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Wisconsin Supreme Court. Photo by Dave Reid.

A new justice joined the Wisconsin Supreme Court over the weekend, and experts are watching closely to see how partisan dynamics on the states highest court may shift just as its poised to rule on several high-profile cases.

When liberalJustice Jill Karofsky was sworn into the court over the weekend, its partisan makeup shifted from a 5-2 conservative majority to 4-3.

Some have pointed out that thenarrower conservative majority means better odds for liberal rulings from the court, because only one conservative would now need to defect from his or her colleagues to swing an opinion.

Alan Ball, a professor of history at Marquette University who runs SCOWstats, a blog that tracks and analyzes the courts decisions, said its possible conservative justices will show more of what he calls bloc cohesion in their coming term.

In an April analysis for SCOWstats, Ball found justices Rebecca Bradley and Brian Hagedorn were more likely than other conservative justices to break from their ideological colleagues in the past court term.

Ball found longtime conservative justices Patience Roggensack and Annette Ziegler ruled the same way on 96 percent of cases, but Bradley only agreed with Roggensack 67 percent of the time and Ziegler 60 percent. Hagedorn agreed even less oftenonly 64 percent of the timewith Roggensack and 55 percent with Ziegler.

Brian Hagedorn seems to be the least predictable,Ball said in an interview. Hes the one that seems most likely to go his own waythe one (who is), to put it another way, most difficult for conservatives to keep in the fold.

Notably, Hagedorn broke from his fellow conservatives inthe courts ruling on the Evers administrations safer-at-home order in May.

Douglas Hoffer, an Eau Claire attorney who closely follows the court and writes about it onSCOWISblog, agreed with Ball.

I think it is likely there will be less split decisions (in the coming term),Hoffer said.

Hoffernoted there have been a number of complicated rulings from the court recently, includingone issued in July about the governors veto powers.In that case, a majority of justices agreed on an outcome, but not why they reached it. He said thatkind of fractured ruling leads to confusion.

The newly restructured court is already poised to hear at least one high-profile case. It is set to hear arguments in the coming months in a challengebrought by a conservative advocacy group against the Wisconsin Elections Commission that could remove up to 129,000 votersfrom the states voter rolls. The court agreed to take the case in Junebut said it will not hear oral arguments before Sept. 29.

Any legal challenge to Gov. Tony Evers new statewide mask mandate would go before the court as well. Some speculate Evers timed his order to align with Karofksys ascension to the court and its new partisan balance, but he rebuffs the claim.

There is also possibility that the court could take up a legal challenge to Wisconsins next set of legislative district maps, which are scheduled to be drawn next year.

Experts: Slimmer Conservative Majority On Wisconsin Supreme Court Could Unite Justices was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

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Will Karofsky Rebalance the WI Supreme Court? - Urban Milwaukee