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Daily Bread for 7.9.24: Vos’s Forever War

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 80. Sunrise is 5:26 and sunset 8:34 for 15h 09m 03s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 13 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Public Works Committee meets at 5 PM.

On this day in 1943, the Allied invasion of Sicily begins, leading to the downfall of Mussolini and forcing Hitler to break off the Battle of Kursk.

Update, 7.10.24: Wisconsin judge rejects attempt to revive recall targeting top GOP lawmaker.

For Speaker Robin Vos, it’s a forever war with the conservative populists: Organizers of recall targeting a top Wisconsin Republican appeal to court. Scott Bauer reports:

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Organizers of the effort to recall a top Wisconsin Republican have appealed the bipartisan state elections commission’s rejectionof their petitions in court.

Recall organizers filed their appeal in Dane County Circuit Court on Friday, a week after their effort to recall Assembly Speaker Robin Vos effort failed due to officials determining that not enough valid signatures were collected.

It will now be up to the court to decide whether organizers submitted enough valid signatures on time to force a recall election. If successful, Vos would only be removed from office for the remainder of the calendar year. He is running for another two-year term that would begin in January if he wins the November election.

The elections commission determined that signatures collected beyond the 60-day circulation window should not count. The filing deadline was extended by two days due to the Memorial Day holiday, but the commission said that deadline for collecting signatures was not also extended.

Such is Vos’s fate, forever. There’s no Wisconsin public position he could hold that would not meet with controversy from left, center, and right. This is where Vos’s twenty-year career in the Wisconsin Assembly has brought him.

See also Update: WEC Says Not Enough Signatures in the Correct Time for a Recall Against Vos.

KOENIGSEGG Jesko Absolut | 0-400-0 km/h:

Courts, Daily Bread, Elections, Law, Legislation, Legislature, Liberty, State Government, Tony Evers, Voting Rights, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 7.5.24: Wisconsin Supreme Court Restores Absentee Ballot Boxes

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a chance of scattered afternoon showers and a high of 76. Sunrise is 5:23 and sunset 8:35 for 15h 12m 21s of daytime. The moon is new with 0.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1687, Isaac Newton publishes Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica.

On this day in 1832, General Atkinson and his troops entered the area known by the Native Americans as “trembling land” in their pursuit of Black Hawk:

The area was some 10 square miles and contained a large bog. Although the land appeared safe, it would undulate or tremble for yards when pressure was applied. Many of the militiamen were on horses, which plunged to their bellies in the swamp. The “trembling lands” forced Atkinson to retrace his steps back toward the Rock River, in the process losing days in his pursuit of Black Hawk.”On this day in 1832, General Atkinson and his troops entered the area known by the Native Americans as “trembling lands” in their pursuit of Black Hawk. The area was some 10 square miles and contained a large bog. Although the land appeared safe, it would undulate or tremble for yards when pressure was applied. Many of the militiamen were on horses, which plunged to their bellies in the swamp. The “trembling lands” forced Atkinson to retrace his steps back toward the Rock River, in the process losing days in his pursuit of Black Hawk.

Whitewater’s Independence Holiday celebration continues today at the Cravath Lakefront:

Christman Family Amusements Wrist Band Session: 5 PM to 9 PM
Civic Organization Food Vendors: 4 PM to 11 PM
Live Music at Frawley Ampitheater: 
Cactus Brothers 5 to 7 PM sponsored by TDS
Titan Fun Key (Whitewater band playing ‘70s rock, funk, and blues) 8 PM to 10:30 PM
Family Day Powered by Generac: Free petting zoo, pony rides, camel rides 4 to 8 PM 

This morning, the Wisconsin Supreme Court issued rulings restoring absentee ballot boxes (Priorities USA v. Wisconsin Elections Commission), holding unconstitutional specific statutes that placed the power of the executive branch to carry out the law in a committee of the legislature (Tony Evers v. Howard Marklein), and reversing a lower-court decision that allowed recommitment and involuntary medication without actual hearing notice to the subject individual (Waukesha County v. M.A.C.).

All three decisions appear below.

