The Power of Three

During and after the Civil War, when the Wisconsin Supreme Court consisted of three members, justices earned a salary ($2,500) twice that of the governor of the Badger State ($1,250). By the 1870s, however, the members of these two elected branches of government were earning the same amount. Today, the Chief Justice ($152,495) earns $8,000 a year more than associate justices ($144,495) with the governor just a few duckets behind ($144,423).