Free Republic

Part 297 of 295 in the series Wisconsin's Secret War MADISON, Wis. - The special prosecutor of the politically driven probe the state Supreme Court has twice declared dead laments the conservatives he intimidated for more than two years are legally tougher than the "violent criminals and terrorists" he investigated as a federal prosecutor. "The miscalculation I made in this investigation was underestimating the power and influence special interest groups have in Wisconsin politics," Francis Schmitz, point man for the unconstitutional "John Doe II" probe said Wednesday in a press release. "My career in the military and as a federal...

Part 255 of 253 in the series Wisconsin's Secret War MADISON, Wisconsin — State Democrats claim to be the champions of open government. But while they rail against an ill-conceived and short-lived GOP plan to close some open records, the left has been strangely silent about liberal state Supreme Court Justice Shirley Abrahamson’s reluctance to turn over communications that would shine light on her behind-the-scenes legal activities. That silence is deafening among the left’s best friend, the mainstream media. Abrahamson has hired an attorney to defend her in the records request filed by conservative targets of Wisconsin’s unconstitutional John Doe...

MADISON, Wis. – Shirley Abrahamson’s legal fight to keep her job as the state Supreme Court’s chief justice has cost Wisconsin taxpayers $150,000. Abrahamson was the state’s top judge when Wisconsin voters in April approved a constitutional amendment allowing state Supreme Court justices to elect their chief, ending the state’s 126-year practice of determining the post on seniority alone. Later that month, the four conservative members of the seven-person court elected Justice Patience Roggensack as the court’s new chief justice. Abrahamson twice asked the federal district court to temporarily stop implementation of the amendment while her civil rights case proceeded....

MADISON, Wis. – A federal judge on Friday tossed out former Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson’s civil rights lawsuit and declared Wisconsin’s constitutional amendment that forced Abrahamson out of her long-standing seat of power does indeed pass “constitutional muster.” U.S. District Court Judge James Peterson said he wasn’t persuaded by Abrahamson’s case. His ruling puts to rest the liberal justice’s claims that the amendment approved by Wisconsin voters in April unfairly led to her ouster as chief justice. “This court has been asked whether the immediate implementation of an amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution concerning the structure of its court system...

A federal court has declared that former Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson lied about her personal knowledge of certain facts and misrepresented negotiations between her legal team and lawyers representing her fellow Supreme Court justices. “[T]he Abrahamson affidavit contains some statements that are not based on personal knowledge and that falsely portray the negotiation of the stipulated facts,” wrote Judge James Peterson in a June 10 decision striking portions of Abrahamson’s filing from the court record. Peterson was appointed to the federal bench by President Barack Obama. Since April, when state voters ratified a constitutional amendment changing how...

The Wisconsin state Senate has just paved the way for the state Supreme Court to elect its own chief justice—and the conservatives’ pick might shake up the governor’s own case. Eighty-one-year-old Shirley Abrahamson has been chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court for 18 years, but that tenure looks like it’s about to come to an abrupt end. A state constitutional amendment, passed Tuesday in the state Senate 17-14 along strict party lines, will allow the court’s seven justices to vote on a chief justice, undoing a 126-year-old tradition that grants the post to the longest-serving justice on the bench....

Madison - The state Judicial Commission was unanimous in its decision to file an ethics complaint against Justice David Prosser in January, but split 3-3 a month later on whether to reconsider the decision, newly released records show. The commission went on in March to file the complaint alleging Prosser violated the ethics code for judges by putting his hands on the neck of Justice Ann Walsh Bradley during an argument in June 2011 Prosser contends he didn't violate ethics rules and that his hands touched Bradley's neck in a defensive reflex when she confronted him face to face.The Judicial...