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Italy’s Mount Etna erupting at night:

Italy’s Mount Etna has erupted again, sending out spouts of lava into the night sky. Europe’s most active volcano has become a destination for tourists and volcano enthusiasts looking to catch a glimpse of its frequent activity.

Courts, Daily Bread, Law, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 7.3.24: From Judicial Leak to Docket Entries

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Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 84. Sunrise is 5:22 and sunset 8:36 for 15h 14m 15s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 6.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

This day in 1863 sees the final day of fighting at Gettysburg:

July 3, 1863, is famous for Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg, when 12,500 Confederate soldiers attacked the Union line. When Union generals were carried from the field wounded, their troops faltered and their line began to break. Lieutenant Frank Haskell of Madison rode into their midst, rallied them back to the fight, and then brought reinforcements that stopped the enemy attack. Iron Brigade General John Gibbon commented afterward, “I have always thought that to him, more than to any one man, are we indebted for the repulse of Lee’s assault.” It turned not only the tide of the battle but, through the Confederate defeat, the momentum of the war.

Whitewater’s Independence Holiday celebration — a signature event in our small & beautiful city, as in many American towns — begins this evening at the Cravath Lakefront:

Christman Family Amusements Wristband Session: 5-9 PM, $25 each wristband
Miss Whitewater Pageant at Frawley Ampitheater: 5 PM
Civic Organization Food Vendors: 5 to 11 PM
Karaoke at Frawley Ampitheater: 8 to 10 PM

On 6.27.24, this libertarian blogger remarked on the leak of a Wisconsin Supreme Court draft scheduling order about an abortion-related case. The leak was one of a few leaks of federal and state judicial proceedings on abortion cases. See A Judicial Leak Strikes Wisconsin (as It Has Elsewhere).

Yesterday, that reported leak from WisconsinWatch proved accurate: Henry Redman of the Wisconsin Examiner reports Wisconsin Supreme Court accepts abortion rights cases:

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that it would hear two cases filed by Attorney General Josh Kaul and Planned Parenthood that will determine if Wisconsinites have a right to abortion care. 

The cases, accepted concurrently, ask if the state’s 1849 law widely seen as banning abortion actually does so and if abortion is a right protected by the state Constitution. 

Additionally, the Court ruled that it would not allow the state’s three largest anti-abortion groups to intervene in the lawsuits, finding that just having an interest in a hotly debated issue is not enough to clear the legal bar of joining a lawsuit as a non-party. The groups, Wisconsin Right to Life, Wisconsin Family Action, and Pro-Life Wisconsin, will be allowed to file amicus briefs. 

“Merely propounding a general position on a topic of debate in society, lobbying for that position, or wishing to make legal arguments consistent with that position does not give them a legal claim or defense that is sufficient to support permissive intervention,” the Court’s order states. “Moreover, if we were to permit intervention by the Proposed Intervenors, there would be no logical distinction that would preclude intervention by all of the many other lobbying and education organizations on both sides of the abortion debate.” 

Conservative Justice Brian Hagedorn concurred with the decision to not allow the groups to intervene.

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Robots Are Stepping Into One of Asia’s Dirtiest Farm Jobs:

Courts, Daily Bread, Law, Recall, Speaker Vos, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 6.28.24: Update: WEC Says Not Enough Signatures in the Correct Time for a Recall Against Vos

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will see clouds and scattered showers with a high of 75. Sunrise is 5:19 and sunset 8:37 for 15h 17m 55s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 54 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1832, General Henry Atkinson and the Second Army begin their trip into the Wisconsin wilderness in a major effort against Black Hawk. The “Army of the Frontier” was formed of 400 U.S. Army Regulars and 2,100 volunteer militiamen to participate in the Black Hawk War. The troops were headed toward the Lake Koshkonong area where the main camp of the British Band was rumored to be located. 

On this day in 1950, the Korean People’s Army kills almost a thousand doctors, nurses, inpatient civilians, and wounded soldiers in the Seoul National University Hospital massacre.

With the help of a Wisconsin Elections Commission decision, Vos slips away from the rightwing recall effort against him. See from Wednesday Enough Signatures for a Recall Against Vos citing reporting from that time (“Perhaps there will be a recall against Speaker Robin Vos after all. Rich Kremer reports WEC staff: Vos recall organizers submitted enough signatures, but legal question remains“).

