U.S. Supreme Court to WMC: You Cannot Buy Any Court

Wisconsin Supreme Court Justices Annette Ziegler and Michael Gableman (Mr. Gableman: It Is Not Over Until We Say It Is Over) are on notice. So are Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, All Children Matter, and the other conduits and fronts for corporations trying to purchase justice, or injustice as the case may be.

With conservative United States Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy writing the majority opinion, the ability to contribute to judicial campaigns in hope of currying favor was severely restrained. In Caperton v. Massey the court noted:

Just as no man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause, similar fears of bias can arise when -- without the other parties’ consent -- a man chooses the judge in his own cause

We get an excellent synopsis of the case from the New York Times editorial, Honest Justice:

The case involved some egregious ethical myopia on the part of Justice Brent Benjamin of the West Virginia Supreme Court. Justice Benjamin, who is now the state’s chief justice, twice cast the deciding vote to throw out a $50 million verdict against Massey Energy, one of the country’s biggest coal companies. He sat in judgment on the case even though Massey’s chief executive, Don Blankenship, spent an extraordinary $3 million to help Justice Benjamin get elected to the state’s top court.

To get a full understanding of the enormity of right wing organizations attempt to purchase seats on state supreme court benches, one should examine the Governing Magazine article form March, 2007, Robe Warriors,

This election year (2007) will be a watershed for state courts. Nearly 80 Supreme Court seats will be on the ballot in 30 states...The real power player on the business side is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has dedicated millions of dollars in recent elections to reshaping the state-level judiciary with business-friendly judges. The chamber, which represents the interests of more than 3 million businesses across the country, has reportedly spent $120 million in just the past four years, most of it through the Institute for Legal Reform, a tax-free affiliate...

Here at Waxing America we have hammered away for two years through our WMC Watch program at the US Chamber of Commerce and businesses who refuse to show their faces such as Wal-mart, Home Depot, and the banks as they attempt to stop consumer, labor safety, and environmental  litigation.

The implications for Wisconsin and the other states are stunning:

• Wisconsin Supreme Court decisions where Ziegler participated may be appealed.
• In the future the purchasers of the Ziegler and Gableman seats will watch their pawns sit on the sidelines while a new majority of three out of five Wisconsin justices determine their fate.
• Most important this case opens the door to find out who funded the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) efforts at the tune of $2-3 million per judicial election.

Comments

[buckyblue]

The founding fathers wisely put some distance between the elected officials and the public. We can't popularly elect federal judges nor the president and looking at some of the Senators from both sides of the aisle maybe we should return to state legislatures picking them. Al Franken, please. Nominate and Confirm sure beats the election process in this instance.

[RhymesWithClergy]

Would it also follow that a justice should recuse him/herself in any case involving a litigant who donated large sums of money to the campaign of the justice's election opponent?

[R.J.]

You sure have a lot of free time on your hands.

[germantown_kid]

Hey Soggybrain, we all win some and lose some. OK, so what, let's see if litigants sue because of Ziegler & Gableman. What about Shirley A, an "honest" justice who raises over $1Meg. Can litigants sue her too for the same reasons you imply?

And what about The Supreme Court finding "Dont ask dont tell" constitutional? That really must bother homo lovers like you. After all, whatever the homos want is full civil rights, right?