Capitol Report
By State Representative, Leon D. Young
Leon D. Young
You can’t have it both ways! Just last week, a panel of three federal judges was scratching their respective heads wondering why they had been brought into a stalled criminal investigation into campaign activity by Governor Scott Walker and conservative groups allied with him?
The judges felt that the case appeared to be a matter for state courts.
The panel is mulling whether to allow prosecutors to revive their investigation, as well as whether to unseal court documents that have been fully or partially blocked out because of the secrecy underlying investigation.
Conceivably, if this information were to become public and cast Walker in a negative light, the chances of him being reelected in November would be greatly diminished.
In retrospect, what a difference week makes?
In a decision that came as surprise to many, altogether different federal appeals panel in Chicago had no qualms about interjecting itself in the midst of Wisconsin’s gubernatorial contest.
The appeals panel hastily reinstated Wisconsin’s voter ID law; a mere eight weeks before the November 4 election and just hours after hearing arguments on the subject.
This sudden reversal of fortune by the U.S. 7th Circuit clears the way for state to immediately implement the voter ID requirement, though it does not stop the ongoing appeal over whether the measure is constitutional.
Moreover, the Government Accountability Board (GAB) has indicated that it plans to have the requirement in place for the November election.
Rick Hasen, a University of California, Irving law professor and author of the book “The Voting Wars,” said it was unusual to allow such a significant change this close to an election.
According to Hasen, “even though the U.S. Supreme Court well agree that Wisconsin’s voter ID law is legal, there’s a real chance that the (U.S. Supreme Court) Court could reverse this 7th Circuit order.”
The U.S. Supreme Court is already on record as having said that courts should not make changes in the run-up to elections, which can cause voter and election official confusion This would surly be the case in this instant situation.
Not surprisingly, the three judges that reinstated the voter ID requirement reinstated were all appointed by former Republican presidents: Judge Frank Easterbrook, appointed by Ronald Reagan; Judge John Daniel Tinder, appointed by George W. Bush; and and Judge Diane Sykes (a former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice), was also appointed to the federal bench by George W. Bush.
The Walker Camp could feel a very tight election beginning to slip away. It got a much-needed shot in the arm from a kangaroo, three-judge panel bent on helping one of its own by disenfranchising thousands of eligible Wisconsin voters, in an effort to ensure that Scott Walker gets a second term as governor.