Wisconsin Supreme Court considering recusal amendments

According to the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, The Wisconsin Supreme Court met in open administrative conference today to consider proposed amendments to the recusal rule the justices adopted in a 4-3 decision Oct. 28.  At that time, the Court voted to adopt verbatim the rules proposed by the business groups Wisconsin Realtors Association (WRA) and Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC).

Usually the Supreme Court will adopt a new rule in principle, leaving open the opportunity to modify the language before the final rule is approved.  In this case, the majority rejected suggestions to allow for any flexibility and specified that the rules were to be adopted verbatim.

That may have been more than the original petitioners were bargaining for.  In late November WMC submitted an amendment to the rule they had proposed, which dealt with independent expenditures related to a judicial campaign.  They said the proposed rewording would simply make the language consistent with that of the Realtors’ rule, which dealt with campaign contributions.  In addition, Justice Prosser has proposed that other clarifications are needed.  Yet the motion that was adopted on October 28 left no room for amendments.

Justice Bradley read a dissenting statement co-signed by Justices Abrahamson and Crooks, saying that they never would have adopted such a rule verbatim.  She read headlines from newspapers statewide, decrying the Oct. 28 decision.

Chief Justice Abrahamson asked Justice Prosser several times if he no longer supported the verbatim adoption of the business lobbies’ rules.  She also asked him to suggest alternative wording to address his concerns, which he was not able to do in today’s meeting.  He finally agreed that he was retracting that earlier vote.  Justices Abrahamson, Bradley and Crooks also voted to rescind the October 28 decision, resulting in a majority.

The Chief Justice announced that the Oct. 28 order will not go out.  She asked Justice Prosser to circulate his recommendations to the full Court by the end of the week.  We hope the Court will follow Justice Crooks’ advice that any amendments receive proper notice and have a hearing before being adopted.

To view today’s heated discussion, go to WisconsinEye.org.