The WEC has made its decision, on a 4-2 vote:

For the second time this year, the Wisconsin Elections Commission has ruled conservative activists failed to gather enough valid signatures to recall Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos from office, this time finding that some of the signatures were collected after the legal deadline.

In a 4-2 vote, the commission found that 188 signatures were collected by the Racine Recall Committee outside of a 60-day window in state law. That’s despite a recommendation by  commission attorneys two days earlier saying recall organizers had collected enough signatures to force an election.

At issue were around 188 signatures collected on May 27, which was Memorial Day, and May 28. Because organizers gathered only 16 signatures more than required, subtracting 188 from that total sunk the petition.

The motion to deem the recall petition insufficient was made by Commissioner Don Millis, who was appointed to his seat by Vos in 2022.

Before the vote, Commissioner Mark Thomsen, a Democratic appointee, urged his colleagues to vote against Millis’ motion “that saves his guy,” insinuating that Millis was protecting Vos. Thomsen noted that some members of the recall effort “probably want to put us in prison” because of past decisions, but he said the Wisconsin Constitution gives them the right to recall officeholders.

“Personally, I think the recall is a waste of time, waste of money,” Thomsen said. “But there is a constitutional right for these folks and for us to say we are going to throw the sufficiency out now on this technical rule is going to be a farce.”

Rail bridge connecting South Dakota and Iowa collapses in record-breaking floodwaters:

America, Courts, Daily Bread, Federal Government, Law, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 6.27.24: A Judicial Leak Strikes Wisconsin (as It Has Elsewhere)

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 75. Sunrise is 5:18 and sunset 8:37 for 15h 18m 28s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 65.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1837, the Milwaukee Sentinel, the oldest newspaper in the state, is founded as a weekly publication by Solomon Juneau, who also was Milwaukee’s first mayor. 

No one takes the risk of divulging unimportant judicial decisions. Federally and now in Wisconsin, three abortion-related court opinions or orders have been divulged beforehand in the last 25 months.

Federally, Politico reported in May 2022 that the Supreme Court has voted to overturn abortion rights, draft opinion shows (the decision was handed down in June 2022). Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that the Supreme Court is Poised to Allow Emergency Abortions in Idaho. (That decision was handed down today.)

In our state, we now have a leak about whether the Wisconsin Supreme Court will hear an abortion-rights case. WisconsinWatch reported on Wednesday that the Wisconsin Supreme Court will hear high-profile abortion rights case, draft order shows.

There’s some talk that abortion and reproductive issues won’t matter much in the fall. On the contrary, the issue has mattered before Dobbs and has now heightened political and legal importance since Dobbs. It is so important, in fact, that the long-held practice of confidentiality of key decisions has waned in these matters, all involving the extent of reproductive rights.

Judicial confidentiality has waned (regrettably) because these questions are so significant to so many (understandably). Legal importance won’t fade as political importance between now and November.

Pillars of Creation in 3D created from Webb and Hubble Space Telescope data:

Courts, Daily Bread, Law, Recall, Speaker Vos, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 6.26.24: Enough Signatures for a Recall Against Vos

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Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will become partly sunny in the afternoon with a high of 82. Sunrise is 5:18 and sunset 8:37 for 15h 18m 56s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 75.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1974, the Universal Product Code is scanned at a retail store for the first time to sell a package of Wrigley’s chewing gum at the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio.

Perhaps there will be a recall against Speaker Robin Vos after all. Rich Kremer reports WEC staff: Vos recall organizers submitted enough signatures, but legal question remains (“Because Wisconsin Supreme Court declared old legislative districts unconstitutional, whether Vos can be recalled in his old district ‘remains an unresolved legal question’ “)

The recall organizers have enough signatures:

Recall organizer Matthew Snorek said he submitted more than 9,000 signatures to the WEC on May 28. After an initial review, WEC staff determined that organizers turned in 6,866 valid signatures from residents in Vos’ old 63rd Assembly District. 

