Court Opinion

ID: 9664481
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 00:19:39.122395+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:06.574904
License: Public Domain

SHIRLEY S. ABRAHAMSON, J.
(concurring). I agree that the circuit court's order in this case is invalid and the circuit court may not order the State Public Defender to represent parties who are not statutorily *142indigent, except under unique and unusual circumstances.
Unlike the majority, I do not view this case as an original action in this court for declaratory judgment. As the majority opinion correctly concludes, majority op. at 128, the court of appeals had original supervisory jurisdiction over this case.1 When we accepted certification of the case, the case became an original supervisory action in this court. See State v. Holmes, 106 Wis. 2d 30, 37, 315 N.W.2d 703 (1981) (by-pass granted on petition for supervisory writ filed in court of appeals).
Once this court takes jurisdiction over the case, it can grant the petitioner whatever relief is appropriate.21 therefore believe that there is no need for this court to recharacterize the case one of publici juris original jurisdiction in order for this court to grant declaratory relief.
Citing State ex rel. Swan v. Elections Bd., 133 Wis. 2d 87, 394 N.W.2d 732 (1986), both the majority opinion and the court of appeals conclude that the court of appeals cannot grant declaratory relief in a supervisory action within its jurisdiction. This is an unfortunate interpretation of Swan. Swan limited the court of *143appeals' original jurisdiction in cases unrelated to its appellate or supervisory power. This case, unlike Swan, falls within the court of appeals' original supervisory jurisdiction. Because the case is within the court of appeals' supervisory jurisdiction, the court of appeals should, in my opinion, be able to grant whatever relief is appropriate.3
As the court explained in Swan, 133 Wis. 2d at 93, "the court of appeals is intended to be a high-volume, error-correcting court, having a close relationship to the circuit courts in respect to the superintending control of circuit court functions.1' A narrow construction of the original supervisory jurisdiction of the court of appeals is, I believe, injurious to litigants and to the court system of the state. A narrow construction inhibits the court of appeals' power to do justice for the litigants in a case in which the court of appeals has supervisory jurisdiction, unnecessarily limits the court of appeals' powers in exercising supervisory jurisdiction, and requires this court to hear additional original actions.
For the reasons set forth, I concur.

The court of appeals' jurisdiction is based on art. VII; sec. 5(3), Wis. Const., which provides that "the court of appeals shall have supervisory jurisdiction over all actions and proceedings in the courts in the district." See also sec. 752.02, Stats. 1989-90. The court of appeals' supervisory jurisdiction was described as original jurisdiction in State ex rel. Swan v. Elections Bd., 133 Wis. 2d 87, 93, 394 N.W.2d 732 (1986).

In exercising its constitutional grant of superintending power to control the course of litigation in trial courts, this court has said that this court is not restricted to the use of common law writs but "is limited only by the necessities of justice." State ex rel. Reynolds v. County Court, 11 Wis. 2d 560, 565, 105 N.W.2d 876 (1960), quoted with approval State ex rel. Memmel v. Mundy, 75 Wis. 2d 276, 281, n.1, 249 N.W.2d 573 (1976).

This court is not, as I explained above, see note 2 and text, restricted to the writs in exercising its superintending power. This court has not considered the differences, if any, between this court's superintending power over actions and proceedings in the trial courts and the court of appeals supervisory authority over actions and proceedings in the trial courts in the district. Our court has used the terms superintending and supervisory interchangeably in its opinions discussing this court's constitutional superintending powers over litigation. This court also used the term "superintending" in describing the court of appeals' supervisory powers. Swan, 133 Wis. 2d at 93.