Re: Major cases await as liberal Nazis exert control of Wisconsin Supreme Court

[Secret Papers]

Lou Bricano <l...@cap.con> wrote in news:LqvyM.377813$mPI2....@fx15.iad:

> Wisconsin should kill one of the liberals, just to make things
> interesting.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Conflicts on Wisconsin’s newly liberal controlled
state Supreme Court spilled out publicly as the court majority flipped
this week, setting the stage for deep divisions in the battleground
state on major cases that could determine the legality of abortions and
voting rules, as well as legislative boundary lines.

Conservatives controlled the court for 15 years until Tuesday. Liberals
will have the majority for at least the next two years.

Under conservative control, the court upheld Republican-drawn maps in
2011 that helped the GOP increase its majorities, affirmed a state law
that effectively ended collective bargaining for most public workers,
and declared absentee ballot drop boxes illegal.

Deep partisan divisions on the court aren't new. Tensions were so high
in 2011 as the court considered a case about collective bargaining
rights that a liberal justice accused one of her conservative colleagues
of trying to choke her.

On Wednesday, conservative Chief Justice Annette Ziegler accused liberal
justices of a “raw exercise of overreaching power” when they fired the
state court director Randy Koschnick. He was a judge for 18 years before
he served six years overseeing Wisconsin's court system. Koschnick ran
for the state Supreme Court as a conservative in 2009 and lost.

Republican legislative leaders sent the court a letter Friday saying the
appointment of a Milwaukee County judge to serve as interim court
director was unconstitutional. They argue that the Wisconsin
Constitution prohibits Judge Audrey Skwierawski from holding any office
besides judge during her term. The lawmakers demanded that her
appointment be rescinded.

But if a lawsuit is brought over that, its final stop would be the state
Supreme Court controlled by the very justices who fired Koschnick.

That fight, and others, expected to come before the court include:

REDISTRICTING

A coalition of voting rights groups and a pair of law firms, including
one backed by Democrats, asked the court this week to throw out
Republican-drawn legislative maps, arguing they are an unconstitutional
gerrymander. The court must first agree to take the case, which seems
all but certain given the 4-3 liberal majority, and then rule on whether
the current maps are constitutional. If it tosses them, the court will
then have to determine a remedy, which could lead to the enactment of
more Democratic-friendly maps before the 2024 election. Republicans have
held a majority in the Legislature since 2011, the year they drew the
maps that are in place now and were largely unchanged after the last
round of redistricting.

ABORTION

Wisconsin clinics stopped performing abortions last year after the U.S.
Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, citing an 1849 state law banning
abortion. A lawsuit seeking to undo the state ban is currently in county
circuit court and could get before the state Supreme Court later this
year.

2024 VOTING RULES

National Democrats filed a lawsuit last month trying to undo the court's
ruling disallowing absentee ballot drop boxes so they can be used in the
2024 presidential election. Other lawsuits could be forthcoming that
target the state's voting rules, including a voter ID requirement in
place since 2011. A fight also looms over the state’s top elections
administrator. The rules of elections are particularly critical in
Wisconsin, a state where four of the past six presidential elections
have been decided by less than a percentage point. The state Supreme
Court came within one vote of overturning President Joe Biden's win in
2020, with a conservative swing justice siding with the then-minority
liberal justices to reject Donald Trump's arguments.

CHIEF JUSTICE

And anger among Republicans over longtime Chief Justice Shirley
Abrahamson led to the Legislature putting a constitutional amendment on
the ballot in 2015 that gives justices on the court the ability to
choose who serves as chief instead of going to the most tenured member.
It passed, and the court’s conservative majority immediately ousted
Abrahamson. She sued in federal court to retain her title, but lost. The
constitution requires the chief justice to be elected to a two-year
term. The current chief justice, Ziegler, was first elected in 2021 and
then again for another two-year term that began in May. The amendment
does not spell out a process for removing a chief justice, but Ziegler
could resign the post and remain on the court. The chief justice serves
as administrative head of the judicial system, but as the Koschnick
firing shows, a majority of justices can wield significant power.

UNION RIGHTS

The fight over union rights defined Republican Scott Walker's time as
governor, fueling massive protests in 2011, a failed attempt to recall
him from office in 2012 and his subsequent run for president in 2015.
Democrats and unions sued numerous times to regain rights lost during
Walker's eight years in office. More challenges are expected.

VETO POWER

Wisconsin governors have wide veto power, which has drawn bipartisan
complaints and constitutional amendments to reduce the breadth of what
they can do. But when Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in June used his veto
to enact a school funding increase for 400 years, Republicans promised
to sue.

SCHOOL CHOICE

Democrats, including the current governor, have long opposed Wisconsin's
school choice program, which allows students to attend private schools
using taxpayer-funded vouchers. Liberals have been talking about
bringing lawsuits to scale back the program, which was the nation's
first when enacted in Milwaukee in 1990. It has since grown statewide.

https://www.wqow.com/news/wisconsin/major-cases-await-as-liberals-exert-c
ontrol-of-wisconsin-supreme-court/article_84b27cd6-8fc7-5d0b-8bb7-647a5be
3b355.html