In order to trigger a recall election organizers needed 6,850 signatures, which equates to 25 percent of the number of people who voted in that district during the last election for governor. According to the WEC staff memo, they cleared that mark by just 16 signatures.

The legal question:

But whether Vos can even be recalled from the 63rd Assembly District “remains an unresolved legal question” according to the WEC staff memo. That’s because the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s liberal majority declared in December that maps drawn by Republicans in 2022 were unconstitutional, ruling that no future elections could be held using those districts. That includes Vos’ old 63rd Assembly District. 

The WEC asked the court to clarify whether the old maps or new maps passed by Republicans and signed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in February should be used for potential recall elections. Justices declined that request in April, stating the commission, not the court, has the responsibility for administering elections. 

While the Wisconsin Elections Commission may see this as an ‘unresolved legal question,’ the Wisconsin Supreme Court does not. The WEC has a decision to make. They can turn to past Wisconsin Supreme Court orders (Clarke v. WEC, 2023 WI 79; No. 2023AP1399-OA Clarke v. Wisconsin Elections Commission), but it is the WEC that will have to decide.

Speaker Vos has incited opposition from all quarters. In his political maneuvering, Vos is like a man who, over many years, carelessly scattered banana peels on the floor, only to find that he’s now unsure which way safely to turn.

Metro station floods in China’s Changsha city:

Severe flooding caused by heavy rainfall inundated streets and infrastructure in central China’s Hunan province on Monday (June 24), eyewitness footage shared on social media showed. Reuters was able to confirm the location and the date of the footage.

Courts, Daily Bread, Law, Legislation, State Government, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 6.20.24: Wisconsin Supreme Court Considers Gubernatorial Partial Veto

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Good morning.

Thursday, the first day of summer, in Whitewater, will be cloudy with a possibility of afternoon showers and a high of 83. Sunrise is 5:16 and sunset 8:36 for 15h 20m 23s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 97.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Community Development Authority meets at 5:30 PM.

On this day in 1944, the Battle of the Philippine Sea concludes with a decisive U.S. naval victory. The lopsided naval air battle is also known as the “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.”

Wisconsin governors, since 1930, have had the power to veto legislation in whole or part, and that power has been controversial for nearly as long. Rich Kremer reports High Court To Review Wisconsin’s Nearly-Century-Old Veto Power (‘Business group’s lawsuit challenges Gov. Evers’ partial veto to create 400 years of funding’):

The state’s partial veto dates back to 1930, when concerns about state lawmakers adding multiple appropriation and policy items into what are known as omnibus bills came to a head. The Wisconsin Constitution was amended to give more power to governors to reject those items, one by one.

“Appropriation bills may be approved in whole or in part by the governor, and the part approved shall become law,” the new amendment read.

According to a study by the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau, proponents believed governors needed a check on the new budgeting process. But opponents worried giving governors more veto authority extended the already broad powers of the executive branch.

When he was campaigning for governor, Philip La Follette said the proposal to expand veto powers “smack[ed] of dictatorship.” The amendment was approved by around 62 percent of voters in 1930, and after he was elected, La Follette became the first governor to use it.

Nine times, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has heard challenges to the partial veto. The case now pending before the Wisconsin Supreme Court will make it an even 10.

This tenth challenge is over Evers’s use of the partial veto power:

Evers’ partial veto last summer caught the Republican-controlled Legislature by surprise. By crossing out a 20 and a dash before he signed the state’s two-year budget, Evers authorized school districts to collect additional property taxes to fund a $325 per-pupil increase for more than 400 years. The Legislature intended the increase to expire in two years.

Republican lawmakers were outraged. The GOP-controlled Wisconsin Senate voted to override Evers’ veto, but the Assembly never followed suit.

The challenge the Wisconsin Supreme Court agreed to hear Monday, which was brought by the business lobbying group Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, alleges Evers’ veto violates the state’s constitution. The first legal briefs are due by July 16.

Evers’s expansion of the legislative funding until 2425 was unexpected (and I’d argue that expansion goes too far). And yet, and yet, his actions are a clever expression (and send-up) of political gamesmanship. I don’t know Evers’s childhood reading and viewing habits. Still, his partial veto suggests someone who enjoyed the irony and satire of Mad magazine or has a Bugs-Bunny-level cleverness.

