Liberals upset the order of the universe in Wisconsin, Conservatives cry like babies
Whaddya mean we can't rule the world?? Mummy and Daddy told us we could rule the world!! Call the Waaambulance!!
Declare your jihad on thirteen enemies you cannot see -egoism, arrogance, conceit, selfishness, greed, lust, intolerance, anger, lying, cheating, gossiping and slandering. If you can master and destroy them, then you will be read to fight the enemy you can see.
Al-Ghazzali
You may have heard that Liberals won a majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court in April. It was a BFD because Conservatives had turned the Badger State into their private playground, and they’d grown to like it that way. They were none too happy to lose their majority to someone named Janet-fucking-Protasiewicz.
Conservatives: WE CAN’T EVEN SPELL OR PRONOUNCE HER NAME, FERCHRISSAKES!!!!!
Now that Liberals have a 4-3 majority on the Court, Conservatives are reduced to whining like spoiled bitches because they’re not getting their way. ‘Course, what they fail to acknowledge is that’s what happens when you’re in the minority. They ran roughshod over democracy and the democratic process in Wisconsin while they had the majority…and now Liberals say they’re simply trying to restore the balance that once existed.
Chief Justice Annette Ziegler, in two emails obtained by The Associated Press, said that firing and hiring a new state court director was illegal and ordered interim state court director Audrey Skwierawski to stop signing orders without her knowledge or approval.
“You are making a mess of the judiciary, the court and the institution for years to come,” Ziegler wrote to her fellow justices and Skwierawski. “This must stop. ... I have no confidence in the recent hostile takeover and the chaotic effect it has had on the court, staff, and the overall stable functioning of the courts."
Liberals gained a 4-3 majority on Aug. 1 when Justice Janet Protasiewicz began her 10-year term after winning election in April. Conservatives had held the majority for 15 years prior to that. The emails are the latest sign of broiling tensions on the court since liberals took control.
“Recent hostile takeover?” Sure, I suppose that’s one way for Conservatives to look at losing their majority in a democratically contested election. But the reality remains that they lost…and reality is beginning to set in, as it must.
As supporters of The Former Guy told us in 2016: “Get over it. You lost.”
Yeah, it’s not nearly so much fun when you’re on the receiving end, is it??
Liberals flipping the Wisconsin Supreme Court was a major victory for democracy and basic human rights. However, just on an entertainment basis, the former conservative majority’s ongoing high-dudgeon freakout has been a joy to behold.
Conservatives were especially upset that the new liberal majority started acting like it owned the place. This is a common issue with conservatives: When they win, they’re fully in charge with a “mandate” from the gerrymandered people. When they lose, they demand full veto power over those crazy liberals.
When the liberal majority parted ways with the director of Wisconsin’s court system, Randy Koschnick, who was appointed under the previous conservative majority, Chief Justice Annette Ziegler lectured the liberals: “We are a collegial court, not a court of four,” she wrote insufferably. “I expect better of my colleagues.”
Hmm…they’re in the minority, so NOW Conservatives expect collegiality? Where was that expectation when asserting their will when they had a 4-3 majority?
Hypocrite much??
Yeah, it kinda sucks when you’re no longer on top, and the new sheriff in town decides things will be different.
Koschnick filed a complaint against the liberal justices and his replacement, Audrey Skwierawski, the interim director of the state court system. He insists he was wrongly terminated. I’d just like to add here that Wisconsin remains an at-will state for the average citizen, whom employers can fire for almost any reason. Wisconsin conservatives are also notoriously anti-union. So, in layman’s terms, suck it up, buttercup.
Ziegler seems distraught over losing Koschnick, but what probably really pissed her off is that Skwierawski’s appointment weakens her own powers. The conservative majority elected Ziegler to another two-year term, but Skwierawski and a newly created committee will assume much of the chief justice’s work.
And all of this Stürm und Drang has Conservative justice Rebecca Bradley on the verge of an EPIC meltdown.
It turns out that Conservatives HATE it when voters take their toys from them, and they have to dance to the beat of (GASP!!) Liberals.
THIS INJUSTICE MUST NOT STAND!!! Except that Wisconsin’s voters have already decreed that it will.
And, as you might have already surmised, collegiality is only an expectation when Liberals are in power. When Conservatives are on top, their default is to tell Liberals to pound sand and fornicate themselves. Then they’re mightily shocked and offended when Liberals decide all’s fair in love, war, and politics.
