Litigation

Before Election, Ugly WI Court Rifts Exposed

By Peter Hardin

With an election for the Wisconsin Supreme Court less than three weeks away, unusual details of bitter infighting on the court and a threat by one justice to “destroy” another have become public.

Justice David Prosser (photo at right), who is running for reelection against attorney JoAnne Kloppenburg, figures centrally in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article, headlined “Supreme Court tensions boil over.” Voters will go to the polls April 5.

When the court was mulling last February a request to remove one of its own from a criminal case, Justice Prosser “exploded” privately at Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson (photo above left), calling her a “bitch” and threatening her destruction, the article said, based on interviews and e-mails it obtained.

The justice acknowledged the incident. He thought it was made public at this time in an effort to harm him politically, he said. Justice Abrahamson had acted in ways calculated to weaken him politically and embarrass him and fellow conservatives on the court before the outburst, he contended.

Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, who let the newspaper review court e-mails,  agreed to an interview. She did so, she explained, partly because Justice Prosser had been depicted during the campaign as even-tempered.

“You can say a lot of good things about David Prosser – and I do, and he is a good man – but you cannot accurately say he has a steady, even temperament,” she said.

Infighting on the state Supreme Court has surfaced publicly in the past, but the latest report is unusual for the level of bitterness and the depth of the exchanges. Candidate Kloppenburg has made the infighting an issue in her campaign.

The election has gained increased attention in the wake of successful efforts by the Republican governor, Scott Walker, to strip most public employees of collective bargaining rights. ”

“In Superior this normally non-partisan race is becoming a vote for or against Governor Walker,” said a WDIO-TV report. Justice Prosser is a former Republican Assembly speaker.

A state judge temporarily blocked the new law late last week. The state attorney general was preparing to appeal that ruling today, Channel 3000 News reported.

You can see other coverage of the Wisconsin Supreme Court race in Gavel Grab.

Full post as published by The Gavel on March 21, 2011 (boomark / email).