his signature law, Prosser narrowly won re-election in that race over Wisconsin assistant attorney general JoAnne Kloppenburg.

Prosser received national media attention in 2010 following verbal altercations with Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson, and also in June 2011 when allegations were made of a physical altercation between Prosser and fellow justice Ann Walsh Bradley that occurred during court deliberations over . A special prosecutor investigated but declined to press criminal charges. Prosser publicly advised Vos to avoid impeachment, saying, "Impeachment is so serious, severe, and rare that it should not be considered unless the subject has committed a crime, or the subject has committed indisputable 'corrupt conduct' while 'in office.'"

Early life and education Prosser was born in Chicago to David T. Prosser Sr. and his wife Elizabeth (Patterson) Prosser.

Other professional activities Prosser served as a member of the Wisconsin Council of Criminal Justice (1980–1983), the Judicial Council Commission on Preliminary Examinations (1981), the Wisconsin Sentencing Commission (1984–1988, 1994–1995), the Wisconsin Sesquicentennial Commission (1993–1999), and the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (1983–1996). After initially saying he would refrain from comment until a proper investigation was completed, however, three conservative members of the court recused themselves from the matter, with the result that no quorum existed, and no decision could be made. In 2015, a John Doe probe into Scott Walker's funding sources during the 2012 recall campaign against him involved the same set groups that funded Prosser's 2011 campaign.

2011 re-election campaign

Prosser faced JoAnne Kloppenburg, a long-time but little-known Wisconsin assistant attorney general, in both the February 5, 2011, spring primary, and the April 5 run-off election.

Primary election In December 2010, Prosser's campaign director expressed strong support for governor-elect Walker, saying Prosser's "personal ideology more closely mirrors" Walker's, and that a win by Prosser would result in, "protecting the conservative judicial majority and acting as a common sense complement to both the new administration and Legislature." and Prosser was eventually declared the winner by 7,006 votes.

New York Times analyst Nate Silver declared on April 8 that Nickolaus' error pointed to incompetence, not conspiracy.

Electoral history Wisconsin Assembly, 42nd district (1972)

Wisconsin Assembly, 42nd district (1978–1980)

Wisconsin Assembly, 79th district (1982)

Wisconsin Assembly, 57th district (1984–1994)

U.S. House (1996)

Wisconsin Supreme Court (2001, 2011)