Legislatively Speaking
By Senator, Lena C. Taylor
Partisan Politics Used to Control Wisconsin Courts
Lena C. Taylor
Right now we are engaged in a fight to save our courts from partisan politics and a rush to CHANGE our constitution.
In an effort to rush a constitutional amendment to ballot by the spring election, Republican legislators on the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety demonstrated a complete disregard for the legislative process.
“Last week during the Committee meeting, we witnessed a complete overreach in the effort to gain control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Senate Joint Resolution 2, a measure which would change a nearly 125 year practice of selecting the state’s Chief Justice, received a hearing in the committee.
Initially expected to be heard next week, the public hearing and executive committee meeting were hastily moved up.
After the Republicans learned that this resolution needed to be passed prior to January 27 in order to appear on the ballot in the spring election, GOP leadership began to push this proposal though.
By providing the public and my colleagues with less than 25 hours’ notice, the committee chair sought to minimize the democratic process.
By rescheduling the vote on the bill from a week away to the same day as the public hearing, Republicans bulldozed this proposal through and demonstrated indifference for established legislative precedent. It is against our normal protocol vote on the same day as the public hearing.
Rarely do you see such an effort to silence the public’s input or questions from committee members in the minority.
This process strips many persons who may have wanted to testify and scheduled to be there from exercising their voice, it was a deliberate effort and done in an ugly way the nullifies the people’s voice from the Chief Justice’s last election!
Moreover, the way Senate Joint Resolution 2 is drafted, during the interim after certification, (assuming passage) until the new chief is picked, there would be no Chief Justice.
The constitutional amendment isn’t clear about the voting mechanism, procedure, or timeframe for implementation.
Moreover, the proposal will go to ballot during the April election where about 20% of the electorate participates, instead of November where about 70% of eligible Wisconsinites cast their ballots.
Despite the numerous amendments aimed at fixing the continuity and fairness questions, offered by my colleagues and I, Republican legislators adopted this deeply flawed measure.
Out of respect for our state’s constitution and Chief Constitutional Officer, I expected a more balanced approach to such an historical and impactful proposal.
The concept of a fair and impartial justice is in jeopardy in this state.
This proposal allows courts to be extension of the legislature when they were always intended to be separate entities.
Partisan politics may have a stronghold in the Wisconsin Senate and Assembly but it has no place in our judicial system.