September 12, 2014

"Such respect for state courts is admirable, and 'federalism' is our middle name. But..."

"... the appellate judges are underestimating the harm this probe is doing to the rights of those who've been targeted. Judge Peterson quashed the prosecution's subpoenas way back in February because there was no evidence of a crime, but Milwaukee Democratic District Attorney John Chisholm has appealed and the case is sitting, and sitting, and sitting at the Wisconsin Supreme Court."
The Wall Street Journal editors push the 7th Circuit court to side with Eric O'Keefe and the Club for Growth in their pursuit of a federal court remedy against the John Doe prosecutors.

[T]he targets sit in limbo, forced to spend money on lawyers to defend themselves rather than exercising their First Amendment right to advocate for causes. The Wisconsin Club for Growth's political fundraising has been shut down and it hasn't run a single ad in this election cycle. This is precisely why the Club and director Eric O'Keefe sought relief in federal court.

45 comments:

Seeing Red said...

2 year olds with power.

Original Mike said...

"The Wisconsin Club for Growth's political fundraising has been shut down and it hasn't run a single ad in this election cycle."

John Doe, the IRS; the whole point is to muzzle the left's political opponents. The strategy is working, and it will not end until the practitioners are held personally liable.

Larry J said...

Seeing Red said...
2 year olds with power.


Even worse, Democrats with power.

cf said...

Drag them through the streets. Chop off their hair. Throw them into a ditch at the edge of twin, just outside the city limits.

Or heat up the tar and get the feathers.

Cruel and unusual punishment needs a comeback for these totalitarian monsters.

Michael K said...

Lawfare works well for Democrats. Ask DeLay and Perry.

Bobber Fleck said...

Original Mike:

John Doe, the IRS; the whole point is to muzzle the left's political opponents. The strategy is working...

Isn't it interesting that Dan Bice and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel pay no attention to this aspect of the story?

traditionalguy said...

WSJ agrees with the realist view that refusing Constitutional protection forever and ever, waiting and waiting on State Courts to act first is a lame excuse.

Judges arranging for legal delays of 10 or 20 years is corruption.

All the Feds are being asked to do is enforce the US Constitution and not worry about the State Court's cesspool of corruption in 2024 or 3014, or whenever with procedure that lasts literally until someone cares about the billions of dollars paid in Lawyers fees to outside cronies, unless that is a feature.

It's about free speech events with real priorities. Elections happen on scheduled dates. So State Judicial officers who are shutting down free speech are truly denying Justice.

James Pawlak said...

I seem to have missed any note as to the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution. Is it dead via "Law From The Bench" as opposed to democratic amendment of the Bill Of Rights"?
President Thomas Jefferson prescribed for such tyranny: "No freeman shall ever be debarred the use of arms"; "The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government"; "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants"---Which may be the reason Democrats are leading the anti-gun movement.

MadisonMan said...

Sitting and sitting and sitting. Maybe they'll take action after the election.

The timing will be coincidental, of course.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

James-

How do you see the 10th amendment applying in this case? It is well established that the 14th amendment incorporates the 1st against the states. Thus, protecting citizen's 1st amendment rights from state action is a power granted to the federal government.

garage mahal said...

and the case is sitting, and sitting, and sitting at the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

The court they bought. Awkward. Along with Judge Randa, the Koch junket frequent flyer, it's all one big incestuous family.

Original Mike said...

Garage, could you describe the "Koch junket frequent flyer" so I'll know whether or not to be upset?

paminwi said...

Interesting that the organization (American Media Institute) that had Stuart Taylor write the article about the John Doe/Chisholm and Chisholm's wife offered the article to the Milwaukee Jornal Sentinel as an exclusive and the Journal Sentinel has no interest in the story whatsoever. This organization has said they will have another story next week with more information about the Milwaukee County DA's office.

Now, the Journal Sentinel is going after the anonymous source to try to discredit him professionally. Reporters are now harassing him at home. Chisholm has said he knows who it is and will release personal information about him if he doesn't out himself.

These people are assholes of major proportions.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Chisholm has said he knows who it is...

The only way Chisholm knows who it is is if Chisholm knows to whom he made those remarks. So I guess we have confirmation.

garage mahal said...

Garage, could you describe the "Koch junket frequent flyer" so I'll know whether or not to be upset?

Try here.

I doubt you'll be upset though.

Curious George said...

"Bobber Fleck said...
Isn't it interesting that Dan Bice and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel pay no attention to this aspect of the story?"

He ran story after story after story about JD1, and it sopped the day Walker won re-election.

Original Mike said...

Yeah, it's what I thought. Have you ever been to a professional conference, garage? I went to from 1 to 3 a year. If I was presenting, the conference organizers paid for plane and hotel. If not, I paid for it out of grant money. Few pay their own way. The purpose was to present and hear new research results, and just generally talk shop. They are extremely important in the working life of an active research scientist. I expect the same is true in the law. And yes, they were usually in a nice travel destination. Cities build conference facilities to attract them.

Anonymous said...

There is justice, there is Wisconsin Supreme Court controlled by Democrats.

Michael K said...
Lawfare works well for Democrats. Ask DeLay and Perry.

Don't forget Ted Stevens of Alaska.

Bob Ellison said...

Thanks for the link, garage mahal. PRWatch looks like a good outlet for leftist rhetoric.

Also, it drove me to finally look up how to pronounce the name "Teachout". Turns out it's just like it looks!

Prouncenames.com.

Gotta feel sorry for anyone named "Yupanqui".

Paul said...

" One seminar Judge Randa attended was in La Jolla, California, a swanky San Diego suburb that is home to both great golfing and Mitt Romney;"

LOL!!!!

Curious George said...

