Chief Justice Bruce F. Beilfuss
Sept. 18, 2019 – As a chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Bruce F. Beilfuss was “a force that disarms with genuine humility,” according to those who knew him.1
“He was a gentleman of the highest order,” said Thomas Harnisch, a Neillsville attorney who served in the Wisconsin State Senate 1975-83 while Beilfuss served on the Supreme Court.
Justice Beilfuss will be honored in a ceremony on Sept. 27, 2019, dedicating a floor of the Clark County Courthouse, where Beilfuss practice as an attorney and served as circuit court judge before joining the Supreme Court.
Dedication to an Historic Figure
“He’s done so much for the county, for the state, and for the country,” said Jacob C. Brunette, president of the Clark County Bar Association and the county’s attorney. “We will dedicate our fourth floor of the courthouse as the Bruce F. Beilfuss Justice Center.”
The floor includes two courtrooms, the district attorney’s office, the register in probate, corporation counsel office, and the clerk of courts.
The dedication was approved in November 2018 by the Clark County Board of Supervisors, and a plaque dedicated to Beilfuss is on the wall on the courthouse’s fourth floor.
About Chief Justice Bruce Beilfuss
Justice Beilfuss, U.W. 1938, served on the Wisconsin Supreme Court from 1963 until his retirement in 1983. He was chief justice 1976 to 1983.
He practiced law in Abbottsford from 1938 to 1941, when he was elected district attorney of Clark County, moving to Neillsville. While he served in that position 1941 to 1948, he spent some time serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, serving in the South Pacific as a PT boat commander.
Justice Beilfuss was appointed as a judge of the 17th Judicial Circuit in 1948 at age 33, the youngest to be so appointed. He subsequently was elected in 1951 and 1957. In 1963, he was elected to the Supreme Court, defeating four opponents in the primary election. He became chief justice on the death of Chief Justice Horace. W. Wilkie in 1976, and served until his retirement in 1983. Justice Beilfuss passed away in 1986.
Justice Beilfuss oversaw the 1978 state court reorganization that created the court of appeals and established trial courts in each county in Wisconsin. While he served as chief justice, the Supreme Court ordered that courts be open to cameras and other electronic recording devices.
According to former Chief Justice Nathan Heffernan, who succeeded Beilfuss, “He almost single-handedly brought the Wisconsin court system into the 20th, even the 21st, century.”2
The Ceremony
The dedication takes place on Sept. 27, 2019, at the Clark County Courthouse in Neillsville. While Brunette will serve as host, the ceremony will include comments from Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Patience Roggensack; Federal Chief Judge William Griesbach; Clark County Circuit Court Judge Lyndsey Brunette; and Mark Beilfuss, son of Bruce Beilfuss.
The ceremony is free and open to the public.
For more information on Beilfuss, see his biography on the Wisconsin Court System website; an article about his career on the U.W. website, All Ways Forward; and an essay from 1983 in the Marquette Law Review.
Dedication Ceremony for Bruce F. Beilfuss Justice Center
When: Friday, Sept. 27, 2019, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: Clark County Courthouse, 517 Court St., Neillsville
Cost: Free and open to the public
Endnotes
1 Frank Murphy, “Beilfuss: A Salute to the Chief,” Wisconsin Bar Bulletin 56 (1983), pg. 8.
2 “In memoriam: Late Chief Justice’s Impact Felt,” Wisconsin Bar Bulletin 59 (1986), pg. 64.
