Liberal justices on the Wisconsin Supreme Court are facing accusations from a colleague of acting on behalf of the Democratic Party in a bid to prevent a third-party presidential candidate from drawing votes away from Kamala Harris. The Green Party, known for supporting Democratic causes such as environmentalism, has Jill Stein as its candidate. The Wisconsin Elections Commission has ruled that the party qualifies to be on the ballot in November, given that Stein secured over 31,000 votes in the 2016 election.
Donald Trump secured the state’s electoral votes in 2016 with a narrow margin of about 23,000 votes. Hillary Clinton could have benefited from some of the 31,000 votes received by Stein. However, the Green Party was not on the ballot in 2020, which contributed to Joe Biden’s victory over Trump by approximately 20,000 votes. Learning from the past, Democrats have now filed a petition with the state Supreme Court to prevent the Green Party from appearing on the ballot this year, Legal Newsline reports.
An order just three days after the petition was filed suggests that liberals will expedite the Democrats’ cause, sparking outrage from conservative justices who argue that this constitutes preferential treatment for political reasons. “The majority steps beyond its neutral role to lawyer the case on behalf of the DNC, seemingly facilitating an expedited review of this original action,” conservative Justice Rebecca Grassl Bradley dissented. “Other parties presenting original action petitions have not received such preferential treatment by this court.”
The Democrats’ petition argues that there were technical issues with the state’s process. Specifically, the Green Party lacks state officers or senators required to meet at the state capitol at 10 a.m. on the first Tuesday in October to nominate presidential electors. As a result, the Green Party needed to designate an affiliated individual eligible to nominate an elector by placing a candidate on the ballot for a legislative district.
“Because the Wisconsin Green Party has no affiliated individuals who are eligible under Wisconsin law to nominate presidential electors for the Wisconsin Green Party, the Party cannot as a matter of law field a candidate for president ‘for which electors in [each] county may vote,” the petition from the Democratic National Committee says. The Wisconsin Elections Commission is scheduled to meet next week to certify the ballot, which includes the Green Party. As a result, the state Supreme Court will have to quickly address the matter, the outlet reported.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission was served with the lawsuit on Tuesday, just a day after it was filed, while the Green Party received it on Wednesday. By Thursday, the liberal-leaning court acted swiftly, granting the DNC two hours to provide contact information for WEC officials who could receive court orders. “The majority issues an unprecedented order directing the petitioner – within two hours – to give the court contact information for the respondents, which is currently absent from the record because no one has entered an appearance on behalf of any parties,” Bradley wrote. “To my knowledge, at no time in history has the court issued orders before parties had made their appearances.”
This latest conflict between conservatives and liberals follows the 2022 election, which resulted in a 4-3 liberal majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The contentious race between Janet Protasiewicz and Dan Kelly was marked by significant out-of-state liberal funding and a lack of civility, setting the stage for ongoing disputes. The struggle for control has involved major issues like redistricting and abortion, with both sides vying for their own 4-3 majority. Ultimately, the liberals gained the upper hand.
The tensions have even spilled over into the court’s internal dynamics, with the conservative minority labeling the majority’s decisions as “tyranny” and accusing them of a power grab. In a recent case, the liberal majority ruled that absentee voters could use ballot drop boxes instead of mailing their ballots or delivering them in person to county clerks. The decision contradicted a 2022 ruling known as Teigen, which had prohibited drop boxes, as the overwhelmingly Republican state legislature affirmed via state law. Even after a trial judge upheld Teigen and forbade drop boxes, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers intervened, prompting the newly liberal court to rule the Teigen decision.
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