1964 Wisconsin Supreme Court election
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The 1964 Wisconsin Supreme Court election was held on Tuesday, April 7, 1964, to elect a justice to the Wisconsin Supreme Court for a ten-year term. In the election, incumbent justice Horace W. Wilkie won re-election over challenger Howard H. Boyle Jr. A third candidate, Harry E. Larsen, had been eliminated during a primary election held on March 10.
Boyle centered his candidacy on castigating Wilkie for joining the majority in the McCauley v. Tropic of Cancer ruling of early 1964. In the Tropic of Cancer ruling, the court had held that the novel Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller was not legally obscene. The outcome of this ruling had been very unpopular with the public. Boyle's decision to campaign in this manner attracted criticism accusing him of acting in violation of canon 30 of the American Bar Association's Canons of Judicial Ethics. Boyle's performance in the primary and general election was unexpectedly competitive against Wilkie, who had originally been expected to have an easy reelection.
Background
[edit]Wilkie had been appointed to the court in 1962 by Governor Gaylord A. Nelson. The 1964 election was his first election to retain his judgeship.[1] The election was held during the state's spring elections. During the spring primaries, the judicial primary was the only statewide ballot item, as no additional statewide offices questions were presented to voters on the spring primary ballot.[2]
The spring primary was the first Wisconsin election held since the state legislature repealed an 1859 law which had previously mandated that taverns be closed during polling times. After the state repeal, it was left for individual localities to decide whether to impose such tavern closures. Milwaukee opted to close its taverns, while Green Bay and Kenosha were among the communities to allow taverns to remain open during polling hours.[2]
Candidates
[edit]- Advanced to general election
- Horace W. Wilkie, incumbent justice since 1962 (appointed by governor);[3] former state senator (1957–1962);[1] unsuccessful Democratic nominee for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1948, 1950, and 1952[4]
- Howard H. Boyle Jr.,[3] Beaver Dam-based attorney;[2] candidate U.S. senate candidate in 1956 and 1957.[5]
- Eliminated in the primary
Primary election campaign
[edit]Wilkie was perceived to be an overwhelming front-runner in the election. He received endorsements from most major elected officials and newspaper editorial boards in Wisconsin.[3] Ahead of the primary, observers were confident in their expectation that the incumbent Wilkie would advance to the general election. However, many had mis-anticipated that that Larsen would be his opponent. Boyle been the last of the three candidates to launch his campaign, and his advancement to the primary came as a surprise. Not only was Boyle's advancement to the general election a surprise, but the narrow-ness of the margin by which Wilkie led in the primary left uncertainty heading into the general election as to which candidate might prevail.[2] A race had been widely seen as a nearly-foregone Wilkie victory,[3][2] suddenly became perceived as a competitive one.[2]
Boyle's campaign
[edit]Boyle was a late entrant into the race. As the third candidate to qualify for the ballot, his entrance forced a primary election to be held (as none would have been held if only to candidates had run).[2]
In both the primary and general election, Boyle aggressively lambasted Wilkie for joining the majority in the McCauley v. Tropic of Cancer ruling of early 1964, in which the court held that the novel Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller was not legally obscene.[3][2] He argued that the ruling would be a slippery slope toward permitting pornography, and argued that a vote for him against Wilkie would be a "Vote Against Smut". The outcome of the case had been publicly unpopular, and Boyle sought to capitalize off of that public frustration.[3] His tactic of framing his candidacy as one in opposition to smut attracted him support from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Green Bay. However, many in Wisconsin were highly critical of his campaign approach. The Milwaukee Journal editorial board argued that Boyle's framing of his candidacy was "highly questionable...for a judicial candidate", as it appeared to indicated that as a justice he himself would disregard law and legal precedent in order to deliver a popular decision. Six of Wilkie's fellow justices rebuking Boyle as resorting to campaign tactics that "blatantly cater to prejudice" and "utterly lack the essential quality of judicial mind and temperament".[3] Boyle also faced accusations that his campaign conduct violated canon 30 of the Canons of Judicial Ethics of the American Bar Association, a rule which read,
A candidate for judicial positions should not make or suffer others to make for him, promises of conduct in office which appeal to the cupidity or prejuices of the appointing or electing power; he should not announce in advance his conclusion of law on disputed issues to secure class support, and he should do nothing while a candidate to create the impression that if chosen, he will administer his office with bias, partiality or improper discrimination.[5]
The Milwaukee Junior Bar Association censured Boyle for what it asserted was a "clear and direct violation of canon 30 of the canons of judicial ethics." The The Post-Crescent editorial board also believed that Boyle had violated canon 30.[5]
