The conservative chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court told the new liberal majority in a scathing email that they had staged a “coup” when they voted recently to weaken her powers and hire a new director of state courts.

The conservative chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court told the new liberal majority in a scathing email that they had staged a “coup” when they voted recently to weaken her powers and hire a new director of state courts.

  • Ertebolle
    26•1 year ago

    She was elected by the conservative majority to a second two-year term as chief justice in May.

    This seems like a pretty stupid system, honestly - when the composition of the court changes there should be a new election, fixed terms for chief justices that overlap an election for another seat make no sense.

    EDIT: apparently this was a recent change, in a referendum, replacing a previous system where they conservatives were stuck with a liberal chief they didn’t like; from Wikipedia:

    After passage of a referendum on April 7, 2015, the chief justice of the court is elected for a term of 2 years by the vote of a majority of the justices then serving on the court, although the justice so elected may decline the appointment. Previous to the change, the justice with the longest continuous service on the court served as the chief justice. Opponents of the referendum called it an attempt to remove longtime Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson, a member of the court’s liberal minority, while supporters called it an effort to promote democracy on the court.

    So they literally passed a referendum to fix the problem of the chief justice not matching the politics of the majority, and now they’re mad that the liberal justices are trying to fix the same problem again.

    • Buelldozer
      -6•1 year ago

      …and now they’re mad that the liberal justices are trying to fix the same problem again…

      I’m not so sure that’s accurate. In the article you’ve got someone hired by the Liberal Majority taking over the work of the Chief Justice, who did not agree to it, and then signing legal documents appointing new Judges with the Chief Justice’s name.

      Sure, fuck Republicans, but that sounds super shady to me.

      • @[email protected]
        6•1 year ago

        Your reading comprehension needs work:

        firing and hiring a new state court director was illegal and ordered interim state court director Audrey Skwierawski to stop signing orders without her knowledge or approval.

        The court director always signs with the chief justices name. That’s how it works.

        The liberal majority replaced the director as is within their power. Ziegler can’t stop them so she’s throwing a tantrum and saying the new director can’t use her name… Ziegler has no standing to demand this. There is nothing inappropriate here. Ziegler is just mad she can’t run the show anymore.

        She stole the chief justice position from the former chief anyway when the cons took the majority last time so if anything this is her comeuppance.

    • @[email protected]
      -8•1 year ago

      it’s a pretty stupid system because judges are elected by politicians, period. In other countries the justice is completely independent - for example in Italy (were we still have a lot of different issues) judges are elected by their peers.

      • NeedingvsGetting
        13•1 year ago

        The Wisconsin state supreme court is elected by the citizens of the state (source: I voted for Protasiewicz in the last election)

      • HubertManne
        3•1 year ago

        Its a bit wierd here. Some are appointed and some are elected and judicial retention is a ballot item. The thing about elections is the general populace do not have much to go by so your system sounds better. For example I lean heavily on various bar association recommendations for my vote. Luckily in most cases the bar associations are in agreement and when they are not its someone to look into.