GET ME REWRITE: Meet the 4 lapdog judges on the Wisconsin Supreme Court at the beck and call of the GOP

Headline:  Wisconsin State Journal, 6/29/2022

The high court ruled Wednesday in favor of Fred Prehn, a Wausau dentist appointed to the Natural Resources Board in 2015 by former Gov. Scott Walker. Prehn refused to step down when his term expired more than a year ago. 

The court’s conservative majority said the expiration of Prehn’s six-year term, in and of itself, did not create a vacancy for the governor to fill.

At the same time the court ruled that the expiration did not end protections against being removed without cause, meaning Evers can’t simply fire him.

That means Prehn can stay in office until the Senate confirms Evers’ nominee, something Republicans who control the chamber have so far refused to do. [emphasis added]

Three years and 5 months into Governor Evers' term of office.

The 4 GOP lapdogs on the Supreme Court act like doting parents of spoiled children. 

4/22/2022 update starts here

Headline:  Wisconsin State Journal, 4/22/2022

The first whammy came on March 23, when the U.S. Supreme Court rejected new legislative districts drawn by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. The Wisconsin Supreme Court had narrowly approved those maps because, according to the state court’s novel criteria, the governor’s maps were closer to existing maps than competing Republican-drawn maps. 

Without extensive briefing or oral arguments, the nation’s highest court ruled that the Wisconsin Supreme Court had failed to properly determine if Evers’ maps comply with the federal Voting Rights Act. Specifically, the court questioned Evers’ attempt to increase the number of majority-Black Assembly districts in Milwaukee from six to seven.

4/16/2022 update, " Wisconsin GOP Supreme Court lapdogs and legislative leaders work together to preserve gerrymandered legislative maps", starts here.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 4/15/2022

In the 4-3 decision, Justice Brian Hagedorn joined the court's conservatives after earlier siding with its liberals. The ruling came at one of the last possible moments, falling on the day that candidates could begin circulating petitions to get on the ballot. 

The new maps tilt heavily in Republicans’ favor, with 63 of the 99 Assembly seats and 23 of the 33 Senate seats leaning toward the GOP, according to a December analysis by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

3/21/2022 update starts here

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 3/21/2022

In a 4-3 ruling in February, the justices let a Waukesha County judge’s decision go into effect that says voters cannot give their absentee ballots to someone else to mail or hand over to election clerks for them. That creates barriers — likely insurmountable ones in some cases — for voters who are paralyzed or have other disabilities.

1/27/2022 update, " Lapdogs on Wisconsin Supreme Court endorse GOP gerrymandering and voter suppression", starts here.

Wisconsin State Journal, 1/27/2022

The lawsuit alleged Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, illegally signed contracts with two law firms more than a year ago. The lawsuit charged that because no redistricting litigation existed in the state at that time, state law doesn't allow for the Legislature to hire outside counsel at taxpayer expense. 

"It appears that, at least with regard to redistricting, the majority of the Supreme Court has determined that the Legislature can hire outside counsel when it thinks it might have an interest in a lawsuit," Lester Pines, an attorney who is representing the taxpayers in the case, said Thursday. "It's a disappointing decision."

Original 1/4/2022 post starts here

Word searches for 'gerrymandering' and 'voter suppression' results in 0 hits.  Corporate media just can't bring itself to call it what it is.

Milwaukee Joural Sentinel, 1/3/2022

Original 12/1/2021 post starts here

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 11/30/2021

The 4-3 ruling comes as the justices prepare to issue a final ruling that will establish the exact contours of the state's legislative and congressional districts. Where the lines go has a profound effect on which political party has an edge in elections. Tuesday's decision broke along ideological lines, with the four conservatives in the majority and the three liberals in the minority. \

In the most significant part of their ruling, the justices wrote that they would limit the changes they would make to maps that were drawn 10 years ago, when Republicans controlled all of state government and established district lines that favor their party.  [emphasis added]

Related gerrymander posts:

Green Bay/Brown County.  (11/8/2021)

City of Milwaukee/Milwaukee County.  (11/10/2021)

Madison/Dane County.  (11/14/2021)

Related lapdog posts:
Despite the continuing obedience of the Lapdog Sisters on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, WILL loses its latest mask mandate challenge.  (8/29/2021)
GET ME REWRITE: Action of Supreme Court lapdogs and inaction of covidiot GOP leadership makes Wisconsin COVID-19 outbreak 'worse' than New York City surge.  (11/13/2020)
GET ME REWRITE: Majority of Wisconsin Supreme Court justices do what they're paid to do (the sleazy saga continues).  (7/11/2020)
GOP lapdogs on Wisconsin Supreme Court sound off on Tony Evers' safer-at-home order (Rebecca Braldey edition).  (5/8/2020)
GET ME REWRITE: Bought-and-paid-for conservative members of Wisconsin Supreme Court serve as office staff for GOP legislative leaders.  (6/27/2019)
Lapdogs Supreme roll over and play dead.   (11/5/2020)
Once again the lapdogs on the Wisconsin Supreme Court show they'll stop at nothing to promote GOP voter suppression.  (9/11/2020)

Three Wisconsin GOP Supreme Court lapdogs chew on doggy bones from one of Scott Walker biggest donors.  (7/25/2021)