(The Center Square) – There are growing worries the fight between conservative justices and the new liberal majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court could delegitimize the court’s future rulings.
The latest came this week when Chief Justice Annette Ziegler accused newly named Courts Director Audrey Skwierawski of attempting a “nothing short of an unprecedented coup.”
“It has come to my attention that you have been signing my reserve judge orders without my knowledge or approval,” Ziegler wrote in an email Monday. “You never asked me for permission. You do not have my permission. Stop. These orders are in my name. You have no lawful authority to sign them.”
Skwierawski has not responded to Ziegler’s email, but court records show she did sign-off on some judicial assignments.
Ziegler, who has taken issue with how the majority has used its power in the court, said their actions have long term consequences.
“Judge Skwierawski has engaged in other practices as an interim Director that are unlawful, unauthorized, and have been hidden from me as Chief Justice,” Ziegler wrote in a second email. “You are making a mess of the judiciary, the court and the institution for years to come. This must stop.”
Brett Healy with the MacIver Institute agrees with Ziegler.
“I hesitate to describe it as a coup but the new liberal majority on the State Supreme Court is clearly showing Wisconsinites that they intend to pursue partisan politics at all costs and every chance they get,” Healy told The Center Square. “For the liberals to rip away authority from the rightfully-elected Chief Justice and attempt to take over the court system despite precedent and what the rules clearly state is a very concerning start.”
The Wisconsin Supreme Court flipped from a 4-3 conservative majority to a 4-3 liberal majority in early August after last spring’s election of Justice Janet Protasiewicz.
Within days of Protasiewicz’s swearing-in, the liberal majority fired the old courts administrator, replaced him with Skwierawski, and received requests to fast track both abortion and redistricting cases.
“If the new liberal majority is willing to trample those rights as the head of the judiciary and within the administration of the court system, there is little hope that the new liberal majority will decide actual legal cases on the law and the constitution that come before them,” Healy added. “The unprecedented and wrong actions of the new liberal majority will delegitimize and call into question their rulings this term and into the future.”
Ziegler is not ending her opposition. She said in another email that she plans to post the court administrator’s job as open and begin a nationwide search for a replacement for Skwierawski.
