to law school at the University of Wisconsin and received his J.D. in 1968. Career Early career Prosser lectured at Indiana University-Indianapolis Law School from 1968 to 1969, before working from 1969 to 1972 in Washington, D.C. as an attorney advisor in the Office of Criminal Justice, U.S. Department of Justice. He ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Wisconsin General Assembly in 1973, then served as an administrative assistant to U.S. Representative Harold Vernon Froehlich, a Republican member of the House Judiciary Committee from 1973 to 1974 during the Watergate impeachment hearings. After two years in private practice as a self-employed lawyer, Prosser served as Outagamie County District Attorney from 1977 to 1978. Wisconsin legislature Prosser represented the Appleton area in the Wisconsin State Assembly as a Republican from 1979 through 1996. His committee assignments included Criminal Justice and Public Safety and Judiciary. During his tenure in the Assembly, he served six years as Minority leader and two years as Speaker. In 1981, he opposed removing criminal penalties on sexual activity and cohabitation between unmarried, consulting adults, though he did express a willingness to repeal the jail terms. He stated that legalizing sex outside of marriage would increase divorce rates, the number of children born outside of wedlock, welfare payments, sexually transmitted diseases, and abortions. In 1995, while he was Assembly Speaker, Prosser led the push for the new baseball stadium for the Milwaukee Brewers, saying that Wisconsin had a choice of being either a "big league or bush league" state. Campaign for U.S. Congress In 1996 he ran for the 8th congressional district seat in the U.S. Congress vacated by retiring U.S. Representative Toby Roth. Prosser won what the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel described as a "bitter and high-spending" primary, but was defeated in the general election by Democrat Jay W. Johnson. One month later, Governor Thompson appointed Prosser to the Wisconsin Tax Appeals Commission where he conducted hearings and ruled on disputes related to state taxation. Wisconsin Supreme Court In September 1998, Thompson appointed Prosser to a vacant seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, hailing him as a conservative. In an unusual move, a bipartisan group of 77 of the 132 state legislators sent a letter to Thompson supporting the appointment, describing Prosser as, "learned, thoughtful, and fiercely defensive of our system of law". In 2011, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said Prosser is a "reliable judicial conservative, but