Statement by State Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman, Senator Van Wanggaard (R-Racine), on the illegal action by the Supreme Court to fire the Director of State Courts.
“The new majority of the Supreme Court are so power-hungry that they have violated their oaths, the constitution, the law, and the Supreme Court’s own rules in its knee jerk reaction to fire the Director of State Courts. The Court is supposed to uphold and interpret the law and follow its own policies. In this case, it appears a majority of the court did neither.”
Section III, Paragraph A of the “Internal Operating Procedures of the Wisconsin Supreme Court” reads:
Subject to modification as needed, in the spring of each year the court sets a schedule for its decisional process for each month from September through June. During each month the chief justice may schedule oral arguments, decision conferences, and administrative conferences on any date in the agreed-upon calendar. Any additional days added to previously agreed-upon court dates need unanimous approval (emphasis added).
“While Supreme Court Rules clearly state that the Director “…serve[s] at the pleasure of the supreme court, under the direction of the chief justice” (SCR 70.01), the court must still follow their own rules. The firing of the Director not only violates their own operating procedures, it violates numerous parts of the Supreme Court rules, including numerous sections of Supreme Court Rule 60, the “Code of Judicial Conduct”.
“The Wisconsin Constitution grants administrative authority to the chief justice, not the court majority. Today, the court majority decided to ignore the constitution and bestow that power onto themselves.
I have no interest or control over who serves as the Director of State Courts. That matter is rightfully for the court to decide as dictated by the Constitution, the law, and Supreme Court Rules and Procedures. I just want them to follow the law.
“The question the majority of the Supreme Court must now answer is how can the public have faith that they will follow the constitution, the law, and their own rules when their very first order of business was to ignore it?”
