Litigation

Jan. 21: ?A Bad Day for Democracy?

By Peter Hardin

From the viewpoint of the La Crosse, Wisconsin Tribune, on both the home front and national front, Jan. 21 amounted to “A Bad Day for Democracy.”

That’s how a Tribune editorial bemoaned the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling and the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s adoption of new recusal rules. The rules state  that campaign contributions or independent expenditures made in a prior judicial campaign will not require a judge?s stepping aside from a case involving a supporter.

The editorial said that at home, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce “finally got what it has pursued relentlessly for years:”

“A bought-and-paid-for conservative majority of the Wisconsin Supreme Court…decided that justices should be allowed to hear cases involving even their biggest campaign contributors.

“Not exactly a confidence booster for the little guy looking for impartiality in the state’s court system.”

About Citizens United, the editorial quoted from Justice at Stake’s partner group, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, as warning:

“(F)ive of the nine justices ruled that money is speech, corporations are people, public offices are commodities and elections are the marketplace where these commodities are bought and sold.”

Full post as published by The Gavel on January 26, 2010 (boomark / email).