[EL] Wisconsin judiciary

[Smith, Bradley]

Are there any examples of Karofsky actually calling Justice Kelly "corrupt?"

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/wisconsin/articles/2019-11-19/wisconsin-supreme-court-candidates-set-for-first-debate

https://apnews.com/cd345a9a6096488381b3bc69762085f4

https://www.wuwm.com/post/judge-jill-karofsky-wants-end-corruption-if-elected-wisconsin-supreme-court#stream/0

https://kwwl.com/2019/11/19/the-latest-karofsky-goes-after-kelly-in-first-court-debate/

I suppose it is true she merely stated that others think he is corrupt. To repeat Rick's question, do you think that makes it better? I'm inclined to think it makes it worse--accusations by innuendo always bother more than someone who comes straight out with it. The press seemed to get the drift of her comments if the stories above are any indication.



Bradley A. Smith

Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault

   Professor of Law

Capital University Law School

303 E. Broad St.

Columbus, OH 43215

614.236.6317

http://law.capital.edu/faculty/bios/bsmith.aspx

________________________________
From: brendan fischer [brendan.fischer at gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, March 13, 2020 3:16 PM
To: Smith, Bradley
Cc: Rick Hasen; Election Law Listserv
Subject: Re: [EL] Wisconsin judiciary

Are there any examples of Karofsky actually calling Justice Kelly "corrupt?" What I believe she has said is that Kelly and other justices consistently decline to recuse from cases involving their biggest election supporters, and consistently side with the interests that spent millions getting them elected to the bench, which contributes to the appearance of corruption and undermines the public's confidence in the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

The background is that Wisconsin has some of the weakest judicial recusal rules<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fwww.americanprogress.org%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2014%2f05%2fJudicialRecusal.pdf&c=E,1,c9CixhKazRnDTGXlc9UXlxmN1vfsPzYNxoHNoWDwoOeSscT3SNJ7WeOgyxOXjnpkqOlXVpMTUw4YvhStNADxi6qmw_raYdspqpDf527QKoK2TjCZ7ENF2WB2TVE,&typo=1> in the country when it comes to cases involving big donors and spenders. These weak rules have become an issue this election cycle, but the problem has been percolating <https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-destruction-of-the-wisconsin-supreme-court> for years<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fwislawjournal.com%2f2015%2f09%2f02%2fclosing-arguments-should-two-justices-have-recused-themselves-in-john-doe-case%2f&c=E,1,ryY7vMJN8WDumg_8VzW1xOXGnPqMBq_jv3gaJWsg8QSkP-GKinHJTfAZ-BAgaJaqE0WW9v77Y_olXtc0NhuEl2yWjBCKk4AO84fPK-YbJnBpgxyi&typo=1>; in 2017, for example, 54 retired judges petitioned <https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2017/01/11/former-judges-seek-rules-donations/96430238/> the Wisconsin Supreme Court to amend the rules regarding justices hearing cases involving their biggest campaign supporters, but the conservative majority--including Justice Kelly and Justice Rebecca Bradley, who signed yesterday's statement--refused to revisit the court's non-recusal rules<https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2017/04/20/wisconsin-supreme-court-weighs-recusal-rules-when-campaign-donors-litigants/100644698/>. (Justice Bradley said this about the petition from the retired judges: "Every judge and justice in Wisconsin should be highly offended by this petition because it attacks their integrity.") See Campaign Legal Center's comments on the petition here<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fwicourts.gov%2fsupreme%2fdocs%2f1701commentsfischer.pdf&c=E,1,GfjjGtfqQwnOcS2acnFFkzNGyx-7Tg4Gg2VQyCnoWuj9cDcsFC-QQmQtWK0DVWd_e7hEitfXJHtJhrb4Jrp2ZfKImJZ3dT9FFm3FqFCrJLA,&typo=1>.

For further background, read this 2018 Wisconsin Lawyer article from me and Nick Harken:
https://www.wisbar.org/NewsPublications/WisconsinLawyer/Pages/Article.aspx?Volume=91&Issue=2&ArticleID=26152<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fwww.wisbar.org%2fNewsPublications%2fWisconsinLawyer%2fPages%2fArticle.aspx%3fVolume%3d91%26Issue%3d2%26ArticleID%3d26152&c=E,1,7xkMFCAgio7HJwOiLdJXEe-qFUN5aJ3BwmgoTNjDaQkbAWrHi7RTM8Joa863A2cgh84HuJx1p6GfXeuiv5MaDXJPn4FakUgMu51qDkZ995x0P8jYWRQp2WUk&typo=1>

On Fri, Mar 13, 2020 at 2:27 PM Smith, Bradley <BSmith at law.capital.edu<mailto:BSmith at law.capital.edu>> wrote:
Worse for the challenger, better for the court (which is not to say ideal or good), more accurate for everyone.


