Litigation

Campaign Ethics Case Still Splits WI Justices

By Peter Hardin

Sharp divisions among Wisconsin Supreme Court justices were reflected again when the court met in a public session Monday to discuss travel expenditures, more general spending and the issuing of opinions.

According to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article, “Two factions on the court found few areas where they agreed, but it became clear that simmering resentment over the ethics case against Justice Michael Gableman fuels much of the tension on the court.”

That case involved an ethics complaint accusing Justice Gableman of dishonesty in a 2008 campaign ad. The high court deadlocked over the complaint last year (see Gavel Grab). On Monday, the justices wrangled over the mechanics of how the competing opinions were issued in Justice Gableman’s case then.

Meanwhile a Wisconsin State Journal editorial advocated adoption of a merit selection system as a means to gain increased public confidence in the state’s top court and to assure its independence.

In an upcoming election, incumbent Justice David Prosser will have a strong advantage over three challenges by virtue of his appointment to a vacancy in 1998 and his election with no opponent in 2001, the editorial said. It declared, “Justice David Prosser?s dozen years on the state?s high court help show how flawed Wisconsin?s system of judicial ‘elections’ has become.”

Full post as published by The Gavel on February 01, 2011 (boomark / email).