{"id":4733,"date":"2023-08-05T04:48:18","date_gmt":"2023-08-05T04:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=4733"},"modified":"2023-08-05T05:00:56","modified_gmt":"2023-08-05T05:00:56","slug":"disgrace-wisconsin-liberal-justices-shockingly-bad-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=4733","title":{"rendered":"DISGRACE: Wisconsin Liberal Justices\u2019 Shockingly Bad Week"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/www.wisconsinrightnow.com\/rebecca-dallet\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Wisconsin\u2019s four Horsewomen of the Legal Apocalypse \u2013 er, Wisconsin\u2019s liberal justices \u2013 need to grow the hell up. Their first week was basically a playground tantrum. They\u2019re acting like a bunch of kids with a Halloween candy sugar high.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Watching the liberals on the Wisconsin Supreme Court dramatically screw up their very first week in the majority, I am reminded of the year that Queen Elizabeth, her family bedeviled by scandal, sourly declared it an \u201cannus horribilis.\u201d The four liberal justices had their own version of that. Their first week was not just horrible; it was an utter disgrace.<\/p>\n

Rather than operating with decorum, they gave the appearance of excited kids with a Halloween candy sugar high, rushing around at warp speed, purging conservatives (just because!), ruthlessly stripping the chief justice of her power (just because!), giving transparency a middle finger (we filed open records requests that they didn\u2019t even bother to respond to), ignoring the state Constitution (just because!), ripping up long-standing court rules, messing up a key appointment, and whipping out a gaslighting press release.<\/p>\n

\"rebecca<\/p>\n

It\u2019s disgusting, honestly. The state Supreme Court is supposed to uphold our laws, not operate above them. Get some decorum.<\/p>\n

Stunningly, it took them only about 48 hours to be credibly accused of violating the state Constitution, state law, and Supreme Court rules \u2013 TWICE. First, they fired Randy Koschnick, the respected State Courts Director, and wouldn\u2019t tell him or anyone else why. Everyone\u2019s best guess is it\u2019s because he ran against<\/a> liberal Shirley Abrahamson in 2009. This even earned them criticism from some liberals, like the former MADISON MAYOR (not an easy feat), who accused them of a partisan witch hunt, since Koschnick was a low-profile, effective innovator who didn\u2019t inject politics into the job (and he just got an award!).<\/p>\n

\n

Partisan \u2018Janet Court\u2019 Takes 1st Shot Against Conservatives With Planned Firing of Respected State Courts Director<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

They appear to have hatched his unexplained and totally out-of-protocol firing before Janet Protasiewicz was even sworn in, didn\u2019t tell the conservatives on the court about it (are we a middle school clique? Paging Lindsay Lohan\u2026), and cut out the chief justice, even though the state Constitution gave HER authority to call administrative conferences. This led the state Senate\u2019s Judiciary Committee Chair, Van Wanggaard, to accuse them of violating the law, their oaths, and the Constitution, all in one day!<\/p>\n

They are so petty that they didn\u2019t even wait until Thursday for Koschnick to return from out-of-state, ordering a staffer to box up his family photos. He responded by calling them (correctly) a \u201cwrecking ball\u201d in the press.<\/p>\n

Sources tell us they actually wanted to replace Koschnick, a veteran judge, with their own political campaign operative<\/a>, which would be like naming Karl Rove the US AG (that this was even raised shows shockingly warped judgment), but when that was suddenly scuttled, they settled on Milwaukee Judge Audrey Skwierawski. The operative\u2019s response to Journal Sentinel gossip columnist Dan Bice, when he asked about it, was \u201chahahahahahahahaha.\u201d Which shows you the level of decorum.<\/p>\n

The problem is that state law bans sitting judges like Skwierawski from holding non-judicial positions during their terms. That\u2019s why Koschnick didn\u2019t assume the position until a day past his term\u2019s end (because he actually reads the state Constitution). This caused the state Senate Majority leader, Devin LeMahieu, to accuse them<\/a> of ignoring the Constitution yet again. All in one more day! Skwierawski\u2019s selection will also worsen the horrid Milwaukee court backlog clean-up efforts by keeping a courtroom vacant. And court rules (remember them?) don\u2019t say anything about judges being able to take leaves\u2026<\/p>\n

\n

Audrey Skwierawski Appointment Is Unconstitutional, Senate Majority Leader Says<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Their response to this criticism? They tripled down. Liberal Rebecca Dallet released a whingeing press release (that\u2019s a word I learned in an article about Prince Harry and his annoying wife) gaslighting Chief Justice Annette Ziegler, a conservative, for lacking collegiality even as the four liberals galloped around and removed her authority on a Friday afternoon, striking the phrase \u201cchief justice\u201d from numerous important court functions (they love their track changes!) Note to Dallet: If you\u2019re explaining, you\u2019re losing. Reagan said that.<\/p>\n

It was a crafty dodge, though. Distract the media from the bloodbath, so they bog down in debating whether the bloodbath was \u201csecret.\u201d Predictably, rather than analyzing why state Supreme Court justices were allegedly ignoring the law, the media started painting it all as a playground fight.<\/p>\n