Wisconsin voters overwhelmingly elected Janet Protasiewicz to the state supreme court and gave liberals the majority. They didn’t intend for a newly appointed conservative chief justice to spend the next few years keeping that majority in check.
The Associated Press obtained two emails that Ziegler sent to the liberal justices and Skwierawski, demanding that Skwierawski stop doing her job.
“You are making a mess of the judiciary, the court and the institution for years to come,” she said. “This must stop. [...] I have no confidence in the recent hostile takeover and the chaotic effect it has had on the court, staff, and the overall stable functioning of the courts.”
Her choice of language is also peak, aggrieved conservative. She suggests that the liberal majority isn’t legitimate but a “hostile takeover.” She has zero respect for Wisconsin voters and the clear choice they made.
Ziegler wrote in another nastygram Monday: “It has come to my attention that you have been signing my reserve judge orders without my knowledge or approval. 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. If you have signed anything else under my name, please advise immediately.”
Skwierawski informed her cyberstalker that she didn’t need her permission to perform these new duties. “I had the legal authority and responsibility as well as the moral obligation to sign the orders for reserve judges,” she replied.
As I understand, the way things work on the Wisconsin Supreme Court is pretty straightforward- the majority rules. This means the majority are under no obligation to seek “permission” from the minority to take what actions they will.
“You do not have my permission.” Ah, isn’t that just so cute? Someone should show Justice Ziegler April’s election results- the election that gave Liberals a 4-3 majority. That means Ziegler is no longer in charge, and none of the Liberals need to ask her permission to so much as go to the bathroom.
Ziegler can whine and moan until the next full moan, but it won’t change the reality. Her side lost. They’re no longer in the majority. And despite their apparent belief that election results don’t matter and they’re still in control regardless of the vote count, elections DO matter.
In this case, I think Wisconsin’s voters made themselves very clear. They voted for a Liberal majority because they’re tired of Conservatives turning the Supreme Court and state politics into a Right-wing playground.
Ziegler, with all her new free time, sent more angry emails to the justices accusing the liberal majority of acting illegally, damaging the court’s internal operations, and ruining its public image. She’s also outright refused to schedule weekly meeting with the liberals’ “invented committee.” Not to get overly pedantic, but I think all committees are “invented.”
[Ed. note- The writer does make a good point, no?]
“I am not willing to violate my oath or the constitution,” she wrote, apparently taking a defiant stance against unnatural committees. “You know that this invented ‘committee’ is in violation of your oath, the constitution and longstanding court practice. It is illegitimate and unenforceable.”
Ziegler contends that Skwierawski can’t hold her current position because she’s an elected Milwaukee circuit court judge. She believes this so strongly, in fact, she plans to conduct a national search for a new director of state courts — you know, Skwierawski’s job.
That’s what Right-wing losers do…what she no longer has the authority to do.
Unless she acknowledges that her side lost and that Liberals can do what they’re doing, the sooner her blood pressure will drop to manageable levels. Conservatives weren’t given ownership of the Wisconsin Supreme Court by divine decree, regardless of what delusions they may carry in their privileged White Conservative Christian heterosexual cisgender skulls.
If Conservatives had focused on legal issues instead of playing politics, they might not have found themselves in this jam. Sadly for them, karma is a real bitch.
“Again, I will not condone such lawless destruction of the constitution, the judiciary, or the court,” Ziegler ranted. “For 40 years, the role of the Chief Justice has been understood and respected. Your short term goals will cause long term, irreparable damage to the judiciary. What a historical disgrace.”
If I were Justice Ziegler, I’d be careful about how she tosses around the term “historical disgrace” without looking in the mirror. It doesn’t mean what she thinks it means (and a little self-awareness would go a long way in this instance).
Ziegler needs to remember some recent history: Back in December 2020, she voted with Bradley, and former Chief Justice Patience Roggensack, in favor of Donald Trump’s meritless election suit. Conservative Brian Hagedorn voted with the liberals and received death threats and harassment from the MAGA cult. That’s actually disgraceful.
It’s not as if the Conservative minority has much in the way of credibility to fall back on. They could’ve voted on the legal merits of The Former Guy’s case and laughed the suit out of Madison.
Instead, they chose to play politics and voted for The Former Guy. It was a stunning abdication of their duties as jurists, yet they went full speed ahead and torpedoed their credibility. Now they have the audacity to bitch and moan about how the current Liberal majority is treating them?
Cry me a freakin’ river, willya? Y’all are nothing but one big “historical disgrace.”
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