(Bugs is, possibly, one of the sharpest Americans ever. In my household, to trick someone playfully, to pull something clever over on someone, is to ‘Bugs Bunny‘ that person. Evers certainly Bugs Bunny-ed the legislative majority with his partial veto.)

Bugs Bunny’s first on-screen appearance in A Wild Hare. Fair Use.

Japanese salamanders can live up to 80 years:

The aptly named Japanese giant salamander can grow up to five feet long and weigh over 50 pounds. But despite its primitive look, this amphibian is highly evolved. When it detects a threat, it excretes a pungent ooze that smells like a pepper. If left alone, the salamanders can live up to 80 years, but pollution and over-collection are threatening this fascinating creature. This is the Japanese giant salamander.

Courts, Daily Bread, Elections, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 6.18.24: Wisconsin Likely Has Her 2025 Supreme Court Candidates

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 89. Sunrise is 5:16 and sunset 8:36 for 15h 20m 20s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 87.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Alcohol Licensing Committee meets at 5:30 and the Whitewater’s Common Council meets at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 2023, Titan, a submersible operated by OceanGate Expeditions, implodes while attempting to view the wreck of the Titanic, killing all five people on board including the co-founder and CEO of the company, Stockton Rush, in the North Atlantic Ocean.

The Badger State likely has her two candidates for a Wisconsin Supreme Court race next year, as Shawn Johnson reports All 4 liberal justices back Crawford’s Wisconsin Supreme Court campaign (‘All 4 liberal justices back Crawford’s Wisconsin Supreme Court campaign’):

Just two days after she announced she was running for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Dane County Judge Susan Crawford received endorsements from all four of the court’s liberal justices — a rare sign of unanimity behind a single candidate this early in the campaign cycle.

In a written statement released by Crawford’s campaign Wednesday, Justices Ann Walsh Bradley, Rebecca Dallet, Jill Karofsky and Janet Protasiewicz all pledged to support her candidacy.

The court has had a 4-3 liberal majority since last year after Protasiewicz defeated former conservative Justice Dan Kelly, ending the court’s conservative majority that had been in place since 2008. That will be up for grabs next year with Bradley set to retire.

….

While races for the court are officially nonpartisan, in practice, Democratic and Republican activists are heavily involved. Right now, the 2025 race is shaping up as a contest between Crawford, the choice of liberals, and Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel, the choice of conservatives.

Schimel, a Republican who was Wisconsin’s Attorney General from 2015 to 2019, was the first candidate to enter the race, announcing his candidacy more than six months ago. He said last month that he’d already raised more than $500,000 for his court bid.

A race between Dane County’s Crawford and Waukesha County’s Schimel might seem a match between Wisconsin’s traditional ideological battlegrounds of left and right, but the WOW counties aren’t as influential statewide for the WISGOP as they once were.

Red-Tailed Hawk Chick Makes Foray Towards Fledge Ledge On Exploratory Morning:

Courts, Crime, Daily Bread, Ethics, Law, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 6.13.24: Troupis’s Suspension (Criminal Defendants Don’t Belong on Judicial Advisory Panels)

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 86. Sunrise is 5:15 and sunset 8:34 for 15h 19m 01s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 43.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Board of Review meets at 4 PM.

On this day in 1777,  Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, lands near Charleston, South Carolina, to help the Continental Congress train its army.

Scott Bauer reports Former Trump attorney in Wisconsin suspended from state judicial ethics panel:

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday suspended former President Donald Trump’s Wisconsin lawyer from a state judicial ethics panel a week after he was charged with a felony for his role in a 2020 fake electors scheme.

Liberal advocates have been calling for Jim Troupis to step down from the Judicial Conduct Advisory Committee, saying he is unsuitable due to his role advising the Republicans who attempted to cast Wisconsin’s electoral votes for Trump after he lost the 2020 election in the state to Democrat Joe Biden.

Troupis, a former judge, Kenneth Chesebro, another Trump attorney, and former Trump aide Mike Roman were all charged by state Attorney General Josh Kaul last week for their role in the fake electors plot.

