Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser Dies

David Prosser, a conservative who spent nearly two decades as a justice on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court, died Sunday evening.

Prosser was 81 years old and had cancer, according to his family.

Before serving on the state’s highest court, Prosser spent 18 years as a Republican state representative, including a stint as Assembly speaker in 1995. He ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1996.

Prosser, who was born in Chicago and raised in Appleton, was first appointed to a partial term on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court by Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson in 1998. After that, Prosser twice won election to full terms on the court.

That included a narrow April 2011 victory over JoAnne Kloppenburg, which later survived a recount. That election was largely seen as a referendum on the state law known as Act 10, which had sparked massive protests at the Wisconsin state Capitol. Republican Gov. Scott Walker signed the sweeping legislation in March 2011, which curtailed collective bargaining rights for most public employees.

A statement Monday from Wisconsin Chief Justice Annette Ziegler praised Prosser for his “keen intellect and deep sense of fairness to every case.”

“He was well known for digging into the books and conducting exhaustive research, often ‘burning the midnight oil’ in the law library,’” the statement said. “Justice Prosser possessed a critical understanding of, and allegiance to, the rule of law.”

Among other decisions, Prosser was part of the court’s conservative majority that eventually upheld Act 10.

In 2011, an argument over Act 10 deliberations between Prosser and a liberal justice turned physical. Prosser admitted he put his hands on Justice Ann Walsh Bradley’s neck after he says she charged at him. No charges were filed following a criminal investigation into the incident.

Prosser retired from the Wisconsin Supreme Court court in 2016, partway through his 10-year term. Shortly before his retirement, the high court named Wisconsin’s Law Library in his honor.

But, in 2024, after liberal justices gained a majority, the state Supreme Court renamed the library in honor of Wisconsin’s first female lawyer  Lavinia Goodell.

Last year, Prosser was among the former justices tapped by state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, to give advice on whether lawmakers should attempt to impeach Janet Protasiewicz, a newly elected liberal justice.

Republicans had criticized Protasiewicz for not recusing herself from cases related to the drawing of Wisconsin’s electoral districts after she referred to the legislative maps as “rigged” on the campaign trail.

But in an email to Vos, Prosser strongly advised against attempting to unseat the justice, referring to impeachment as “serious, severe, and rare.”

In a statement Monday, Thompson described Prosser as a “true gentleman.”

The former governor described meeting with a smiling Prosser last week and chatting about current events.

“A man of deep conviction and intense loyalty to our way of life, David knew without citizen service, there was no real democracy and that to avoid the slings and arrows of public life was to surrender one’s convictions,” Thompson’s statement said. “He never did.”

Funeral arrangements are pending.

Listen to the WPR report

Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser dies was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.