Reports &
Publications.
The complete collection of IRG Court Watch analysis, primers, and policy papers.
Court Watch Library.

Cases to Watch: Pending Cases. Lasting Consequences. Where Wisconsin’s Future Is Being Decided
The pending litigation most likely to reshape how Wisconsin is governed—16 cases across the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, circuit courts, and federal courts, each with the issue, why it matters, and what’s next.
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Decisions That Matter: A Wisconsin Supreme Court Scorecard (2025 Term)
The 2025 term report—complete justice-by-justice analysis with five-metric breakdowns and critical case alignment.
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Behind the Bench: How Wisconsin’s Court of Appeals Judges Actually Decide
A qualitative analysis of judicial methodology and decision-making across all four appellate districts—reviewing every published opinion (Jan 2024 – Dec 2025), the 16 jurists who authored them, and the structural insights that emerge.
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Term in Review 2025
July 2025 visual summary of the Wisconsin Supreme Court term—key cases, decisions, and trends.
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Spring Report 2026
March 2026 IRG Court Watch Spring Report—mid-cycle judicial accountability analysis.
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2-Page SCOWIS Explainer
Quick-reference summary of the IRG Court Watch scorecard methodology and 2025 term findings.
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Structural Reform of Judicial Selection
Policy paper on structural reform options for Wisconsin's judicial selection process.
Read full report →Judicial Primers.
Plain-English explainers on how Wisconsin courts shape every aspect of public life.
2026 Primers
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Reading the Law as Written: A Unanimous Court Reins In the Consumer Act
Koble Investments v. Marquardt2026 WI 19
A unanimous Court reversed the court of appeals and held the Wisconsin Consumer Act does not govern an ordinary month-to-month residential lease—reading a statute as written.
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Equal Protection Means What It Says: The Court Strikes Down Wisconsin’s Race-Based College Grants
Rabiebna v. Higher Educational Aids Board2026 WI 20
Applying SFFA v. Harvard, the Court struck down Wisconsin’s race-based Minority Undergraduate Retention Grant under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.
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A Question It Did Not Need to Answer: A Divided Court Expands Tribal Immunity
Legend Lake Property Owners Ass’n v. Keshena2026 WI 21
A divided 4–3 Court held the Menominee Tribe immune from a covenant-enforcement suit—then reached further to announce a broad tribal-immunity rule that two dissents called unnecessary.
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Unanimous Court Affirms Legislative Power to Reform Civil Liability
Wren v. Columbia St. Mary’s Hosp.2026 WI 11
A unanimous Court reaffirmed the Legislature’s power to reform common-law liability, upholding Wisconsin’s COVID-era civil-immunity statute for health-care providers.
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Wisconsin Supreme Court Turns the Safe-Place Statute Into Strict Liability for Property Owners
Estate of Lorbiecki v. Pabst Brewing Co.2026 WI 12
A 5–2 Court stretched the safe-place statute into strict liability for property owners, extending it to an independent contractor’s employees exposed to undisturbed asbestos.
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A Federal Court Shields Wisconsin’s Voter List from Federal Inspection
United States v. Wis. Elections Comm’nW.D. Wis. 2026
A federal judge in Madison dismissed the DOJ’s suit to obtain Wisconsin’s statewide voter-registration list, holding it is not a “record” the government may demand under the Civil Rights Act of 1960.
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The Wisconsin Supreme Court Agrees to Hear a Challenge to Wisconsin’s Congressional Map
A divided Court agreed to take up—directly—a challenge seeking to throw out the congressional map the court itself adopted in 2022, on the theory it is an unconstitutional “anti-competitive gerrymander.”
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2025 Primers
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Text, History, and Tradition Versus Values and Feelings
How judges decide what open-ended constitutional phrases mean—anchoring to text, history, and tradition versus a judge’s own values and feelings.
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Playing Politics in the Least Political Branch
How the Court’s liberal majority has abandoned the judiciary’s traditional distance from party politics in favor of an aggressive ideological agenda.
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Judicial Immunity in Wisconsin Has Limitations
Judge Hannah Dugan’s federal charges test the limits of judicial immunity—a doctrine that shields judicial acts but not conduct outside a judge’s lawful authority.
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Law and Precedent Support Dugan Suspension
The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s prompt, unanimous suspension of Judge Dugan after her federal felony charges followed well-established judicial-discipline precedent.
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The Wisconsin Supreme Court Is the Backstop Against Bureaucrat Overreach
Why the separation of powers—and a Court willing to enforce it—is often the last line of defense against overreach by Madison’s administrative agencies.
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Property Taxes Could Skyrocket If the Wisconsin Supreme Court Overturns Act 10
Act 10 has saved Wisconsin taxpayers billions and delivered annual property-tax relief; a ruling striking it down would put those savings at risk.
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Wisconsin Supreme Court Could Undermine Act 10’s Public Education Success
Act 10 gave local school boards new tools to manage budgets and keep quality teachers in the classroom—gains a decision unwinding it could reverse.
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Will the Supreme Court Make Wisconsin “Alabama North” Again?
Wisconsin’s civil-justice reforms shed its old “tort hellhole” reputation; the Court’s direction will decide whether that predictability survives.
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The Wisconsin Supreme Court Can Save or Destroy Voter ID and Election Integrity
Wisconsin’s election rules live in statutes the courts interpret—putting Voter ID, absentee rules, and other integrity measures within the Court’s reach.
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Wisconsin Supreme Court Can Protect or Damage Family Values & Freedom for People of Faith
Abortion, parental rights, and religious liberty are increasingly resolved in court, making the Wisconsin Supreme Court pivotal for people of faith.
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How the Wisconsin Supreme Court Can Impact 2nd Amendment and Sportsmen Rights
Control of the Court could determine whether gun measures like universal background checks and red-flag laws are upheld or struck as unconstitutional.
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K-12 Educational Opportunities Debate at Issue in Wisconsin Supreme Court Race
Repeated lawsuits target Wisconsin’s School Choice programs; the Court’s makeup could decide the future of options relied on by tens of thousands of families.
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