Troupis did not return a voicemail or text message seeking comment Tuesday.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court, in its order, notified Troupis and the judicial advisory committee that he was “temporarily suspended” from serving on the panel effective immediately. The court did not give a reason for the suspension. 

(In March 2023, the former conservative majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court reappointed Troupis to a second term despite awareness and objections at the time of his role in the fraudulent electors’ scheme. There was no requirement in 2023 that he be reappointed, and as there were many other suitable candidates for appointment, he should not have been given a second term.)

Now, almost a year and a half later, it should not — and among the ethically-minded people has not been — merely the center-left demanding Troupis’s suspension. Pending the outcome of criminal proceedings against him, he is unsuited to serve actively on the advisory committee. Should he be convicted, he is unsuited to remain a member.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court did not state a reason for Troupis’s suspension, as they might have, but then again, the reason should be apparent.

A glass that builds and heals itself:

Courts, Daily Bread, Elections, Labor, Law, Litigation, Unions, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 5.28.24: Wisconsin’s Act 10 Collective Bargaining Restrictions Back in Court

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 68. Sunrise is 5:20 and sunset 8:24 for 15h 04m 02s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 73.53 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

The Whitewater School Board goes into closed session shortly after 5 PM and returns to open session at 7 PM. Whitewater’s Finance Committee meets at 5 PM and the Whitewater Common Council at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1837, the first steamer to visit Milwaukee, the James Madison, arrives.

On this day in 1987, an 18-year-old West German pilot, Mathias Rust, evades Soviet air defenses and lands a private plane in Red Square in Moscow.

Scott Bauer reports Wisconsin judge to hear union lawsuit against collective bargaining restrictions (‘A Wisconsin judge is expected to weigh a union lawsuit against collective bargaining restrictions’):

A law that drew massive protests and made Wisconsin the center of a national fight over union rights is back in court on Tuesday, facing a new challenge from teachers and public workers brought after the state’s Supreme Court flipped to liberal control.

The 2011 law, known as Act 10, imposed a near-total ban on collective bargaining for most public employees. It has withstood numerous legal challenges and was the signature legislative achievement of former Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who used it to mount a presidential run.

The law catapulted Walker onto the national stage, sparked an unsuccessful recall campaign, and laid the groundwork for his failed 2016 presidential bid. It also led to a dramatic decrease in union membership across the state.

If the latest lawsuit succeeds, all public sector workers who lost their collective bargaining power would have it restored. They would be treated the same as the police, firefighter and other public safety unions who remain exempt.

No one should be surprised. From conservatives nationally in federal courts and the center-left statewide in Wisconsin courts, re-litigation has become the order of the day.

X2.9 flare. Sunspot AR3664 returns with major eruption, spits fire:

Courts, Daily Bread, Elections, Law, Voting Rights, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 5.14.24: Absentee Drop Boxes, Reconsidered

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 60. Sunrise is 5:31 and sunset 8:10 for 14h 39m 29s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 40.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1953, approximately 7,100 brewery workers in Milwaukee perform a walkout, marking the start of the 1953 Milwaukee brewery strike.

Henry Redman reports that the Wisconsin Supreme Court reconsiders legality of absentee drop boxes:

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Monday heard oral arguments in a case that could once again allow the use of drop boxes for the return of absentee ballots. 

Drop boxes were prohibited by the Court in 2022 when the body’s then-conservative majority decided in Teigen v. Wisconsin Elections Commission that state law only allowed for absentee ballots to be brought directly to municipal clerks, not to unmanned drop boxes.

Ballot drop boxes had been used in Wisconsin for decades, largely with slots or boxes at municipal buildings, however in 2020 they surged in popularity as voters searched for ways to safely vote during the COVID-19 pandemic. A Waukesha County voter sued the elections commission, arguing that it had given unlawful guidance to clerks on the permissibility of the boxes. 

Following the 2020 election, conservatives turned on the use of the boxes, arguing they were vulnerable to fraud and abuse. The boxes had been used all across the state, in both rural and urban areas, but conservatives argued they opened the state’s elections up to the possibility of “ballot harvesting.”