\n

\u2018Rogue\u2019 Liberal Justices Met in Secret to \u2018Gut\u2019 Chief Justice\u2019s Authority: Ziegler<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The liberals laughably replaced Ziegler\u2019s authority with a new \u201csupreme court\u201d committee that will include the chief justice and\u2026 you guessed it\u2026 two justices appointed by them! Let us guess the second pick won\u2019t be Rebecca Bradley. Dallet sniped in a press release that Ziegler shouldn\u2019t snipe in press releases (i.e. that the public shouldn\u2019t be informed), and claimed Ziegler had refused to schedule conferences at the liberals\u2019 demand (well, since she\u2019s chief justice, that was her right). Until now.<\/p>\n

This all begs the question: Is our state\u2019s highest court controlled by four justices too dumb to understand the law? Or is it controlled by four justices so arrogant and reckless that they know what the law is and just don\u2019t care?<\/p>\n

Which is worse? We\u2019d bet on the latter; we think they\u2019re blinded by partisan revenge. That\u2019s their goal. To operate as a Super Legislature and undo Scott Walker\u2019s reforms. They aren\u2019t a court anymore. They\u2019re the \u201cJanet court,\u201d a political revenge machine. They\u2019re partisan warriors.<\/p>\n

But this is the state Supreme Court. It\u2019s supposed to be non-partisan. Koschnick\u2019s position is supposed to be non-partisan.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

It took Janet \u201cI didn\u2019t use a racial slur or abuse my elderly husband, but thank you media for censoring the story\u201d Protasiewicz (not her real words), Jill Karofsky, Ann Walsh Bradley, and Dallet, a single week<\/em> to destroy any confidence and faith that at least half of Wisconsin has in the institution they now control. Great job!<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t just about politics. Destroying the integrity of our court system strikes at the very heart of our Democracy.<\/p>\n

The liberal justices may think they got away with their stunning week 1 overreaches, their partisan purges, and their abuses of power. And they probably did in the short term. However, they underestimated the conservative justices and Koschnick. None of those folks is a shrinking violet, and they took the beef public (hey Randy, there\u2019s a court seat open in 2025, and Walsh Bradley\u2019s in it\u2026) Rebecca Bradley accused them of a political purge and abuse of power, and Ziegler slammed their \u201creckless conduct\u201d and questioned the legality. If the shoe fits.<\/p>\n

However, absolute power corrupts absolutely (that\u2019s a phrase first uttered by Lord Acton, a British historian). The most positive thing you can say about the liberal justices right now is that they are overplaying their hand. If they continue to do so this recklessly and childishly, the pendulum at the ballot box will swing back. That\u2019s a guarantee. And the state Senate might start talking about impeachment (if they ignore the law\u2026).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s almost making us miss Dan Kelly\u2019s droning hour-long lectures about the Constitution. We said almost.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re racing the clock. Their goal, of course, is to do as much damage as they can to the conservative cause before the next election. Some of the authority they took from Ziegler included scheduling. The liberal majority has followed Protasiewicz off the partisan campaign cliff. They\u2019re not even trying to hide it. She set the tone. The media (and voters) let her get away with it.<\/p>\n

The worst is yet to come. The actions they took this week were designed to remove the last remaining conservative stumbling blocks (Ziegler, Koschnick) who might slow down their looming liberal partisan blitzkrieg. They even laughably created a \u201cbipartisan recusal commission\u201d to give them \u201crecommendations\u201d on when justices should recuse themselves from cases. Who do they think is actually buying this nonsense? Even the liberal reporters are starting to sound skeptical (and they\u2019re not censoring it!) It\u2019s very bad news for the left when their first week AP headlines are bad. If they lose Scott Bauer\u2026 They certainly stepped all over their honeymoon. It lasted one second.<\/p>\n

How dumb do they think we are? They will make sure the commission is packed with more people who want to find a way to create recommendations that give Protasiewicz cover to vote on redistricting maps, when she already proclaimed them \u201crigged\u201d (judges aren\u2019t supposed to publicly prejudge cases.) Then they will redraw them to benefit liberals, probably ignoring the law. They\u2019re trying to find a way to unhoist Protasiewicz from her own campaign petard. Any guesses that the commission will have 4 liberals and 3 conservatives? (Just please, for the love of God, don\u2019t appoint Sachin Chheda.)<\/p>\n

However, word of warning to the preening liberal cabal: if they mistake their likely electoral mandate on abortion for a mandate to get rid of everything else (Act 10, gun rights, people\u2019s legislators, etc.), watch how fast the public swings back against them. After all, Act 10 has saved municipalities and taxpayers a lot of money. This state has a lot of independents in it. And a lot of hunters. Voter ID makes sense. School choice is popular with the electorate. What they perceive as conservative legislation? Voters elected those legislators. They did the people\u2019s business. This state is not solid blue. Just ask Ron Johnson.<\/p>\n

You thought the Ann Walsh Bradley\/David Prosser \u201che choked me!\u201d nonsense was dysfunctional? Well, this is Bradley\u2019s revenge play. This liberal majority is going to make that look like child\u2019s play.<\/p>\n

Shame on them all.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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