In advance of the primary, Boyle also positioned himself as an opponent of liberal judicial philosophy.[2]
In his relatively brief campaign ahead of the primary, Boyle spend only $318 in campaign expenditures. Spending very little time or funds, his strong performance in the primary was very unexpected. He greatly outperformed his vote total in either of his previous campaigns for U.S. senate.[2]
Wilkie's campaign
[edit]Ahead of the primary election, Wilkie outlined a six-point proposal for improving the state's legal system.[2] In this, he proposed that a reorganization of the state's court system could cut down on the case backlog that its trial courts were facing. He also called for court reforms to strengthen the Judicial Council.[8]
Wilkie fiercely defended the ruling in McCauley v. Tropic of Cancer against Boyle's onslaught of attacks. He asserted that "pornography was not the issue" in the decision, but rather that the decision was about "affirming the right of free expression" in accordance with the United States Supreme Court's test for obscenity. Wilkie also made a case that the "independence of judges" was of paramount importance in Wisconsin's courts,[3] remarking
The integrity and independence of Wisconsin's judicial system would be endangered if the election of a judge were based on the momentary popularity of a decision.[3]
Larsen's campaign
[edit]Harry E. Larsen (who was eliminated in the primary),[9] spoke of the his belief that protecting individual liberties under the law was of paramount importance when enforcing the rule of law.[10] He also proposed imposing a 40-hour workweek for Wisconsin judges and capping their vacations in order to lessen the state court system's case backlog.[6]
Larsen criticized Wilkie's six-point plan for judiical reform.[2] Among his criticisms offered was a critique of Wilkie's for supporting a strengthening of the Judicial Council. Larsen argued that the council stood as an opponent to Wisconsin's voters' power to elect their judges, characterizing it as recently having been "the instigator and chief sponsor" of attempts to end Wisconsin's practice of electing its judges in favor of a Missouri Plan.[8]
Results
[edit]Primary election
[edit]The primary election had an unexpected result, with Boyle surprisingly advancing to the general election and coming within several points of Wilkie's vote share. The result included a narrow margin between Boyle and Wilkie in the state's most populous county: Milwaukee County.[2]
The primary saw 376,248 votes cast,[9] out of 2.2 million eligible voters in the state. This was greater than turnout of 355,000 that election officials had forecast. The higher-than-expected turnout may have in part been the result of good weather across the state on election day.[2]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary election (March 10, 1964)[9] | |||||
| Nonpartisan | Horace W. Wilkie (incumbent) | 141,041 | 37.49 | ||
| Nonpartisan | Howard H. Boyle Jr. | 127,020 | 33.76 | ||
| Nonpartisan | Harry E. Larsen | 108,187 | 28.75 | ||
| Total votes | 376,248 | 100 | |||
General election
[edit]Wilkie won re-election, though by a margin that was to many observers surprisingly narrow.[3]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General election (April 7, 1964)[3][9] | |||||
| Nonpartisan | Horace W. Wilkie (incumbent) | 556,639 | 53.20 | ||
| Nonpartisan | Howard H. Boyle Jr. | 489,703 | 46.80 | ||
| Total votes | 1,046,342 | 100 | |||
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Justice Horace W. Wilkie". WIcourts.gov. Wisconsin Court System. Retrieved July 4, 2025.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Hanley, Daniel P. (March 11, 1964). "Boyle Second High In Vote For Justice". Tri-County Citizen. United Press International. pp. 1 and 7.
- Hanley, Daniel P. (March 11, 1964). "Boyle Second High In Vote For Justice". Tri-County Citizen. United Press International. p. 1. Retrieved July 4, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- Hanley, Daniel P. (March 11, 1964). "Boyle Second". Tri-County Citizen. United Press International. p. 7. Retrieved July 4, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Koehler, Michael (January 1, 2001). "Baseball, Apple Pie and Judicial Elections: An Analysis of the 1967 Wisconsin Supreme Court Race". Marquette Law Review. 85 (1): 223. Retrieved July 4, 2025.
- ^ "Chief Justice Horace Wilkie". The Capital Times. May 25, 1976. p. 40. Retrieved July 18, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c "A Question of Judicial Ethics". The Post-Crescent. March 15, 1964. Retrieved July 4, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "40-Hour Week for State Judges Urged by Larsen". Wisconsin State Journal. United Press International. February 22, 1964. p. 12 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Theobald, H. Rupert, ed. (1964). "Elections in Wisconsin". The Wisconsin Blue Book 1964 (Report). Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau. p. 769. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
- ^ a b "Judge the Same as Any Man, Larsen Says". Manitowoc (Wisc.) Herald-Times. February 6, 1964. p. 9. Retrieved July 4, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d "The Wisconsin Blue Book 1964". search.library.wisc.edu (University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries). Wisconsin Secretary of State. 1964. Retrieved July 4, 2025.
- ^ "'Love Liberty' Larsen Asserts". The Oshkosh Daily Northwestern. March 6, 1964. p. 1. Retrieved July 4, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