In the Teigen case, the Court found that because state law didn’t explicitly permit drop boxes, they’re not allowed. The decision prompted former President Donald Trump to again claim that he had won Wisconsin in 2020, stating that all ballots that had been dropped into the boxes were illegal and shouldn’t have been counted. 

Earlier this year, the national Democratic group Priorities USA brought a lawsuit challenging the Teigen decision, asking the now-liberal controlled Court to overturn its previous decision. Gov. Tony Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul joined the case, arguing for the use of drop boxes, while the Republican-controlled Legislature joined to argue drop boxes should remain outlawed. 

The case now before the court is Priorities USA v. Wisconsin Elections Commission, No. 2024AP000164, L.C.#2023CV1900. Oral argument was yesterday at 9:45 AM. The question before the court now:

Whether to overrule the Court’s holding in Teigen v. Wisconsin Elections Commission, 2022 WI 64, 403 Wis. 2d 607, 976 N.W.2d 519, that Wis. Stat. § 6.87 precludes the use of secure drop boxes for the return of absentee ballots to municipal clerks…

The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s prior ruling on ballot drop boxes was in Teigen v. Wisconsin Elections Commission, 2022 WI 64, 403 Wis. 2d 607, 976 N.W.2d 519.

Indonesia’s Mount Ibu spews thick ash cloud:

Courts, Daily Bread, WI Supreme Ct Race 2025, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 4.16.24: An Open Wisconsin Supreme Court Seat in ’25

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be windy with evening showers and a high of 66. Sunrise is 6:09 and sunset 7:39 for 13h 30m 30s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 57.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Common Council meets at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1945, the United States Army liberates Nazi Sonderlager (high security) prisoner-of-war camp Oflag IV-C (better known as Colditz).

Catching up on news from last week, as Henry Redman reports Supreme Court Justice Ann Walsh Bradley won’t run for re-election in 2025:

Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Ann Walsh Bradley announced Thursday morning she won’t be running for a fourth 10-year term on the bench. The announcement sets up a race for an open seat on the Court, giving conservatives a better shot at regaining their majority after liberals gained control for the first time in 15 years in 2023. 

The Supreme Court race last year, which was won handily by Justice Janet Protasiewicz over former Justice Dan Kelly, broke national records for campaign spending. In recent years, the Court has been dominated by narrow 4-3 decisions — including cases to affirm President Joe Biden’s election victory in 2020, declare absentee ballot drop boxes illegal and strike down the Republican gerrymander of the state’s political maps. The Court is also expected to soon determine the legality of abortion in the state. 

Bradley won her last re-election campaign by 16 points, yet with the Court’s increasing importance in deciding statewide issues in a state with divided government, the 2025 race is likely to be contentious. Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel, a former Republican state attorney general, has already announced a run for the seat. 

“From the beginning of my campaign, I made it clear that I’m not just running against one person, I’m running against the Court’s leftist majority,” Schimel said in a statement. “I wish Justice Ann Walsh Bradley well in retirement after decades of public service. I look forward to continuing the fight to bring integrity and respect for the Constitution back to the Supreme Court of Wisconsin.” 

It would be surprising if the race didn’t see a couple of candidates from each of the state’s main ideological camps. The most reasonable forecast (and it’s an obvious point) is that an open seat in ’25 will attract as much interest and campaign spending as the race in ’23.

Lawmakers brawl in nation of Georgia’s parliament:

Georgian lawmakers came to blows in parliament as ruling party legislators looked set to advance a controversial bill on “foreign agents” that has been criticized by Western countries and sparked protests at home.

Courts, Daily Bread, Law, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 1.15.24: Employee’s Complaint against Wisconsin Supreme Court Majority Predictably Dismissed

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 Good morning.

Dr. King Day in Whitewater will be mostly cloudy with a high of 3. Sunrise is 7:22 and sunset 4:46 for 9h 24m 15s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 23.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1943, The Pentagon is dedicated in Arlington County, Virginia.

Readers will recall that after the Wisconsin Supreme Court had a new majority in August, that majority dismissed then-Courts Director Randy Koschnick. The dismal received some news coverage (Journal Sentinel Focuses on a Minor Wisconsin Supreme Court Story), the Court hired a Walker appointee to replace Koschnick (Wisconsin Supreme Court’s Liberal Majority Hires a Walker Appointee), but the conservative Koschnick filed a complaint over his firing nonetheless. 