"garage mahal said...
Garage, could you describe the "Koch junket frequent flyer" so I'll know whether or not to be upset?

Try here.

I doubt you'll be upset though."

LOL Typical garage. "Koch junket frequent flyer" of course is bullshit. Randa went to several judicial seminars put on by George Mason University. One of the contributors was the Koch Foundation.

What were these seminars on? The source doesn't know. Where we they at?The source did not know..excpt thatr one year it was in "...La Jolla, California, a swanky San Diego suburb that is home to both great golfing and Mitt Romney..."

Hahahahahahahaha!

What a moron.

Birkel said...

That PRWatch website is "garage mahal's" new go-to website.

In a few weeks he'll switch to the next Leftist mouthpiece because all the readers here will be onto PRWatch.

It's a pattern.

Original Mike said...

I grew to dislike going to conferences, because of the necessary plane trip. I hate planes. But it amounted to a dereliction of duty not to go.

Michael K said...

"The George Mason University seminars are bankrolled by a long list of right-wing foundations, like Koch, Bradley, and the Searle Freedom Trust, as well as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and corporations like BP, Exxon Mobil, and Dow Chemical. Many of these interests have long opposed limits on money in politics, although it is not known whether campaign finance reform was a topic at the seminars Randa attended."

Horros !!!

Thank you for alerting us to this attempted coup d'etat, garage.

Original Mike said...

I also like sleeping in my own bed over a hotel room.

Mark said...

Asking both State and Federal courts to concurrently intervene seems to me like asking both parents independently for permission for something just in case one says yes.

garage mahal said...

Randa is the judge that protected the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and pedophile priests from sexual abuse claims. The most overturned, biggest laughingstock judge in America. But conservatives aren't picky. Obviously.

Drago said...

garage: " The most overturned, biggest laughingstock judge in America."

I wonder if Randa is reversed more than the Ninth Circuit generally and Stephen Reinhardt in particular?

Drago said...

But then, given that the Ninth circuit is hopelessly left wing, it's clear that liberals aren't very picky.

Obviously.

Beta Rube said...

I think you're thinking about Judge Reinhardt and the ninth circuit.

Overturned bunches!

Bob Ellison said...

"The most overturned, biggest laughingstock judge in America."

Wow. Hyperbole. Difficult to refute, because it's such a wild claim.

I might nominate Stephen Reinhardt as a far more likely winner of the "most overturned judge" title. Oh, I see that Drago and Beta Rube have already beaten me to this observation.

Still, garage mahal, your statement is interesting. It's pure rhetoric, in the sense that there's no evidence or real argument.

"...most overturned, biggest laughingstock judge..." - That sounds like something that might stick in the mind. Are you susceptible to that kind of rhetorical flypaper? or are you merely a user of it?

garage mahal said...

Here is, uh, Stu Taylor's "source"

Michael W. Lutz, 44, is a former Milwaukee cop involved in several high-profile incidents during his 17 years on the force who receives taxpayer-funded duty disability pay for post-traumatic stress disorder. He got his law license less than four years ago and is now a criminal defense attorney.

But here is the shocker: Lutz issued a death threat, apparently during a drunken rage, against the prosecutor and his family last year — a charge not in dispute, though it was never prosecuted.

----------------

That's because, Chisholm said, Lutz was simply an unpaid intern for five months in the county office who spent his time filling out grant applications for the community prosecution program.

Rusty said...

So garage directs us to a Soros funded website.
OK.

Mark said...

The major Milwaukee newspaper, the one that endorsed Walker twice, is a Soros shill?

Wow.

Mark said...

Don't worry. 'I was drunk' is a good enough excuse for a death threat, I am sure you can work that here.

garage mahal said...

Violent, mentally disturbed, racist drunks are great sources for a story in conservative world.

Curious George said...

"Mark said...
Don't worry. 'I was drunk' is a good enough excuse for a death threat, I am sure you can work that here."

Rep. Gordon Hintz, D-Oshkosh, told Michelle Litjens, R-Winneconne, that "You are fucking dead!” after the Act 10 Vote. And as far as we know, wasn't drunk (although Democrats have no problem sobering a guy up, getting him out jail, and having him vote).

Is Hintz out of prison yet?



garage mahal said...

"I was a special prosecutor," Lutz said.

And I'm Captain America!

trumpetdaddy said...

Garage Mahal obviously never learned what the fallacy of ad hominem is. It doesn't matter a bit the character of any witness if what he says is true.

The fact that Chisholm knows who the guy is enough to "out" him indicates that what the witness is saying is true. Otherwise, of all the people in the office to whom Chisholm ranted about Walker, process of elimination would pin-point the source. Because all the others still in the office share Chisholm's animosity and zealotry and couldn't be the source.

Ann Althouse said...

I put up a new post on the Stuart Taylor source story. Take the discussion about that there.

Rusty said...

Mark said...
The major Milwaukee newspaper, the one that endorsed Walker twice, is a Soros shill?

Wow.

"Center for Media and Democracy"

wholey owned subsidiuary of G Soros Inc.

Mark said...

Rusty, what link are you clicking?

I see jsonline.com when I click it.

Unknown said...

---never learned what the fallacy of ad hominem is

If lefties couldn't use ad hominem (supercharged by saul alynski) they would be as mute as deep space.

chillblaine said...

"The breadth of this investigation, covering six legal proceedings, dawn raids and no apparent guardrails.."

Guardrails are only for the sightless, mewling masses, who cannot discern how many ketchup packets are necessary for their lunches.

Anonymous said...

"Randa is the judge that protected the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and pedophile priests from sexual abuse claims."
The archbishop in question was Rembert George Weakland, a paragon of progressism.
Nice of Garbage to remind people of what the "garbage mahals" alikes have done for the CC.