At the swearing-in ceremony for Marquette University Law School graduates, only the justices who voted for Patience Roggensack appear.

Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Patience Roggensack was presiding as chief justice for the first time as the court performed the time-honored ritual for the newest members of the bar. Not present was Shirley Abrahamson, who lost the position of chief when voters amended the state constitution to provide for the justices to elect their own chief. Abrahamson is suing in federal court, claiming that she's still properly the chief, under the old seniority rule, until the end of her term in 2019. Also absent were Justices Ann Walsh Bradley and Patrick Crooks, who, we're told, voted against Roggensack.

Congratulations to the graduates of Marquette University Law School, beneficiaries of Wisconsin's delightful diploma privilege. I'm sorry you didn't get to see a full bench for your special celebration, but you did get to see something special.

Denying Shirley Abrahamson an injunction that would restore her to the position of Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court...

... U.S. District Judge James Peterson found no irreparable harm because the new Chief Justice Patience Roggensack is "not consolidating power in any ruthless way."

"Other columnists have argued that the conservatives' quick action to replace Abrahamson is overplaying their hand."

"But it is no such thing; the chief's chair is rightfully Roggensack's, and delaying her ascension to the seat simply would be giving oxygen to Abrahamson's charade."

Writes Christian Scheider in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (about the lawsuit Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Shirley Abrahamson brought to keep her position as chief after Wisconsin voters amended the state constitution to change the selection process from seniority to a vote of the 7 justices).

By the way, I wouldn't have used the word "ascension." When you're elected to a position, do you ascend? Funny that bothered me. It was just yesterday that I finished reading the book "Means of Ascent (The Years of Lyndon Johnson)," by Robert A. Caro. It's the story of how Lyndon Johnson first got his senate seat in 1948. It wasn't by winning an election. It was by stealing an election... most outrageously.

"Wisconsin Supreme Court justices have moved quickly to replace longtime Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson with Justice Patience Roggensack."

"Abrahamson�s attorney Robert Peck says in a letter filed in a federal court that Abrahamson continues to believe she is still chief justice."

Oh, no! Too many chiefs!

After Wisconsinites vote to amend the state constitution to change how the state supreme court's chief justice is selected, Shirley Abrahamson sues in federal court to keep her position under the old provision.

Under the old provision, Abrahamson was entitled to the position because she is the most senior member of the court. Under the amendment we voted for in yesterday's election, the justices elect their own chief. What is the federal question that allows this to be heard in federal court?

To have the selection process change immediately would shorten the term of office to which Abrahamson was elected, she argued, and would therefore violate her constitutional rights to due process and equal protection rights.

She also asks the court to block the other six justices on the court from taking any action to remove her as chief justice. Earlier Wednesday, before Abrahamson filed the lawsuit, Justice Pat Roggensack told The Associated Press that she hoped to meet "quite soon" to discuss how to proceed following the amendment's adoption....

ADDED: On reading this, Meade said: "I think what should be said is that this changed the terms of her office, not the term of her office." (That is, voters elected her to serve as a justice for a 10-year term, and under the old provision, by virtue of her seniority, she would be chief. Under the new provision, the terms of her job have changed, so that seniority does not entail service as chief, but the justices get to vote for a chief. Her term is the same: 10 years.)

AND: As they say in Wisconsin (sometimes!): This is what democracy looks like.