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Wisconsin
Related: About this forumThe Destruction of the Wisconsin Supreme Court
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-destruction-of-the-wisconsin-supreme-courtLast week, the United States Supreme Court upheld a Florida judicial rule that prohibits candidates for election to state judgeships from personally soliciting money for their campaigns. Judges are not politicians, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., wrote in the majority opinion in the 5-4 decision, even when they come to the bench by way of the ballot. He went on, Simply put, Florida and most other States have concluded that the public may lack confidence in a judges ability to administer justice without fear or favor if he comes to office by asking for favors.
There is no need for may in that sentence. In many of the thirty-nine states that elect judges, a dramatic rise in campaign contributions and related spending has caused a well-documented erosion of public confidence in state courts. The Supreme Courts decision advanced the cause of fair courts. But it addressed only a tiny part of the problem that money and politics have created in American justice. A decision the same day by the Wisconsin Supreme Court provides an illustration of how destructive the problem can become.
Under a newly approved state constitutional amendment, which ended the practice of having the courts most senior justice serve as chief, the justices chose their chief justice for the first time since the court was created, in 1852. By a vote of 4-3, reflecting the Wisconsin courts split between conservatives and others, they picked Patience Drake Roggensack, a conservative who has been on the court for a dozen years. They ousted the liberal Shirley S. Abrahamson, on the court for thirty-nine years and, as chief justice from 1996 until last week, the longest-serving chief in state history...
...This is the latest drama in a decadelong saga that, largely through money-fuelled and often nasty judicial elections, has intensified the turn of the Wisconsin Supreme Court from a congenial, moderately liberal institution into a severely divided conservative stronghold. More to the point, the elections have reduced it from one of the nations most respected state tribunals into a disgraceful mess.
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The Destruction of the Wisconsin Supreme Court (Original Post)
hue
May 2015
OP
Did Judge Abrahamson's court case to block this from happening get a ruling yet?
midnight
May 2015
#1
midnight
(26,624 posts)1. Did Judge Abrahamson's court case to block this from happening get a ruling yet?
A motion hearing is scheduled in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin on May 15 at 9 am. This will be at the Federal Courthouse in Madison. The judge indicated in the prior hearing, when he refused to grant an injunction, that he could order her reinstated if she won her case on the merits.
midnight
(26,624 posts)3. Thank you for this important information.
hue
(4,949 posts)4. Yes I can't wait for this.