Bradley A. Smith

Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault

   Professor of Law

Capital University Law School

303 E. Broad St.

Columbus, OH 43215

614.236.6317

http://law.capital.edu/faculty/bios/bsmith.aspx

________________________________
From: Rick Hasen [rhasen at law.uci.edu<mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>]
Sent: Friday, March 13, 2020 1:24 PM
To: Smith, Bradley; Election Law Listserv
Subject: Re: Wisconsin judiciary

Do you think that makes it any better?

From: "Smith, Bradley" <BSmith at law.capital.edu<mailto:BSmith at law.capital.edu>>
Date: Friday, March 13, 2020 at 10:12 AM
To: Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu<mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>>, Election Law Listserv <law-election at uci.edu<mailto:law-election at uci.edu>>
Subject: Wisconsin judiciary

Well, actually they criticized her for calling her opponent "corrupt" and suggesting that he was getting paid off by "right wing special interests."


Bradley A. Smith

Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault

   Professor of Law

Capital University Law School

303 E. Broad St.

Columbus, OH 43215

614.236.6317

http://law.capital.edu/faculty/bios/bsmith.aspx

________________________________
From: Law-election [law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu<mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu>] on behalf of Rick Hasen [rhasen at law.uci.edu<mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>]
Sent: Friday, March 13, 2020 11:18 AM
To: Election Law Listserv
Subject: [EL] ELB News and Commentary 3/13/20

   ** [ This email originated outside of Capital University ] **


Sitting Conservative Justices on Wisconsin Supreme Court Publicly Criticize Liberal Candidate for Court Who Is Running Against Conservative Colleague for Saying Justice “Sides with Right Wing Special Interests”<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2felectionlawblog.org%2f%3fp%3d109976&c=E,1,8WS-QuaT6fs2hmBewlZ_bxwXcgRHyLrOr01ZctM5Egj5etXyPdqTPFR3oRTq8tuQbAwuvg2DyBOixigIrP3dtvcqV2v5mBtVpBccSeWKEH1HgF0f&typo=1>
Posted on March 13, 2020 7:59 am<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2felectionlawblog.org%2f%3fp%3d109976&c=E,1,-kmLjfSAjdajS2fKTu8wxhIBLfYIyMEXVYNFPRoZq4qYfGyRIJDAZ7p4lsBTED754w9uFH3fm0mI0WEsL4yl4K55y5ctZAPhFYKjE1Be3CUAaD4,&typo=1> by Rick Hasen<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2felectionlawblog.org%2f%3fauthor%3d3&c=E,1,mc1uje9k-zzWb3CsmUOr3lNF0tDP01fiir6yRViguZG_TEQQmd-UJp4YTtaSfF6xJM9sOwUG9U81tdCJiL2tgmBLueAHLs5dVFgZf8dGboiVpPsv1w5Yzgs,&typo=1>

I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fmadison.com%2fwsj%2fnews%2flocal%2fgovt-and-politics%2fconservative-wisconsin-supreme-court-justices-lash-out-against-candidate-jill%2farticle_caa520aa-a9e6-50d0-8593-c01729a8f978.html&c=E,1,MkhvrOtVgtIW7aTjO7heRiG4zj_LVrarAor74zQ01r44uhIsFIuX3whqABE8-HN0mPAS9MDZ9LrL980Ybaa2k9Y7M4Xob-jlJxZigN69DcVI&typo=1>.
[Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D109976&title=Sitting%20Conservative%20Justices%20on%20Wisconsin%20Supreme%20Court%20Publicly%20Criticize%20Liberal%20Candidate%20for%20Court%20Who%20Is%20Running%20Against%20Conservative%20Colleague%20for%20Saying%20Justice%20%E2%80%9CSides%20with%20Right%20Wing%20Special%20Interests%E2%80%9D>
Posted in judicial elections<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2felectionlawblog.org%2f%3fcat%3d19&c=E,1,Mdnu1634tt9rtEqbHu71wfT9kXRjuQ-1DN4GnczzBTF3NGpag8bQ0VkQ2xPfyhBdENVOvCQeC8xRHH2cztGTC2ZmFKPI-pgg8QiUYsJkXGS6eztBtA,,&typo=1>


_______________________________________________
Law-election mailing list
Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu<mailto:Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu>
https://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fdepartment-lists.uci.edu%2fmailman%2flistinfo%2flaw-election&c=E,1,OkyGl4_bJ__TFGdmt17C_0gEQ6whLTJ9Ln3dIo5eSYuOaAK_rZj9w9OzAoZVQ-QZVm1wUzFOeGDuu5GjOVZxrZ75l57SBaix-1frVTnNGULP&typo=1>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20200313/ab9ff509/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 2022 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20200313/ab9ff509/attachment.png>