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Jill Karofsky: “In 2017, I ran for a circuit court judge in Dane County.”

Featuring: Jill Karofsky, Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court

Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky

Published March 5, 2026 | Video Starts at 09:10

I'm sorry, why the Supreme Court? Well, I stopped off at the circuit court. Oh, the circuit court. I'm sorry. Yeah, I'm in the circuit court. Yeah. In 2017, I ran for a circuit court judge in Dane County. I loved being at the Department of Justice. I sat on probably 10 different committees or commissions that were statewide. We were helping protect kids, we were helping protect women. (09:10–09:15)

CLAIM

Asserts that Jill Karofsky ran for a circuit court judge position in Dane County in 2017.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Jill Karofsky

“I would have 1700 pending cases at any one time.”
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“In Milwaukee, they usually have 182 voting sites. On April 7th of 2020, they had five.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 12:30-12:39
“In 2015 when Governor Walker signed into law a bill that said that in Wisconsin, you can have unlimited contributions to the political…”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 18:24-18:36
“Right now we have four officers in the state who are dedicated to provide security for the entire Wisconsin judiciary.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 20:40-20:48
“Right now, at the state of Wisconsin on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, we have the highest percentage of female justices of any state supreme…”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 33:07-33:19
“My mom was mayor of Middleton. She was one of the first female mayors in the state of Wisconsin.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 01:28-01:34
“I was the last person admitted to my law school class in 1989.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 03:34-03:40
“I was a prosecutor in the Dane County DA's office. I really specialized in cases where women and children were crime victims.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 04:38-04:46
“I was the head of the domestic violence unit at one time in the office.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 05:01-05:05
“At one time in the office, I had more child abuse and child sexual assault cases than anyone in the office.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 05:03-05:10
“I went to a place called the National Conference of Bar Examiners.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 05:44-05:49
“In 2010, there was a posting at the Wisconsin Department of Justice. There was a brand new position funded with VAWA dollars, Violence…”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 07:18-07:29
“The position was a Violence Against Women resource prosecutor.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 07:28-07:34
“The idea was you would put an experienced prosecutor in Madison, and that prosecutor would help prosecutors throughout the entire state…”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 07:33-07:48
“J.B. van Hollen was the attorney general.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 07:56-08:00
“He promoted me to be the head of the Office of Crime Victim Services.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 08:25-08:29
“The Office of Crime Victim Services is one of the five offices in the Department of Justice.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 08:28-08:36
“I won in April of 2017.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 09:45-09:48
“In Dane county, you're either in a criminal rotation, the civil rotation, or the juvenile rotation. I was in the criminal rotation.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 09:54-10:01
“In the spring of 2019, I decided to run for the Wisconsin Supreme Court.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 11:41-11:47
“My election was the 2020 Covid election. It was on April 7th of 2020.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 12:12-12:19
“The Wisconsin Supreme Court, the day before, had the opportunity to move the election, to do what the governor had asked and move the…”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 12:56-13:06
“I was elected Chief Justice. My. I began on July 1st of 2025.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 13:41-13:48
“In 2015, there was a constitutional amendment that was passed that said the members of the Supreme Court get to choose their Chief Justice.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 13:54-14:03
“We are responsible for running an entire branch of government.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 14:12-14:18
“We oversee the Board of Bar Examiners.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 14:44-14:48
“We oversee the Office of Lawyer Regulation, which regulates lawyers.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 14:47-14:52
“If a judge gets in trouble, we get the complaint from the judicial Commission.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 14:51-14:57
“We are in charge of the state law libraries.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 15:02-15:05
“The Citizens United decision gave corporations, gave outside groups undue influence in our elections.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 18:12-18:22
“Political violence in the United States is going the wrong direction. It is on the rise.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 19:22-19:31
“It is completely unacceptable for the President of the United States to be publicly attacking judges and justices for doing their jobs.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 21:08-21:22
“Political violence is on the rise.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 22:28-22:30
“We are more polarized than we have been certainly in my lifetime.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 22:30-22:36
“The judiciary is the bulwark protecting our democracy in this country.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 23:28-23:34
“If you look at the numbers in the last two years in the Wisconsin Supreme Court, we are far more likely to end up in a decision that is 7-0…”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 25:00-25:14
“In Wisconsin, each individual judge or justice gets to decide whether or not they have a conflict or they appear to have a conflict.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 27:08-27:17
“In 2010, the Wisconsin Supreme Court was presented with a rule...that a judge or justice shall not be required to recuse solely because of…”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 28:10-28:42
“In 2017, a group of retired judges came before the Supreme Court...the court did not even allow that proposal to have a hearing.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 28:45-29:13
“We are going to have a rule hearing, but by the end of the term, by the spring.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 29:27-29:32
“We do have a shortage of qualified interpreters.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 30:35-30:38
“The Director of State Courts, Judge Audrey Skorowski has put together a group...to figure out how we can tackle this problem [of interpreter…”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 30:45-30:54
“We really need more attorneys in the rural areas of our state.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 31:21-31:26
“One of the things that was on the list of ideas would make it easier to transfer bar exam scores from out of state to Wisconsin.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 32:10-32:17
“We became a state in 1848. Our constitution was ratified in 1848.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 35:58-36:03
“We do not have a new constitution in this state.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 36:02-36:05
“We have had many, many amendments, but we still rely on many of the foundations from territorial Wisconsin.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 36:04-36:13
“Judges and justices in Wisconsin will be elected by the people.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 37:10-37:16
“We have a really, really sophisticated electorate in Wisconsin.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 38:32-38:37
“The Supreme Court has taken the court to a community.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 39:28-39:34
“Last fall, we took the court to the community of Richland Center, and we held two oral arguments there.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 39:34-39:41
“Mine was the COVID election.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 44:00-44:02
“Only two times in my lifetime had an incumbent justice been defeated.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 44:26-44:31
“The Wisconsin electorate is sophisticated and they ask tough questions.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 48:21-48:26
“What a judge and justice cannot do is say, if you ask me a question about issue X, I can't tell you how I will rule on that case, should…”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 48:27-48:44
“I have made sure that on the Supreme Court, there is an entity called Wisconsin Eye that has been up at the state capitol providing live…”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 50:42-50:52
“We hired an outside organization to come in and make sure that our oral arguments and our hearings continue to be live streamed and continue…”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 51:00-51:11
“There are judges and justices in this state and in this country who have had to access a level of courage that judges and justices in this…”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 52:42-52:54
“There's nothing more important to our democracy than having free and fair elections.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 54:40-54:45
“Our petitions for review, the requests that we get, have been down the past couple of years.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 56:15-56:21
“We've tried as a court this term to give the litigants two to three minutes on the front end to lay out what you're gonna say.”
Get To Know: Chief Justice Jill Karofsky | Uploaded March 5, 2026 | 58:03-58:10