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Maria S. Lazar: “Wisconsin is unique in the country in that it's not unique…”

Featuring: Maria S. Lazar, Judge, Wisconsin Court of Appeals, District II

Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar

Published July 25, 2025 | Video Starts at 31:44

I helped open a municipal court in Bloit decades ago in my life. So. Okay, so you have to run for office. Well, there's two Ways. So Wisconsin is unique in the country in that it's not unique in that sense. It's one of the states where you actually are elected. Some states, they have merit committees and they appoint judges. In our state, you either run for the position or if the seat is open, then the governor can appoint … (31:44–31:54)

CLAIM

Asserts that Wisconsin elects its judges, unlike some states that appoint them.

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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Maria S. Lazar

“The State supreme court will take 3% of the petitions.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 16:48-16:53
“The state Supreme Court issued about 20.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 17:15-17:20
“Everyone in the country has to pass a bar. Except if you're in the state of Wisconsin and you graduate from Marquette or UW Madison, there's…”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 28:54-29:05
“For municipal. Boom, bam. And you don't even have to be a lawyer.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 30:57-31:02
“We have 261 circuit court judges.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 04:27-04:31
“There's 16 of us on the court of appeals.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 04:38-04:41
“We're divided into four districts in the state of Wisconsin.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 04:41-04:45
“Milwaukee gets its own district because they have so many circuit court judges.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 04:44-04:49
“We didn't have a court of appeals until 1978.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 06:45-06:49
“In 1978, the legislature decided that there were too many cases going up on appeal, and the state supreme court could only do a few of them.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 06:50-06:59
“The way that you get a case to the court of appeals is two ways. One, you have an appeal as of right.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 07:06-07:15
“If you're in front of a circuit court and there's an adverse ruling and you lose, you have the right to appeal.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 07:17-07:23
“You have the automatic right. It's a guaranteed. You can appeal.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 07:21-07:25
“In some cases, you're not allowed to have a jury trial, but in the cases that you are criminal, civil, you can ask for a jury trial.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 11:27-11:34
“We won't even as judges, look at your briefs until November. That's how far back we are.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 12:39-12:49
“We make a decision. We decide you win or you lose. We don't tell you that. And then we assign it to a judge who then writes it. And that's…”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 13:00-13:12
“If it's an important issue that's happened, you can ask for a stay when you file your appeal.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 14:23-14:30
“He can't take my land until you have a decision.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 14:37-14:41
“If someone has an attorney, they better know that you should ask for the stay.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 15:05-15:10
“The circuit court could say no. Then you ask the court of appeals and we could say no.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 15:21-15:28
“The party who lost can ask the State Supreme Court to look at it again.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 15:56-16:02
“In the Court of Appeals last year, my district issued 741 opinions, but all of us issued 2,476.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 17:04-17:16
“The number of appeals that were filed last year were 2,500.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 17:25-17:30
“The number of petitions to the State supreme court was about 500. And of those 500, they took about 20.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 17:30-17:38
“If the State Supreme Court takes it now you go through, but at least you know you're going to get your opinion within one year.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 17:45-17:52
“The state supreme court takes it. They just have to issue it within that year. They don't have that 30 day window that we have.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 17:46-27:38
“We have cases that go back five years.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 17:56-17:59
“The court of appeals has been working very hard to keep current and not let these things go as long as they can.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 18:25-18:32
“We try to get that out between six months to a year.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 18:50-18:54
“That could take a year or two, too.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 19:08-19:11
“The Supreme Court takes it in a term. So they will hear, they will take the case between September and they will have all of their opinions…”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 19:39-19:49
“If the court of appeals issues an opinion, you petition right away within 90 days to the state supreme court.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 22:06-22:16
“If they don't take it, the decision of the court of appeals is final.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 22:15-22:20
“The year from September and then they stop, they stop hearing argument and in about April or May and they issue all their opinions by the…”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 23:31-23:42
“The court of appeals by statute has to resolve some cases quicker.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 25:14-25:21
“For example, termination of parental rights.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 25:21-25:24
“By statute, the minute we get the last brief, we have to issue a decision within 30 days.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 26:16-26:22
“So if you're at a certain point in your class, you don't have to take the bar at all.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 29:05-29:10
“You can still run for and become a court of appeals judge or run for and become a state supreme court justice.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 30:13-30:21
“Anyone can run for. If you qualify. So you've, you've met the number of years and you're, you're an accredited lawyer, you can then run for…”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 30:37-30:48
“You don't have to be a judge first at the circuit court before you go to the court of appeals, before you go to the supreme Court.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 30:49-30:55
“Even if you get appointed, you still have to run.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 32:10-32:13
“That's our nonpartisan, nonpartisan election. So they all run in April.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 32:24-32:28
“On the court of appeals, we don't have a branch. So there can only be one court of appeals judge in the April election.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 32:49-32:57
“The reason why the court of appeals is important is circuit courts make mistakes. They have so many cases that we are the error correcting…”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 34:39-34:49
“In that first case on the criminal docket I had over 500 cases.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 35:45-35:52
“There'S only 16 of us.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 36:54-36:56
“My last rotation on the circuit court was juvenile, which is children in need of protection or juvenile delinquents.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 38:25-38:34
“In our constitution, our courts are to be open to the public and you have the right at any time. Unless it's a juvenile case.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 41:53-42:02
“You can go sit in, in any courtroom and observe what's going on.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 42:01-42:06
“You can try to go to an oral argument if the court of appeals does them rarely, you can go to the Supreme Court arguments. They're on…”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 42:07-42:15
“You can walk in any circuit court unless it's a juvenile case where they're closing the doors because they're protecting the juvenile.”
Exploring Wisconsin's Appellate Court System with Judge Maria S. Lazar | Uploaded July 25, 2025 | 42:16-42:24