Litigation

WI Panel Looks at Judicial Discipline

By Peter Hardin

A special Wisconsin legislative panel has heard testimony from state Supreme Court justices about possible changes to the process for disciplining judges accused of violating the judicial code of conduct.

The panel was looking at issues raised by the recent deadlock of the Supreme Court over an ethics complaint accusing Justice Michael Gableman of dishonesty in a campaign ad (see Gavel Grab).

According to a Wisconsin Public Radio report, Justice Patrick Crooks (photo at left) told the panel another deadlock is likely in the future, and the legislature ought to provide ?some means of resolving a situation that is not finally resolved.”

Justice Patience Roggensack (photo at right), on the other hand, saw no need for the legislature to prescribe a fix, but suggested one possible solution: ?All it would take would be a simple amendment of the statute saying if there is not a majority vote in favor of the position of the judicial commission that concludes the matter.?

Justice Crooks also held out the possibility that if the legislature clarified the law, the case against Justice Gableman could be revived, according to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article.

Mike McCabe of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a partner of Justice at Stake, urged legislators to consider a new model for the process, that might include representatives of the public and from the legal community.

To learn more about the panel, check out this earlier Gavel Grab post.

Full post as published by The Gavel on August 09, 2010 (boomark / email).