From Scoop # 43 January 15, 2007
 

Supreme Court Election Just Around the Corner
by Carl Soderberg

While it seems like all the hoopla surrounding the 2006 election is just barely over, the election coming up in just over a month is just as important to the future of Wisconsin as the election just ended.

Justice Jon WIlcox of the Wisconsin Supreme Court is retiring when the Court's term ends in August this year.  The election for his replacement will be held on April 3rd, 2007.   Since three candidates have filed their nomination paperwork to run for this office, a primary election will be held February 20th to narrow the field to two candidates for the general election.  That's just over a month from now.

Justice Jon Wilcox is usually labeled a conservative judge by his critics and the media.  Based on his opinions and dissents quoted in previous Inside Scoop articles, it would be more accurate to describe him as a strict constructionist.  That is, a judge who interprets the meaning of written law & constitution, and defers to the legislature's role of writing law, rather than rewriting the law or creating brand new law based on his own opinion of what the law should be.

Along with Justice David Prosser and Justice Pat Roggensack, Justice Wilcox is one of the three Wisconsin Supreme Court justices who are strict constructionists.  The other four Supreme Court Justices (Shirley Abrahamson, Louis Butler, Ann Walsh Bradley and recently, Patrick Crooks), as we have described in previous Inside Scoop articles (available under the “selections by Soderberg” section of www.theinsidescoop.us ), feel free to rewrite law and overturn precedent to implement their preferred social policy.

The Candidates

Of the three candidates for Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice, two are Madison-based lawyers and one is a sitting Wisconsin Circuit Court judge.  Judge Annette Ziegler is currently Washington County Circuit Court Judge.  After graduating from Marquette Law School in 1989, she worked as a trial lawyer in business and corporate litigation.  Her legal career in public office started as a criminal prosecutor, first as a pro bono Special Assistant District Attorney for Milwaukee County, and later as Assistant US Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.  She was appointed to a partial term in her current position in 1997 by Governor Tommy Thompson, and then elected to full terms in 1998 and 2004.

According to her website (www.lindacliffordforjustice.org), attorney Linda Clifford attended UW Law School, and served as Assistant Attorney General under three different Attorneys General, dealing with environmental issues, writing legal opinions for the Attorney General, and defending state employees sued in their official capacities.  After practicing part time at home while raising her two children, she joined the Madison law firm of LaFollette Sinykin (now LaFollette Godfrey & Kahn.)

Ziegler announced her candidacy in the March of 2006, and Clifford announced her candidacy in November 2005, when she announced she would not run against incumbent Justice Patrick Crooks in the April 2006 election.  Joseph Sommers announced his candidacy with the filing of his nomination papers at the January 2nd deadline.  Sommers is less known than the other two candidates.  He is a criminal defense attorney, with his own Madison-based practice.  The AP quotes Sommers when filing:  "I wish to protect the rule of law in the state of Wisconsin.  I wish to reclaim the courts for the people."

Liberal vs. Conservative?

While both Ziegler and Clifford, and their staff, emphasize the non-partisan nature of the judicial campaigns, the race itself is shaping up as conservative candidate versus two liberal candidates.  Judge Ziegler is supported by political conservatives, has hired Mark Graul (campaign director for Mark Green's Governor run) as campaign adviser, and emphasizes that judicial restraint is her judging philosophy.  (see www.judgezieglerforsupremecourt.com )

Linda Clifford is a well known Madison liberal, who was on the short list of candidates for appointment to the Supreme Court in August, 2004 that Governor Doyle eventually gave to Louis Butler.  She held a fundraiser for Governor Doyle during the last election cycle, and her website emphasizes her & her family's involvement in the union movement.  The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's political columnists Spivak & Bice call her "a close friend of Governor Doyle and a lifelong Democrat until her recent resignation from the party."  Her campaign director is the former Political Director for Progressive Majority Wisconsin, and Clifford told WisPolitics.com in an interview that "My political philosophy would be considered liberal."

While the Wisconsin media and various bloggers describe Joseph Sommers as a "liberal Madison lawyer," his campaign website focuses on abuses of power in the legal system he has encountered in his experience as defense attorney.  He offers reasons why innocent people get convicted, primarily through plea bargains, and suggests remedies to prevent such convictions.  He also details "prosecutions possibly being commenced as favors for the financial benefit of legal insiders" (the Madison nurse Julie Thao case,) Judges altering trial records after the conclusion of trials, as well as the Office of Lawyer Regulation's inadequate response to such acts.  (Please consult www.sommersforsupremecourt.com for complete details on Sommers' views.)


Get Out and Vote!

Keeping in mind the recent Supreme Court Cases examined in previous issues of The Inside Scoop, and the judicial philosophy they reflect, Wisconsin voters need to take a long, hard look at the three candidates for Supreme Court.  Do you want a Supreme Court judge who will advocate for a preferred social policy?  Or one who will not advocate for any social policy, but simply interpret the law & constitution, and leave making social policy to the voters via the legislature?

Is "jackpot justice" of million dollar settlements for a few worth the long-term damage done to Wisconsin's economy by scaring job-creating businesses out of Wisconsin?

In the last Wisconsin Supreme Court election (April 2006), Justice Patrick Crooks ran unopposed.  Wisconsin voters did not have the chance to consider several different candidates, and chose the one who best reflected their values and expectations.

With three candidates running, it is more important than ever for you to think carefully about the issues that will come before the next Wisconsin Supreme Court, and what judicial philosophy you expect in a Wisconsin Supreme Court judge. Then go out and vote February 20th and April 3rd!