Why I Am Voting Today for Michael Gableman

Reasons to vote for Michael Gableman for Supreme Court Justice:

• It will discourage young attorneys from taking up a career representing criminal defendants, especially the indigent.
• Even if young attorneys do practice criminal defense, it will discourage them from representing black defendants.
• If the young attorneys still insist upon being criminal attorneys, it will discourage the attorneys from being black.
• It would be nice to have a little humor on the bench as Gableman says  with a straight face, "I am neither a partisan ideologue nor politician."
• Move over Johnny Depp. It will stimulate the Wisconsin economy as millions of new dollars are poured into future campaigns by Wal-Mart, pharmaceutical companies, and rabid right-wingers.
• There will be no troublesome hearings with DNA evidence that embarrasses prosecutors when it is demonstrated that the crime was committed by someone other that the defendant who was imprisoned twenty years ago.
• Unlike mere mortals, Gableman knows there is no need for a trial. After all, if the defendant was innocent, he never would have been charged.

Comments

[nonheroicvet]

Wow - that Mike Gableman is really something. He should be wearing a cape instead of robes. He is the caliber of the late Christ Seraphim.

[Adam James]

Love it.

Thanks for being a great source of commentary in this campaign. You and Professor Howard Schweber were the best sources of information on this race, and anyone listening to either of you knows which choice is right.

[Eric]

Unfortunately, I think you've just listed the reasons many will proudly cast their votes for Gableman, particularly the last few. Whether we like it or not, uninformed voters respond to type of ads Gableman put forward. Until voters repudiate this type of campaign, it will continue.

If Butler loses this election, the Wisconsin Supreme Court is lost until Prosser retires. Roggensack, Ziegler and Gableman would all be together for the next couple of decades. The opinions will be more and more overreaching, less logical, and it will be impossible for the citizens of the state to seek redress for their harms. Inconvenient constitutional provisions will become "loopholes" to be closed and New Federalism (the idea that the Wisconsin Constitution means something) will be dead after only four years of life (thanks, in most part, to Crooks finally buying in).

[anon]

You have tried hard but not all of us are mushrooms that prefer the darkness.

Butler has not done anything on the high court that has made our courts fair and impartial. People that don't belong to special interest want a neutral judge that will not stick the screws to them behind there backs.

They want a high Court that makes sure that doesn't happen. Loophole Louie has been in the loop now for years but not one mention of anything that he's done to make our courts fair and impartial. Time to replace him and try someone new.

[Eric]

anon: You're asking the wrong question. The question should be: What has Justice Butler done to make the courts unfair and impartial? You can't point to a single thing, because there isn't one.

You may disagree with the outcome of some of the decisions, but guess what, those cases wouldn't be at the Supreme Court if they weren't close calls. Attorneys and clients advocated each side of those cases because they were difficult questions.

Yes, Butler was wired in politically, but isn't that exactly the issue with Gableman? What has Gableman done to establish that he'd be fair and impartial? Nothing, and indeed, quite the opposite, he's indicated he'd be partial, which in turn means he won't be fair to one party.

Your type have latched onto what Justice Butler did before he was a judge, but steadfastly ignored what he has done as a judge because it indicates he IS fair and impartial.

I would be more sympathetic to your arguments if you just laid forth what was really driving your decision: being conservative. Merit, impartiality, fairness...these are meaningless words to you, especially when the guy on the other side has all of them and your candidate has none.

Gableman no more belongs on the Court than any other poor student from a poor law school. He's done nothing to demonstate he'll be capable and, in fact, has done much to indicate he won't be capable. So go ahead and vote for him, but at least be honest about why: blind partisanship. If you're going to be a sheep, at least take personal responsibility for it (there's another meaningless conservative phrase: personal responsibility).

[Anon:]

Eric is correct. You repeatedly claim that Justice Butler compromises the Supreme Court inthat he is not fair and impartial. You repeat this but never document it.

Perhaps you should hang out some other place where you do not drag down the average IQ of the readers.

[Captain Morgan]

April Fools

[Hiawatha]

Truely a good German April Joke !

[Mike from Milwaukee]

What a sad day in Wisconsin... Especially Milwaukee. Can Madison and Milwaukee break off and form our own state?

[germantown_kid]

Take the sewer pit, Dane County, but leave Milwaukee County. It is time for Dane/Madison to secede from Wisconsin because MADISON VALUES ARE NOT WISCONSIN VALUES.

[Captain Morgan]

Well now you've really done it Paul - let's hope that your blog didn't cause something horrible to happen yesterday. I'm joking of course. Sort of.

[Eric]

Just a few things that will happen starting in September 2008 and until Prosser retires:

1. Insurance companies will win every appeal, I mean EVERY appeal. It doesn't matter if you're a corporation or an individual, that court is no longer even going to give you a chance at winning.

2. No criminal defendant will ever have a fair hearing (even if there's DNA evidence).

3. Police will be able to conduct any type of search they want (don't mind that you may not a criminal, they'll be able to search you too). If you have any trace of libertarian in you, that court should scare the crap out of you.

4. The Economic Loss Doctrine will expand to basically preclude any types of damages if someone breaches a contract with you.

5. The quality of the opinions (both in terms of writing and in terms of logic), will decrease.

Conservatives got what they thought they wanted: a conservative justice. I think they'll find that a conservative court is different from conservative legislators. A conservative court shuts the court house doors to all non-corporate citizens (republicans and dems alike); conservative legislators can sometimes benefit the average citizen by cutting taxes, etc.

The Court's criminal laws will not impact you, but the pro-business rulings out of that court will make this state more polluted and infested with more defective products (since they'll be no fear that suits will be successful).

[Paul B]

WMC has figured out that since the broadcast media (at least in Milwaukee, but I'll bet it's true anywhere outside Dane County) can't be bothered to cover state political races until the week before the election, WMC has several months during which they are free to establish in voters' minds that whatever candidate is not in their pocket is a Weak On Crime Loophole Louie who'll set every suspected criminal out to crouch in your bushes.

Meanwhile, the Greater Wisconsin Committee attack ads have been pathetic, appealing only to the sort of person who gets most of their news from liberal blogs. They don't respond to the WMC attacks in any way; they just add more mud to the fray. That bobblehead business was just offensive, and I'm the sort of person who should have been sympathetic to it--I find it hard to imagine that it swayed many neutral voters. The end result is that we get His Honorably Challengedness Gableman sitting down the row from Her Ethically Challengedness Ziegler for the next decade.

P.S.: One man's strict construction is another man's loophole.

[Froggyprager]

Liberals are lazy and only interested in the hot horse race. I know many friends and neighbors who are all charged about the presidential race who did not vote yesterday. The fact that there were mostly uncontested county board races in Dane County and no contested school board races was bad for Dane County turnout. The pro-life and pro-gun folks I am sure were very motivated to get out and vote on this one. Ugggh! So close.