These months later, one predictably reads that Complaint against Supreme Court liberals over state courts director appointment dismissed:

The Wisconsin Judicial Commission has dismissed complaints filed against the four liberals on the state Supreme Court over their decision to install a new director of state courts when the body’s majority flipped in August. 

The complaints had been filed by Judge Randy Koschnick, the previous director of state courts, who was removed from his post days after Justice Janet Protasiewicz was sworn into office. Koschnick and the Court’s conservatives speculated that the firing was due to his right-leaning political views. 

The episode marked the beginning of an ugly first few weeks for the Court, with several conservative justices and Koschnick airing their grievances against the newly empowered liberals in the media. 

After Koschnick was removed, the Court installed Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Audrey Skwierawski as the new director of state courts. Koschnick then filed the complaint against Skwierawski and the four justices — Protasiewicz, Ann Walsh Bradley, Rebecca Dallet and Jill Karofsky — alleging she was unable to hold the post because she was still serving as a circuit court judge. He said Skwierawski was unable to accept the position until 2025 because of a state law that prohibits judges from holding nonjudicial offices as long as they are still serving their terms. . 

In a letter to each of the four justices, the commission’s director, Jeremiah Van Hecke, wrote that the commission determined there was no misconduct in the hiring of Skwierawski. In a letter to Skwierawski, Van Hecke wrote that the complaint against her was being dismissed because she resigned as a judge on Dec. 31 and is therefore no longer subject to the commission’s jurisdiction. 

At the time of Koschnick’s dismissal, I wrote that Koscchnick’s replacement, Audrey Skwierawski, was “easily as qualified as Koschnick, and in any event appointee Koschnick wasn’t entitled to permanent public employment.” 

That was, however, only half of the matter. Koschnick (a lawyer and former Jefferson County judge) would have known (as would any other lawyer) that his complaint to the Wisconsin Judicial Commission would be dismissed procedurally the moment after Skwierawski resigned as a judge (which, of course, she would and now has done). 

Koschnick’s complaint was a political, but never a serious legal, grievance.

Whale lifts head out of water, surprises tourists:

Courts, Daily Bread, Foxconn, Law, State Government, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 1.2.24: A List of Top State Government Stories in 2023

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 Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 33. Sunrise is 7:25 and sunset 4:32 for 9h 07m 15s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 64.1% of its visible disk illuminated. 

On this day in 1777, American forces under the command of George Washington repulse a British attack at the Battle of the Assunpink Creek near Trenton, New Jersey.

  Steven Walters has a list of the Top 10 State Government Stories of 2023. It’s a solid recounting of the biggest state issues of 2023. His Numbers 1 and 2 would appear on any list of major Wisconsin events: 

1. Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Janet Protasiewicz not only won a 10-year term on the state Supreme Court, but she won by a landslide in the most expensive ($51 million by candidates and outside groups) judicial race in the nation’s history. Her win gave liberals their first majority on the seven-member court in 12 years.

2. In December, that new Supreme Court majority ruled that Assembly and Senate boundaries Republicans drew in 2021 were unconstitutional. The court gave all sides a Jan. 12 deadline to submit new district lines for November elections and named two experts to advise the justices on next steps. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said the ruling would be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

After his top ten, Walters mentions a few other big stories, and a post-Foxconn future is rightly among them:

Microsoft paid $50 million for 315 acres of Mount Pleasant land owned by Foxconn, officially retiring the 2018 promise by then-President Trump, ex-Gov. Scott Walker and ex-U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan that Foxconn’s investment in Racine County would create a high-tech, “eighth wonder of the world.” Microsoft says two data centers will be built.

FREE WHITEWATER has a category dedicated to the Foxconn debacle. 

In Whitewater (see A Sham News Story on Foxconn) and too many other places, support for the Wisconsin Foxconn project was (and should have been) a sign of dog-crap-quality policymaking. 

This Microbe May Someday Replace Your Steak:

“Someday,” however, is not today.